Editors as Entrepreneurs: Reframing Occupational Identity in Publishing

Abstract

This article examines how freelance editors in the twenty-first century book publishing industry develop entrepreneurial identities by navigating rather than resolving inherent professional contradictions. Drawing on 15 qualitative semi-structured interviews with freelance editors, this study identifies three core paradoxes that define contemporary editorial entrepreneurship: risk/stability tensions in business growth, culture/commerce conflicts between artistic integrity and market demands, and editor/entrepreneur identity contradictions between collaborative service orientation and competitive self-promotion. The findings reveal that editorial success depends on developing a paradox mindset: the capacity to simultaneously leverage contradictory demands rather than integrating or resolving them. Successful editors employ sophisticated strategies including diversification, values-based business positioning, and contextual identity performance. Rather than choosing between competing orientations, high-paradox-mindset editors create business models that provide both risk and stability, make cultural commitments the foundation of commercial strategy, and develop hybrid professional identities that transcend traditional categories. This study contributes to the emerging disciplinary identity of Editing and Publishing (E&P), and these findings suggest that E&P programs should teach paradox navigation as a core competency to prepare students to be editor entrepreneurs. This study contributes to entrepreneurship theory by demonstrating how creative entrepreneurs can transform inherent contradictions into competitive advantages, with broader implications for understanding professional success in the increasingly complex gig economy.