Career Advice for Editorial & Creative Professionals

As most editorial professionals know, this career path will not make you rich - not even close. However, there are sectors that pay more than others. Eventually, you can make a decent living in this industry without being Anna Wintour or Helen Gurley Brown. So, what sectors pay a decent wage?

If you focus on advertising, pharmaceutical and/or the technical sectors, you will command more in salary than say, general trade, beauty, education and/or the nonprofit sectors.

Simple supply and demand at work here.

Publishing (advertising, media, journalism, etc.) is considered a glamour industry. So, beginning salaries for the most part suck - there's just no other way to put it. In New York, which many consider the publishing capital of the world, it is not uncommon to start out making 20-25K at popular magazines. Really!

If you know anything about the cost of living in New York City, you know that this will barely afford you a decent apartment with 3-4 other roommates - forget about living on your own. It simply ain't gonna happen on an entry-level salary in the editorial industry.

However, if you focus on a less glamorous industry - say working for a pharmaceutical company that publishes a trade newsletter - your salary is likely to start higher and only grow as times goes on. Once you have some experience in a highly specialized discipline like medicine, science or technology, you can parlay those skills in a number of ways - copywriter at a pharmaceutical advertising agency, editor at a scientific publication, freelancing as a technical writer.

In my experience, editorial is a very static industry - magazines want people with magazine experience (not journal, book or newspaper experience); scientific publishers want professionals with a science background, etc. While this is understandable, it makes it hard to break into a particular field. Before you know it, you are pigeon-holed.