If You Don't Want to Write or Teach, Edit!

Katherine said:
What lead you to pursue a career in publishing? Did you plan it all throughout college or was it something you stumbled into?

If you are a graduate or undergraduate English student and you can’t imagine your ideal career path yet — or if you’re currently in an English-related profession that might not be your ideal career — don’t worry; you don’t have to become an English teacher or the next great American poet to keep pursuing your love of language (unless that’s what you want to do!).

If you majored in English in college, you probably heard this line at least once during your undergraduate experience: “Oh, so you’re going to teach?” Many English majors do go on to become teachers or professors, but that was never my goal. In fact, the only things I knew for sure when I declared my majors were that I didn’t want to do “creative writing,” and I didn’t want to teach.

Why Major In English If You Don't Want to Write?
At this point, you may be asking why I would consider majoring in English if I didn’t want to do the typical English-major writing (poetry, novels, plays, screenplays — they stereotypical “creative writing”, and I also didn’t want to do what most non-creative-writers (teach). I became an English major for the same reason that many liberal arts students become English majors: I liked a wide variety of subjects, I enjoyed writing (so long as it was nonfiction or creative nonfiction), and I loved studying language. As a freshman, this seemed perfectly fine. I didn’t need to pick a career – just a field of study! But at some point during my sophomore year, I realized that I would eventually need to find a career. During my junior year, I decided to minor in Economics Management and go into business management or finance. During my senior year, I realized that was a huge mistake.

You Can Have Your Writing, and Eat, Too!
I still had my Spanish and English majors to fall back on; but I couldn’t imagine a paying, non-teaching job as an English major. In the winter of my senior year, just as panic was truly setting in, someone suggested I apply to the Denver Publishing Institute. I applied to the six-week program, I was accepted, and I immediately realized what a huge variety of opportunities are available to English majors who want a steady paycheck. Four months after graduation, I began my first job as an assistant editor for an educational book producer, and I’ve been editing ever since. It is my ideal job. I get to spend my days working with language, I don’t have to deal with students, and I don’t have to write poetry! (No offense, poets — this is just one art form that I’d rather leave to the true artists.)

It still astounds me that I didn’t know about publishing opportunities until almost the point of graduation. The signs that I should pursue editing were always there — I enjoyed reading my peers’ papers and giving them feedback more than I enjoyed writing my own papers; I was (am) a stickler for grammar and conventions of language; I was (am) fascinated by all the available means of style and communication in our language. All of these habits and interests point straight to editing. But all I’d ever heard of was English-major writers and English-major teachers.

I hope you will not be limited by English-major pigeon-holing, and will continue to look into the great variety of careers for English majors until you find the right one. It may be in writing, or teaching, or publishing; or it may be in something completely different. Just remember that language is used everywhere, in every career field. So you just have to find the best place to pursue whatever it is you love most about English.