51 Writing Jobs, Internships, Lit Mag Opps, Fellowships, and More

Jobs for Writers (5.1.25) | Gigs at Paris Review, Chronicle Books, and the NYT, how to break in as a developmental editor, and a whole bunch of other stuff

May 01, 2025

∙ Paid

Welcome to Sub Club’s Jobs for Writers!

For the past week or so, I’ve been thinking about you. All of you. What kind of jobs are you looking for? Is there something I’m missing out on that I can reasonably add to the newsletter? Is the vibe more, keep doing what you’re doing, or add more of the things I like, please and thank you? Inquiring minds (me, mine) want to know.

What do you think? If you have more to say than the below survey can handle, please leave a lil’ comment.

Reminder that it’s less about freelance and one-off gigs, and more about full-time, part-time, etc. writing or writing-adjacent gigs in editing, publishing, or academics. Not media, not really.

And now, for the good stuff: jobs, jobs, and then even more jobs, including open opportunities at fancy places like Paris Review and The New York Times, and—if money is your thing—a few full-time jobs paying in the lowish six-figures. Dream big!

Before we get to how someone else got the gig, a quick question: How did you break in? We want stories about how people got their jobs in writing, editing, publishing, academics, or whatever else that’s writing-adjacent. I’m counting sales! Audio! PR! As long as it’s in the realm of the creative-ish writing world, it’s fair game.

» Get the details and submit your entry here «

Selected entries will get $50 or a one-year comp.

How to Break In

This week, we’ve got Priscilla Thomas, a self-employed developmental editor and the face behind Words by Priscilla. Because you know what? Being a freelancer is the reality for a lot of us (most of us? I don’t know the statistics, and I’m not going to look into it), and Priscilla is making it work.

After 16 years as an English high school teacher, Priscilla was ready for something new. And while she was absolutely certain of one thing—that she didn’t want to write for a living—well, you know. Life be lifing. “Of course, making a living doesn’t often cooperate with our plans and hopes, so I do write a lot for my work,” she wrote. “But between referrals, pitching my services, and connecting with writers through other events, I've built a business that includes developmental editing on books and other writing projects, writing and craft workshops, and the Wildflower Creative Collective, a community for writers.”

Ahead, Priscilla talks about how she went from high school teacher to developmental editor, how to find your place in the writing community, and the advice she has for folks who want to dabble in the developmental editing game themselves. Onward!

rachael vaughan clemmons: Can you walk me through your background and where you started?

Priscilla Thomas: I'm a former high school English teacher, a career I held for 16 years in NYC public schools. My mentor-teacher was part of an organization called the National Writing Project, a collective of educators with branches across the US that focuses on nurturing the writing lives of writing teachers. Through my work with the NYC site, I developed strategies for working with adult writers, which is similar to but not the same as working with high school students.

rvc: Where did the idea of developmental editing come from?

PT: My good friend, Erin Brown, has been cultivating an audience and presence on some form of social media since its inception. We connected through weightlifting, with writing as a secondary link. When we were both working on ideas that would become books, Erin asked if we could support each other through the process.

Erin—a phenomenal writer/speaker/icon—was transforming [one of her speeches] into an experimental form for her book, Sovereign, and I offered feedback on the shape and structure of her revision. This felt really natural to me; it was what I did for students in my classes, what I’d done with friends and classmates in my own school days. It was really when Erin or I would talk about it with other people that I saw it as an application of skill and knowledge, beyond “being helpful.”

Another writer friend said what I was doing was developmental editing, which I hadn’t even heard of at the time. I had experience with copyediting, line editing, and manuscript editing, but I didn’t realize I had developmental editing experience until it was named for me. To me, it was an obvious and essential part of the writing process, but I saw that not everyone knows what to ask for while they’re working on a piece.

rvc: Once you started understanding your work as developmental editing, what made you choose to continue on that path?

PT: My favorite thing about developmental editing is seeing the big picture or vision a writer has for a piece of writing, and helping them shape that vision. When that shape comes through, and when writers are refining and turning the raw material into the crafted, detailed shape, it’s so exciting.

I work primarily with writers of memoir and personal essay, so the process often involves personal breakthroughs for writers, which is so powerful to witness. I’m grateful to every writer who shares their vulnerability and their boundaries with me. This is a larger conversation, but often writers feel like they need to put it all on the page in memoir, or they’re not being authentic. But it’s important to figure out what belongs on the page and what doesn’t. Helping writers claim ownership of their stories is one of the most rewarding parts of this work.

rvc: What does the developmental editing process look like for your clients?

PT: As a developmental editor and coach, I work with [people] who identify themselves as writers, even if only in private. Some people decide to work with me because they’re on their fifth book, and they know exactly what they want or what they didn’t have during previous projects. Other people hire me for their first book, which they might not be ready to call a book yet, because they’re looking for guidance, structure, and someone to talk through the process with.

My approach is bespoke. Each writer I’ve worked with has had unique needs, and my first task in our initial meeting is to get some clarity on those needs. Once we’ve established a sense of what experiences they’re coming in with, what their goals are, their communication and learning styles, and their workflow, I can offer them a plan for our work together to bring their draft to the next stage.

Responsiveness and adaptability are crucial, though, so throughout our work together, I’m checking in with myself and the writer about what’s working and what’s not, so we can adjust. The goal is always to help writers get their projects where they need to be, not to validate any one method or system.

rvc: How has developmental editing helped you as a writer?

PT: I think the most meaningful impact is how it’s helped me accept the mess and potential of the early stages of writing. Battling perfectionism takes up so much of our writing time. I’m definitely not cured, but helping other writers see what a draft can become, working with them as they develop a piece, [and seeing] the transformation that’s possible is amazing. And that’s true of my own work too, no matter how imperfect and terrible I might think my first drafts are coming out. It’s always a challenge for me to treat myself and my own work with the compassion and care I hold for others, but it has helped to do this work and see this hold true across all the writers I work with. We can be messy, but messes can be cleaned up!

rvc: You don’t just do developmental editing—you also host writing and craft workshops, and do a lot of work towards creating and sustaining communities for writers. Whenever someone mentions the role of community, I try to emphasize the importance of that for writers, especially because, by design, writing can be very lonely work. Can you talk a little bit about what your community has meant to you, and how people can find a variety of their own writing communities to help support them through the process?

PT: Every creative accomplishment I’m proud of was supported by a community, from writing my first book to honing my workshop skills to submitting my work for publication, and I think the loneliness we can feel as writers isn’t a necessary pain. While there are aspects of our processes that we take on alone, we benefit so much from getting together with other creative folks, sharing about the process, sharing our work, problem-solving together, exchanging feedback, and getting brave.

I hold a free weekly co-writing space called Along the Vine, and I run the Wildflower Creative Collective. I also host three writing events each month through my Substack, Work(ing) in Progress. All of these are about creating opportunities for writers to connect and support each other. We need each other! There are so many spaces. I highly recommend Talicha J’s online events calendar if you’re looking for virtual spaces. If you want to find local groups in your community, libraries are a great place to look, as are independent bookstores. But it can be as simple as asking a couple of friends to meet up and write together, or offering to swap stories and feedback with them. Whatever helps you build and nurture the ecosystem of your creativity.

rvc: Lastly, if someone wanted to pursue developmental editing, what advice would you offer on how to break in?

PT: I was on a panel for Weeknight Writers, a lovely creative community, last summer with some excellent fellow developmental editors, and I think it’s a helpful starting place to learn more about what goes into developmental editing work. If you have experience—and enjoy—helping writers through the big picture, lump-of-clay phases of their projects, developmental editing might be a good fit for you.

If you’re trying to get your own business going, I think it’s important to get feedback that will tell other writers what it’s like to work with you and what you can do for them and their work. Remember that this is a vulnerable situation for writers, so you want to assure them that you can help them and you’re not scamming them. That might mean offering free or heavily discounted developmental edits to friends in exchange for their feedback, testimonials, even screenshots and walkthroughs if they’re open to it.

You could also reach out to small indie presses and ask for referrals. It might only be short-term, but having someone to refer their writers to can be a lift for a small press with limited staff and budgets.

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