If you wish to pursue a career as an editor but don’t yet have any editing qualifications, or would like to add to your editing qualifications, you can undertake an editing course – either on-site or online.

Some people enrol in an online editing course because:

• they live in a regional, rural or remote area where there are no on site courses
• the courses offered at their local university or TAFE are not recommended
• they prefer online to on-site learning for family/other reasons.

Note: this article was last updated July 2018 so some of the information may be outdated.

Recommended online editing courses

The below courses have all been recommended by my colleagues in Secret Editors Business (closed Facebook group) who are all members of Institute of Professional Editors (IPEd).

If you have no tertiary qualifications

If you have no tertiary qualifications, training or experience in professional editing, the best way to embark on an editing career is to undertake a tertiary course in editing.

Note: you don’t need any tertiary qualifications or editing experience to be eligible for student or associate membership of Institute of Professional Editors (IPEd) in Australia.

Optional: undertake an online grammar course

Prior to enrolling in an editing degree or diploma, you may wish to undertake this online course to refresh or improve your  knowledge of grammar: edX – English Grammar and Style. This course can be used as a ‘bridging course’ between high school English and tertiary studies in writing or editing.

This course is:

• not a tertiary qualification
• suitable for people who have completed high school
• free of charge.

Recommended: undertake an online tertiary course in editing

If you have completed Year 12 (50% minimum ATAR English) or equivalent, you may be eligible to undertake this online bachelor degree offered by Curtin University through Open Universities Australia: Bachelor of Arts(Professional Writing and Publishing).

If you have tertiary qualifications (but not in editing)

If you have completed a bachelor degree or diploma that has some relevance to writing or editing (such as Bachelor of Arts), you may be eligible to undertake one of these online post-graduate courses offered by University of Southern Queensland: Graduate Certificate of Editing and Publishing, or Master of Arts (Editing and Publishing).

If you have completed a bachelor degree and are a practising editor, you may be eligible for this online post-graduate course offered by Macquarie University:  Graduate Certificate of Editing and Electronic Publishing.

If you have completed and recommend any other online editing courses, please let me know here.

Note: you need to have a tertiary qualification in editing and/or the required level of experience as an editor.o be eligible for professional membership of IPEd.

On-site editing courses

Go to: About on-site editing courses in Australia.

Good luck in pursuing your editing career!

I wish to thank IPEd and Secret Editors Business (Facebook group) members for contributing information for this article.

For a list of editing courses in Australia, go to: IPEd – Careers in editing.

Here are some helpful articles for aspiring or early-career editors:

• How to become an editor
• Getting started as an editor

Proofread by Dee Sansom, On Time Typing

Image: Thank you to WOCinTechChat for permission to use this image.