Dreiser was an editor (or in the case of the American Spectator, a member of the editorial board) of five journals: Ev'ry Month (October 1895–August 1897), Smith's (April 1905–March 1906), Broadway (May 1906–June 1907), the Delineator, (July 1907–September 1910), and American Spectator (November 1932–January 1934). He undertook magazine editing for various reasons—Ev'ry Month to establish himself on the New York literary scene, Smith's, Broadway, and the Delineator, to achieve success and financial security after his nervous collapse of 1901–3, and the American Spectator to help create a literary journal free of commercial pressures. But all his work as an editor reveals roughly similar strengths and weaknesses in his managerial style.

Dreiser had a firm sense of popular taste and was thus able to make a financial success of those journals which sought to please the masses. His career at the Delineator, as reported in detail by William Lengel and Charles Hanson Towne, indicate his methods. Recognizing the public mood for reform, for example, he sought out the best staff and authors available to support non-controversial efforts in this direction. (The Delineator's child-rescue campaign, which sought to provide homes for orphan children, brought the magazine national attention.) He also revealed an unexpected capacity for managing large enterprises and a willingness to work hard to achieve his goals. Yet despite his ability and success, he was dissatisfied with editorial work. He was writing a good deal of material of one kind or another for the journals he edited, but with the exception of his “Prophet” columns for Ev'ry Month, this was not the kind of writing he wished to devote himself to. And he lacked full control over what he could publish. From Ev'ry Month, which devoted most of its space to sheet music and Broadway trivia, to the American Spectator, which despite its high aims favored the lightweight over the intellectually demanding, he felt that he was never fully the master.