Top Jobs in Magazines and Publishing

Art directors are responsible for the look of a magazine. If you notice, Vanity Fair has a different look than, say, Entertainment Weekly. In large part, this is because of the work of art directors who oversee how the words and pictures on every page of the magazine will match up to create a cohesive and signature look.

Someone needs to make sure that all the stories in the magazine read well, flow logically, address unanswered questions, adhere to style guidelines, and are grammatically correct—and that someone is the copy editor.

While copy editors combat dangling modifiers, errant commas, and every other grammatical mistake in the book, they are much more than just proofreaders. Detail-oriented and skilled writers in their own right, they help to improve the writing of the magazine's reporters and correspondents.

Every story that appears in a magazine needs to be checked for accuracy. This is where a fact checker comes in. All magazines rely on fact checkers to ensure that quotes and all factual information included in an article are accurate. If you're someone who's good at detail and enjoys research, then the fact-finding aspect of journalism is the right job for you.​

Magazine editors are the wordsmiths behind the content in magazines. While some editors concentrate more on writing, other editors are more involved with assigning stories and editing them. A good assignment editor needs to have a Rolodex full of strong writers they can contact at a moment's notice. It usually takes many years of experience as a writer and assistant editor before making the leap to magazine editor.

Photo editors oversee all the photography that appears in a magazine. Although most photo editors don't actually take the pictures—their job is primarily to hire other photographers to do that—it's up to them to ensure that the right images appear on the pages. If you have a great eye for design, a background in photography, and love working with professionals in the field, this may be a great job for you.

There are many different roles in advertising that contribute to the success of a major magazine. In order to be able to afford to produce well-written articles and beautiful photo spreads, magazines have to sell and produce advertisements that are featured in the magazine in order to generate revenue.

Major magazines usually have an in-house advertising department that handles all ad accounts and ad copy and oversees the final run of advertisements. You can aspire to work as an advertising director, account manager, copywriter, or copy chief depending on your prior experience.

There also are great opportunities for graphic design professionals in magazine advertising departments since many ads are produced by the magazine and not by the advertising clients.

After the magazine is produced, a lot of work also goes into ensuring that the magazine's intended audience knows the magazine exists. A concerted effort is put into public relations, special events, the production of promotional materials, and creating social media buzz. All of this is done to reinforce branding and sell copies of the magazine. On every magazine's masthead, you will find staff titles such as marketing director, marketing manager, social media manager, and marketing intern.​