I love being an editor in chief for Odyssey.
I really do, it's been one of the most rewarding experiences of my collegiate career and I'm so thrilled I get to continue in the role for some time after graduation. I've learned so much over my past three years at Odyssey, first as a content creator, then as a contributing editor for a year and a half. None of that compares to the past five months I've spent as EIC, though.
I've learned skills that will help me in the workforce, that do help me at my current job, and that help me interact with the people around me, both as a friend and a "boss." But as much as I love this job, and my team--which is a lot--it can sometimes be frustrating.
Working with a team of 25-30 creators at a time, all juggling their own struggles, can be tough. As much as I love everyone on my team--and, honestly, everyone I've ever worked with here--there are some things I wish they just knew.
Evidentally, I'm not alone. I asked my fellow EICs their thoughts, and thus, this list was born. To all my creators--and all the creators out there--here are 27 things your EICs wish you knew!
1. Chasing all of our creators down one by one is time-consuming.
2. It’s not professional to blow off your EIC.
3. We’re just as busy as you are.
4. Even though this isn’t a “job” you should still take it seriously.
5. Please don’t write, “Check out my article!” as a social media share.
6. It takes a long time to properly edit just one article, never mind 30.
7. Everyone is capable of going viral. You just have to put the work in!
8. When we get articles we can tell a creator worked hard on, we get really excited and proud!
9. The shorter the slug, the better!
10. Be honest, but don’t make up excuses. If you can’t write, just tell us!
11. When you continually make the same errors after we’ve talked about it 5,000 times, it makes it seem like you don’t care about improving and that’s really frustrating.
12. 3,000-word articles are amazing and we appreciate the effort, but they take a ton of time to properly edit, so please be patient!
13. Please, *please* capitalize every letter in a headline!
14. We’re also human, and while we’re happy to help at any time we probably won’t answer at 2 am because we do have to sleep at some point too!
15. We don’t always have our phones in our hands, so we might not be able to text you back right away. We’ll always get back to you as soon as possible, though!
16. The 5 p.m. deadline isn’t a recommendation, it’s a requirement.
17. Please stop leaving us in the dark about everything and communicate if you have an issue—we want to work with you, but we aren’t mind readers!
18. Google Images is not where your cover photo actually came from.
19. Even with Grammarly’s help, it still takes a while to correct every single mistake in some articles. Try to proofread before submitting!
20. Most of us are also students with classes, tests, assignments, and jobs that we have to worry about on top of editing articles. Please be respectful of our time!
21. The rules we enforce are to help your articles be more successful and to teach you skills that can be used in the real world; we don’t like being strict for the hell of it!
22. We all have our own responsibilities and struggles, too. When we try to hold you accountable we’re not being unreasonable—if we can manage to submit every week, you can too, and we’re happy to help you!
23. Headlines and titles are two TOTALLY different things.
24. When we change your headlines, it’s not to hurt you—we want your articles to do the best they possibly can!
25. When creators don’t communicate with us, it adds a boat load of stress on to our already full plates.
26. You can’t just NOT submit.
27. We get it. It’s not easy to juggle everything at once, especially for something that doesn’t pay. But we try our best to be as helpful and flexible as possible, and we want you to get the most out of your experience so you’re better prepared for the real world!
