Issue 28: We All Need (Good) Editors
Where "editor" is anyone who looks out for us: managers, mentors, team leads, etc.
Hello, friend. How are you?
I’ve been saying (for a while now) that I want to talk about the work that I do. While thinking about the best story to start the first day of a new quarter, a bunch of ideas slipped into my head: Q1 lessons, how weird time is (how is it Q2 already?), resting, etc. After several back and forths with myself, I decided to write about being an editor. My conviction grew when I read Simon Owen’s newsletter on the relevance of editors and finally when I realised that I wanted to write about “The Bold Type” — a show I’ve just finished — but not a review in the conventional sense.
Early this year, I complained about women-focused movies or shows that gazed too much on marriage and men (almost exclusively). My friend, Precious, has probably been screaming “The Bold Type” since 2017, but I never watched it because it wasn’t on any streaming service available to me back then. Finally, it came to Netflix and I was immediately invested in the lives of three women who work in media: Jane (Katie Stevens), Kat (Aisha Dee), and Sutton (Meghann Fahy) are a writer, social media director, and executive assistant, respectively at the start of their careers. Their main focus is climbing up the ladder, becoming successful, living their dream, etc. The main setting for the show is the Scarlet Magazine office, the media company where they all work (Scarlet magazine is a fictional women’s magazine modeled after Cosmopolitan.)
“The Bold Type” was everything and relatable — of course, it wasn’t perfect: I had issues with the portrayal of what it’s like working in media, but then again, it’s fiction, no? The romance was a splice to the narrative, to make their lives well-rounded. You might like it if you enjoy drama.
Beyond female friendships, shattering glass ceilings, fighting for equality, at top of the ladder, there was Jacqueline, the editor-in-chief of the magazine. Interestingly, if you’ve seen "The Office (US)", Jacqueline (Melora Hardin) played a corporate manager before she became Michael Scott’s girlfriend.
In “The Bold Type”, she’s more confident, less frustrated. She’s (mostly) everything I think an editor-in-chief should be. She’s kind, thoughtful, great with feedback. She’s patient, a great listener. She pushes her writers, especially Jane, in the right direction. She leads by example. If she was a product, I’d give her 5 stars. I didn’t approve of everything she did, but if she was perfect, then she’d have been a fake character. I arrived at the end of season 4 thinking we all need a Jacqueline or two: we all need great editors and managers and people who can steer us in the right direction. She’s one of my favourite fictional characters ever.
But when I say we all need editors, you’re probably wondering why you with your tech or finance job should care about an editor. Jacqueline wasn't sitting around, waiting to edit stories. The idea that all editors do is edit stories was consistently dispelled by “The Bold Type”. The worst version of this is that all editors do is look out for misspelled words or punctuation errors. It annoys me because it reduces the work editors to do just this one thing. It also undervalues the role editors play in giving life to well-written stories by editing them to perfection. There are too many types of editors for this to still be a thing. For example, at a large media organisation or maybe companies with media teams, you might have a managing editor who never edits. You might have a proofreader who looks through stories copyedited by a copy-editor. The managing editor in that case is typically in charge of giving life to the story, deciding what stories need to be told and what format best suits these stories.
PSA: Even editors need editors.
An editor wears multiple hats: they're often great writers or journalists (although this isn't always true), they're great at building things — whether it's a story, a column, a media product — they're just good at getting their hands dirty. Editors have great analytical skills and often know a lot about growth. They're constantly investigating why a story performed better than some others, why the audience loves a series and not the other. To do this, they have to love/make use of data, and to make things work, they need growth tricks up their sleeve. Editors are managers: people managers, project managers, product managers. When you work in a media company as I do, you constantly have to be innovative and even if you aren't, you have to be an executor and have a good understanding of how to evolve ideas from a raw state.
Aesthetics. When I started working as an editor in publishing, I had a good idea of what a good novel or story should look like. But every other thing: design, video, and other storytelling formats were lost on me. At first, I didn't think these could be learned. I thought that an eye to tell good design from bad design was something only gifted people had. I eventually learned that there's almost nothing you can't learn, especially since there's a method to most kinds of madness.
So an editor (in media and even, publishing) isn't just one thing. And it's for this reason I'm not opposed to learning as much as you can at the start of your career, before specializing in anything. Even if it's a cursory knowledge of how it all works. It's a principle that's useful across careers. In “The Bold Type”, when Scarlet, which was once both print and digital, went fully digital, Jacqueline got scared. I found that quite relatable: starting new things or transitioning to a new role is hard — uncharted waters. It's okay to be scared to shit. I’m always pro “be scared, but take on the challenge”. Don't settle into the routine and get too comfortable. The world is moving too fast for you to not pay attention. I agree that it's okay to block the noise, to stay grounded in what you love and believe in terms of work but be open to learning, even if it means playing catch up. It's unfortunate, but no one will wait for you or me.
Random: I wonder how the people who predicted the internet would never last are doing.
The key things I'd say you can take away from this letter are: editors are great, you need one and if you have one, pay them or respect them or cut them some slack. If you are an editor or manager, be like Jacqueline. Two: be open to new things.
What I enjoyed (or am enjoying) this week:
Vox's Earworm storytelling genius, Estelle Caswell (I first listened to this two years ago h/t Fu'ad. Stumbled upon it on my timeline again and had to listen. It's that useful)
Bonus: The Daily Mix of oldies music that Spotify made for me and Nathaniel Bassey's new album (Don't ask why I'm using two different streaming platforms.)
Shout out to Tobi for always editing these letters. I never send them without his “looks good” confirmation, so any errors here are solely his fault, lmao. ❤️
See you next week! Have a good (long) weekend.