Fake it ’til you make it… as a features editor

Cosmo’s Kate Leaver tells us how to bluff it in her job in a feature that first appeared in Encore.

What do you do, as a features editor?

Really, play with words and ideas all day. At any one time, we’re working across three issues of the mag – getting one on its way to the printers, pooling all the words together for another, and planning the issue after that. It’s busy but it’s a pretty magnificent process. For me, it’s like working on a few really awesome jigsaw puzzles at once – piecing together the best mix of stories and subjects and writers and voices. That’s the esoteric job description. It’s all about the detail – every sentence has to be awesome, every headline, every image. And the features editor is really the gatekeeper of ideas; they ferry ideas back and forth between freelancers, in-house writers and the senior editorial team.

What skills do you need to be good at the job?