Annual Salary
£24,000 to £46,000
Average UK salary in 2024 was £37,430
(source Office for National Statistics)
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Copy editors make sure content is clear, consistent, accurate and ready to publish in printed, online and audio publications.
Average UK salary in 2024 was £37,430
(source Office for National Statistics)
You could work: freelance / self-employed; managing your own hours
There will be
4.8% more Copy editor jobs in 2029.
As a copy editor, you could:
You could work in an office or from home.
You can get into this job through:
You can take a degree course to become a copy editor. Most subjects are accepted.
You might improve your chances of finding work if you have a degree in a related subject, like:
You can find journalism courses through the National Council for the Training of Journalists.
You may need subject matter expertise or a specific degree to work in specialist publications, like scientific, medical or technical journals.
Work experience at university
You'll find it useful to get work experience during your studies. Some publishers offer work shadowing, work placements or internship opportunities.
Your university careers service can help you explore your options.
You'll usually need:
You can apply to do a Publishing Professional Level 4 Higher Apprenticeship to get into this role.
This typically takes around 2 years to complete and is a mix of workplace training and off-the-job study.
You could start as an editorial assistant with a publishing company to get experience of editing and proofreading.
This type of role would also allow you to create a portfolio of your work which you can show to potential employers.
Having some work experience can be helpful when applying for jobs in publishing. To build up your experience, you can:
Volunteering is a good way to get to know people who work in the industry. This can help as many job vacancies are not advertised.
You can also search for volunteering opportunities through The National Council for Voluntary Organisations and Do IT.
You could take a proofreading or editing course with a professional body, like those offered by:
Some publishing houses run graduate training schemes and internships.
If you want to work as a copy editor or sub-editor in journalism, the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) has advice on bursaries and funding to encourage greater diversity in the industry.
You can get more details about working in editing and publishing from the Publishers Association and the Professional Publishers Association.
You can also find out more about working in other creative careers from Discover Creative Careers.
With experience, you could become a:features writer; chief sub-editor; production editor; editorial manager
You could also become a commissioning editor, working with authors, literary agents and publishers to develop new content.
You might decide to be a freelance editor, working on different types of publication.
You'll need: