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The Keys to Effective Editing
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Chapter 1 Introduction Welcome to The Keys to Effective Editing. My name is Jackie Landis, and for the next six weeks I'll be sharing with you the knowledge and tricks of the trade that I've picked up during the two decades I've been a working editor. Whether you're interested in pursuing editing as a career or simply want to learn how to fine-tune your own writing, you'll finish this course with the knowledge and skills that will help you pull ahead of the pack with the ability to produce a clean, clear, and concise manuscript. Before we begin, let me tell you a little about myself. As I mentioned, I've been a working editor for nearly 20 years. I have a B.A. in philosophy, and after college I continued my education with an intensive program to hone my editing skills. I also do some writing, as many editors do, but my primary focus is copyediting. Although my work is exclusively freelance these days, I've spent time working for publishers, too. I loved the hustle-bustle of the typical publishing house, but I've found that the freelance life suits me even better. Editing is a word that covers many different stages of the writing business. We'll be taking a look at the different kinds of editors later in this lesson. But it's important for you to know that what we'll focus on in this course is mainly copyediting, a term I'll use interchangeably with editing throughout the course. Copyediting is traditionally defined as the act of preparing text, or copy for the typesetter. Although typesetters are now more commonly known as designers and graphic artists, the copy editor's job remains the same: getting the copy ready for the next step in the publishing chain. For those of you who are taking this course to learn editing techniques for improving your skills as a writer, you'll find out that editors don't work on hunches and gut feelings. Instead, they follow a whole bunch of guidelines and applications to make writers look like geniuses. In the lessons, I'll cover all the elements involved in an editor's everyday work, including methods and tools, usage issues, author-editor relationships, and copyright law. We'll also dip our toes into the dreaded waters of grammar and punctuation—but only briefly and as painlessly as possible. As we wrap up the course work, I'll devote the final lesson to how to get started if you're considering a career as an editor. So let's jump into this fascinating world of editing. In today's lesson, we'll focus on the characteristics of a good editor. We'll take a look at the publishing process, the various levels of editing, and a list of five immutable laws designed to demystify the entire process and make both editing and writing a whole lot easier. Are you ready?
Chapter 2 Characteristics of a Good Editor Have you ever been halfway through a good book only to find a big fat typo? Does it make you crazy to know that such a goof would never have gotten by you? Here's another scenario: You're reading a book in which a character is talking about plans to leave town on Friday night. Then, a couple of pages later, it's Saturday and the character is still around with no explanation. Exasperating? You bet it's exasperating, especially if you have a natural editorial bent. These built-in reactions are actually characteristics of a good editor. Let's look at a few more of the typical qualities of a natural editor. Let me describe you in more detail! You probably like nice pens and pencils and have a good collection of them—everything from fine-point roller balls to expensive mechanical drafting pencils. You undoubtedly have a good command of the English language and like words. Lots of 'em. Big words, little words, obscure words, it doesn't matter. You absorb them and tuck them away in a corner of your brain to retrieve later. https://www.ed2go.com/Classroom/PrintLesson.aspx?classroom=7HPMzob8D3Rj9r6rKNV5xZR8526oyHjqlaWiZTTMAOILyN4JhaZVN8S6cLnRwXUb&lesson=1
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Shall I keep going? You're an exceptionally good speller of all those words you collect. One of my defining moments was at a young age, when I was runner-up in my sixth-grade spelling bee. I handed victory to a classmate by misspelling sacrilegious. But I can tell you this: I have never again misspelled that word. Am I covering familiar territory with you yet? If so, welcome to the wacky, compulsive world of professional editing. The good news is that although we may be a bit obsessive about our commas and the like, no good writer has ever made it to print without an editor who questions, researches, suggests, refines, and tweaks. We are needed. Writers know it, and so do publishers. If you're a writer who's looking simply to improve the technical quality of your work, never fear. You won't be lost here at all. In fact, this is the perfect place for you to pick up the tools you'll need to self-edit your work, a skill that many, many writers could benefit from having. Here's a story I heard not long ago. A writer friend came to me and said, "I had an agent look at my manuscript, but she said it needed so much editing, she put it down without finishing it. I read it over and over again, and it looks fine to me. I don't know what she means." What the agent means is that she couldn't get past all the typos, punctuation errors, and dangling participles to get any good sense of the quality of what she was reading. This isn't to say that my friend's writing isn't fine; I know it is. But many writers, including my friend, find it difficult to edit and proofread their own work. We tend to proofread with our heart, not our brain, and the brain fills in what the eye doesn't see. However, if you're willing to take a little time to absorb some basic editing skills, your writing will improve remarkably. And then publishers and agents will be much more receptive to your work. The Publishing Process What exactly does an editor do? When people ask me that question, if I try to explain all the technical stuff attached to the craft, their eyes start to glaze over. Instead, I usually describe editing like this: Imagine that someone brings you a Faberge egg that's been sitting around in somebody's basement for a long time. As you look at it, you know it has great beauty and value, but it's kind of hard to see underneath all the accumulated dust and grime. So this is your job: to carefully clean up the goo that's detracting from the beauty of the egg. Maybe you'll need to tighten up some ornamentation here and there. Maybe you'll need to scrape away some dried-up mud. Maybe a little piece is broken and needs reshaping. What you won't do is add anything new or change its color or pound it into another shape. When you return the egg to its owner, you'll want the reaction to be, "Oh, this is exactly how I hoped it would be. It's cleaner, brighter, and clearer." That's the desired reaction from an author when you return an edited manuscript. The single most important thing for an editor to is that the work belongs to the author. It's not our job as editors to try to put our mark on it or change the content so that it becomes our writing rather than the author's. Our job is to finesse the author's words and make their meaning clear to the reader. Period. Most editors are writers, too, so it's tempting to try to improve on someone else's writing when you think you know a better way of saying something. A good editor will resist that temptation. The best compliment I've ever gotten from an author whose book I edited came after the project was finished and she had reread the manuscript. "Jackie," she said, "I know you've done a ton of work on my book because we made a lot of changes. But when I read the finished product, I can't what you've taken out or changed or rearranged. It reads just like I've written it." Perfect. Let her live in ignorance because I did my job. I edited the manuscript (and, believe me, it was a big, ugly bear of a manuscript), and she couldn't detect my mark on it. We were both happy. Now let's learn a little about the actual process of publishing, from beginning to end. In recent years, the process has been greatly condensed by electronic publishing and digital printing. The result is that some steps have been eliminated and the process has sped up somewhat. Here's how this process looks today: Manuscript
Copy Editor
Designer-typesetter
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Page proofs
Printer
Final product
1. Manuscript: The author, after writing and rewriting numerous times, completes the final draft of the manuscript and hands it over to the copy editor.
2. Copy editor: The copy editor does two, three, or more read-throughs on the manuscript, working hand in hand with the author to clarify content, answer questions, reorganize as necessary, and clean up grammar, punctuation, and spelling. When both the author and the editor are happy with the manuscript, it goes to the designer-typesetter.
3. Designer-typesetter: The designer-typesetter is the artistic force that takes a manuscript from mere text in a computer file to how it will look when it is printed. These gifted folks, who are also called graphic artists, use graphic-design skills and a comprehensive knowledge of layout principles to create works of art. Once the design process is complete, actual images of the page are printed.
4. Page proofs: Designers-typesetters print the page images directly from their computer files to give to the author for approval. At this point, the copy editor or even a proofreader might take a final look at the proofs to search for lingering errors missed in the copyediting process. 5. Printer: When page proofs are approved, the computer file goes to the printer, who creates the negatives and plates, and then prints the pages that will ultimately become the final product. 6. Final product: Whether the end result is a book, magazine, or newsletter, it gets tweaked a little at every stage of the process until it meets the approval of everyone involved. The final product should be something that brings a smile to everyone's face. Additional back-and-forths between the players can occur at any stage of the process, but this is the general direction a publication takes from raw manuscript to bound and finished product. Keep in mind, too, that the publisher is carefully overseeing the entire process every step of the way. The publisher has undoubtedly read the manuscript in a couple of its versions, given instructions to the editor, worked with the designertypesetter in of what the final product should look like, and set a schedule with the printer.
Chapter 3 The Different Kinds of Editors By now, you've probably picked up on the fact that there are a few other cogs in the publishing wheel besides copy editors. Let's take a look at a few of the other kinds of editors. Acquisitions Editor These are the folks who scout authors and match them to specific projects. The field used to be limited primarily to textbooks, and acquisitions editors would try to locate the best academician to write about a certain subject. Doesn't sound too exciting, does it? These days, the job description has become a little broader. Acquisitions editors need a combination of good instincts and a deep knowledge of the publishing industry and the buying public. They https://www.ed2go.com/Classroom/PrintLesson.aspx?classroom=7HPMzob8D3Rj9r6rKNV5xZR8526oyHjqlaWiZTTMAOILyN4JhaZVN8S6cLnRwXUb&lesson=1
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determine the right project and author combination, and they negotiate contracts. Once a contract is in place, they work with the author to maintain a schedule. A book's marketability is hugely important, and it's the acquisitions editor's job to predict well. For some it's a dream job; for others it's a lot like buying stocks on margin. Developmental Editor Imagine that a publisher has a manuscript from a proven author, like Stephen King, but the manuscript isn't quite up to the standard of his usual writing. Mr. or Ms. Publisher knows it'll be a best seller regardless of how good, bad, or ugly it might be. But publishers do have their standards, and they like their books to be treated kindly by the critics. Enter the developmental editor. These editors work hand in hand with authors, helping them strengthen weaknesses, do more research, rewrite whole chapters, toss out other chapters, and (in fiction) develop characters and plotlines. This is painstaking work and takes the diplomacy and toughness of a United Nations ambassador. Production Editor As we all know, there's a business end to getting a book or magazine printed. That is where production editors take over. Production editors must have strong analytic and organizational skills, along with the ability to manage outside vendors, like printers and distributors. They supervise the manuscript from the point it reaches the editing phase all the way through printing. Some production editors will even serve as the designer-typesetter, too, and then act as liaison to the printer. Designer-Typesetter Designers-typesetters—or graphic artists—are responsible for creating the actual pages that contain words and pictures. They have a ion for typography. This means they design the look of the words to effectively express their content. They choose a font size and style, they design heads and subheads, and they position images on the pages. Only recently has book design become a thriving freelance industry made possible by sophisticated software that allows formatting to be done on a home computer. Book designers have become specialists in this particular area, combining a thorough knowledge of design software such as Adobe InDesign with strong creative skills in graphic design and layout. Deg a publication has become an art form where every detail, from font style to sidebars, gets special treatment. Managing Editor For those with a desire to climb the corporate ladder, this is the ultimate goal in the publishing industry. The managing editor is the equivalent of a chief operating officer. Think of a movie or television show set in a newsroom, where a wise, hard-driven, all-knowing head honcho makes the tough decisions about which stories to run. That decision-making guru is the managing editor. In book and magazine publishing, the reality of the job is a little less frenetic than what you might see on television, but the job is no less demanding in of responsibility. The managing editor oversees the entire process of publishing, from acquisitions to raw manuscript to bound publication. He or she also supervises schedules, budgets, and must be able to manage a team of editors, the production department, and outside vendors. Proofreader Alas, the poor proofreader is an endangered species. Blame computers. Blame tight budgets. Blame short schedules. They all have contributed to the near demise of a once-crucial link in the publishing chain. Publishers who still use proofreaders should get a medal. The proofreader's critical importance has not diminished even though the career prospects have dimmed. A traditional proofreader would get what's called a galley, a kind of photocopy of what a typesetter would produce from an edited manuscript. The proofreader would compare the galley to the copyedited manuscript, looking for anything that didn't reflect the copy editor's marks. At the same time, the proofreader would be on the lookout for typos and misspellings that slipped by the copy editor. From the proofreader, the manuscript would then go back to the typesetter for fixes. Today, the copy editor, the author, and anyone who happens to read the manuscript serve as unofficial proofreaders. Furthermore, editing often takes place entirely on-screen (more about that in our next lesson). Therefore, the whole galley-proofreading process is often eliminated. Usually authors will get to see page proofs—actual printouts of what the printed page will look like—and that's their last chance to make corrections. On rare occasions, a proofreader will still get a shot at taking one last look, but this is increasingly rare these days. Other Editors This miscellaneous category includes very specialized editors, such as photo editors, permissions editors, subsidiary rights editors, and factcheckers. These editors typically work in-house for large publishers that produce a huge volume of printed material, much of which needs special handling. Photo editors secure the rights to reprint photos from their owners. Permissions editors track down authors of material to be reprinted or incorporated into another work and secure permission to use that material. Not as easy as it sounds. It involves lots of paperwork and https://www.ed2go.com/Classroom/PrintLesson.aspx?classroom=7HPMzob8D3Rj9r6rKNV5xZR8526oyHjqlaWiZTTMAOILyN4JhaZVN8S6cLnRwXUb&lesson=1
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negotiation. Those who handle subsidiary rights deal with foreign markets and multimedia production of books and articles. Finally, we have fact-checkers, who serve as the conscience and the insurance policy for publishers. They don't assume that authors are always right, and they make sure that what gets printed is correct. Copy Editors At last, the good stuff! I saved copy editors for last because they are what this course is all about. We've already talked a little about some of the characteristics of a copy editor (those who like words, are good spellers, are keen on spotting typos, and so on). But the skills of a good copy editor must go even further. Copy editors must be able to assess a sentence on several different levels at the same time, looking for flaws in spelling, grammar, punctuation, style, flow, and content. Now, on to our job. Typical copyediting is done on one of three different levels. Light Copyediting When asked to do a light edit on a manuscript, you can assume that the content is finished and that the manuscript is just about ready to go to production. In a light edit, the copy editor is responsible for correcting faults in the following areas: Spelling, grammar, and punctuation Capitalization Numbers Hyphen use Lists of items Table of contents Table and figure numbers What you don't want to do in a light copyedit is start questioning the author about content or style problems. Even if you think a manuscript is weak in these areas, you're best advised to keep your lips zipped. Chances are, someone already knows it, and it isn't your job to play critic at this point. If, however, you were to find big inconsistencies or factual errors in a light copyediting assignment, you should never hesitate to point them out to your client or employer in a diplomatically worded memo. Don't expect a thank-you, but you'll sleep better knowing that you at least tried to save the author and the publisher some embarrassment. Medium Copyediting A medium, or regular, copyedit is the most typical assignment editors get. Responsibilities include all the duties of a light copyedit as well as ensuring correctness and consistency in these areas: Gender neutrality: In today's world, it's simply wrong to use he when referring to a generic person. You sometimes have to be creative to achieve gender neutrality in writing, but it can be done. We'll explore ways to do this in a later lesson. Format: This may seem like a job for the designer-typesetter, but in fact it can sometimes belong to you. Copy editors make sure that titles, heads, and subheads are consistent and noted appropriately within the manuscript. You'll also look for consistent formatting of lists, tables, and figures. Content and style: In addition to the basics, copy editors scrutinize content and style in a medium copyedit. When evaluating content and style, look for these key attributes: Audience: Does the text speak to its intended audience? Imagine you're editing a psychology self-help book meant for a general audience, and it's top-heavy with professional jargon like Dysphoria and Metacognition and Cathexis. In fact, it seems like you have to stop and look up every other word. Is this manuscript serving its intended audience? No! You have to make sure that the level of writing matches the level of the audience. Logic and clarity: Are the ideas presented in a logical, clear, and coherent format? If you find yourself reading a paragraph and saying, "Huh?" at the end of it, chances are the reader will, too. Word usage: Are the right words used to convey the intended meaning? Are clichés and hackneyed expressions overused? Do the https://www.ed2go.com/Classroom/PrintLesson.aspx?classroom=7HPMzob8D3Rj9r6rKNV5xZR8526oyHjqlaWiZTTMAOILyN4JhaZVN8S6cLnRwXUb&lesson=1
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words create a picture for the reader? Editors should also catch commonly misused words, like affect instead of effect. Heavy Copyediting This is also known as substantive copyediting. Here's where you get into some heavy-duty style work in addition to everything required in a light and medium copyedit. A good copy editor will pick these things up in a medium edit, but it's easy to miss them unless your mind is tuned in for them or you've been instructed to look for them. In a heavy copyedit, look for these problems: Redundancies Wordiness, triteness Vague generalizations Weak sentence style Organizational weakness Lack of focus This involves lots of heavy, labor-intensive work and diplomacy with the author. The reason is that you, the editor, shouldn't be rewriting the manuscript yourself. It's okay to make suggestions to the author, but any rewriting should come from the original source. On rare occasions, an author will ask the editor to make an appropriate rewrite. But you should never do it without clear authorization. Those are the duties of a copy editor. Now let's move on to Chapter 4 and talk about some key points to that'll help make your job a whole lot easier.
Chapter 4 The Five Immutable Laws of Editing I promised that before the end of this lesson, I'd give you my five immutable laws of copyediting. Learn them, live them, and love them. These laws are designed to guide you through every stage and every level of editing and ultimately make your job as a writer or an editor easier. If you follow them, I promise they'll serve you well. Immutable Law 1: Look It Up Sounds obvious, doesn't it? You'd be amazed, though, at how much we rely on memory to ensure that facts are correct and that spelling and grammar are in order. You'd be even more amazed to find out how often we're wrong. Word processing programs have spelling checkers, which can be lifesavers (and time-savers, too), but they're not infallible. For example, which is correct: work week or work week ? A spelling checker says they both are, but the dictionary nails the proper spelling as work week . If you have the teeniest doubt about spelling, usage, or factual correctness, look it up. Here's a classic example. I recently edited a manuscript that included a quote from Epictetus, whom the author identified as a Roman philosopher. Coincidentally, I had just finished reading a novel that mentioned Epictetus, and I was pretty sure my author had misspelled his name. When I looked our friend up in my biographical dictionary, I found that the author had indeed spelled his name wrong. I also discovered that Epictetus was Greek, not Roman. That's what's called a lucky catch. Editors are grateful for them, but they make us nervous, too, because we then wonder what we might have missed. Lucky catches just pound home the importance of constantly looking it up, no matter how much you think you know. Immutable Law 2: Be Consistent Proper names, numbers, and abbreviations present special problems because there are so many ways to write them. You'll usually have a set of standards to follow, whether the standards come from a style manual or they're something that the author and the publisher dictate. But variations are the rule rather than the exception, and it's up to you to make sure the style is consistent. Here's an example. I edited a diet and fitness book that included a diet plan called the Stuff Program. Throughout the manuscript, the author wrote it as the Stuff Plan, the Stuff-it Program, and even in one case, the Stuffed Program. To further complicate matters, the author's capitalization varied with every mention of it. The first thing I did was clarify with the author the exact name of the plan and whether or not she wanted it capitalized throughout the manuscript or only in section heads. Then it was my job to make sure it was named, spelled, and capitalized consistently everywhere it https://www.ed2go.com/Classroom/PrintLesson.aspx?classroom=7HPMzob8D3Rj9r6rKNV5xZR8526oyHjqlaWiZTTMAOILyN4JhaZVN8S6cLnRwXUb&lesson=1
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appeared. Immutable Law 3: The New York Times Isn't Infallible We're human. We have an ingrained respect for such noteworthy publications as the New York Times and Time magazine and books published by giants like Random House. So it's natural to read something that may seem questionable to you, but because it's the New York Times, it must be right. Right? Wrong! The folks who put together newspapers, magazines, and books are just as human as we are and just as capable of error. I reading a newspaper article some years ago that identified Phoenix, Arizona, as the sixth-largest city in the United States. This caught my attention because I had just finished writing an article that stated with certainty that San Diego, California, was the sixth-largest city and that Phoenix was the seventh. I frantically ran to call my editor to see if I could make a quick change before the article went to press. I then ed Immutable Law 3, stopped myself, and called the chamber of commerce in both cities to get the latest population count. I found that I was right in the first place. A few days later, a correction appeared in the offending newspaper, placing Phoenix back where it belonged at the time: in seventh place. Immutable Law 4: Editing Is Subjective I can hear you now: "What do you mean subjective? What about all those rules we have to follow?" Relax; this is a good law, and it'll make your life easier. The English language is constantly evolving. New words and new forms of usage appear constantly. As editors, we need to be aware of current usage as well as evolving usage. We should maintain the flexibility to adapt. I can give you an example that appears in this lesson. The term best seller is in constant transition. In the past decade, it has appeared in dictionaries as bestseller, best-seller, and its current form, best seller. It changes so often that I can scarcely keep up with it. What this means is that rules of punctuation, grammar, style, and usage are not completely rigid. Writers and editors do have some latitude in deciding how to proceed. Even my most trusted editor's resource, the Chicago Manual of Style, agrees. Dictating inflexible guidelines in areas where there is little justification for them would probably result in many more instances of poor writing. We prefer to trust in the judgment of most writers (and in the even better judgment of their editors). Immutable Law 5: Perfection Is the Enemy of Done Every editor's dream is to complete work on a manuscript and have it be flawless. I've been an editor for more years than I care to count, and it hasn't happened yet. In fact, I'm tempted to create a sixth immutable law: When you receive a brand-new book that you've edited, fresh from the printer, I can almost guarantee you'll find a typo on the first page you look at. It might not be something noticeable to the average reader. It might be that you had the Stuff Program on page 2, and now here on page 312 you have it as the Stuff program. You'll know you should have capitalized that second p, and you'll want to kick yourself. Get over it. You'll never achieve perfection. There will always be something that could use a little fix, a little tweak, or a little finesse. If you insist on perfection, you will never, ever finish. Your work is nearly always deadline-driven, and you simply don't have the time to make it as perfect as you'd like. You can come close. In fact, you're expected to come close. However, pure perfection is a pipe dream, and it stops progress cold. Learn the art of letting go.
Chapter 5 Summary You now have the basics of an editor's job. If it sounds formidable, don't let it scare you. We'll take it one step at a time. Today you learned about the qualities that define a successful editor: an eye for detail and a good ability for spelling and grammar. You may have seen yourself in the description, or you may feel like you come up a bit short. Not to worry. Much of what an editor does, you learn. It's easier if you have some inherent traits, but it's not impossible if you don't. We also took a close look at what an editor does. Most of a copy editor's work involves being able to assess a sentence on several different levels at once, watching for spelling, punctuation, grammar, and usage errors. If you're a writer or an aspiring editor, you might be looking at writing in an entirely different way already. If this seems like a lot, give it some time to sink in. All new concepts have a learning curve, and editing is no different. https://www.ed2go.com/Classroom/PrintLesson.aspx?classroom=7HPMzob8D3Rj9r6rKNV5xZR8526oyHjqlaWiZTTMAOILyN4JhaZVN8S6cLnRwXUb&lesson=1
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During our discussion of the publishing process and the editors that oversee it, you might have seen a different kind of editor that appeals to you. Publishing is a vast, complex process, and every level has its own excitement. Learning the ins and outs of copyediting will serve you well no matter what kind of editor you'd like to be: copy editor, managing editor, production editor, developmental editor, book designer, or something even more specialized. The three levels of editing—light, medium, and heavy—are important to because they have different demands. Most important of all, I hope you'll take to heart my five immutable laws of editing. They will be your friend and help boost your confidence as you edit your own or others' writing. In our next lesson, I'll introduce you to the two tools that editors use to do their job: copy editors' symbols for editing on paper manuscripts and Word's Track Changes feature for editing on-screen. See you next time! Next Steps Okay, you've finished your first lesson. Now what do you do? You'll want to take the following steps, in any particular order you like: Take the quiz. Reinforce what you learned in the lesson by testing yourself with a short five-question quiz. You can access the quiz for each lesson by clicking the Quizzes link. Do the assignment. Want some hands-on practice applying what you've just learned? Then roll up your sleeves and dig into the assignment! Just click the Assignments link to get to each lesson's assignment. Check out the FAQs. Since learning something new usually raises questions, every lesson in this course comes with an FAQs section. To get to the FAQs, click the Resources link, and then click FAQs. Drop by the Discussion Area. Come talk with me and your fellow students in the Discussion Area! Ask questions about anything that came up in the lesson, and share your insights with everyone. This is where we'll create a learning community. View the index. If you want to find a topic but can't quite where it was, then the index is the place to go. You'll find it by clicking the Resources link, and then clicking Course Index. Browse resources for further learning. I've included a list of recommendations for books so you can continue learning more about this topic long after our time together ends. You'll find these by clicking the Resources link.
Supplementary Material Book Jobs http://www.bookjobs.com This site is devoted exclusively to jobs within the publishing industry. Browse the listings to get a sense of the diversity of editorial jobs available.
iUniverse.com http://www.iuniverse.com https://www.ed2go.com/Classroom/PrintLesson.aspx?classroom=7HPMzob8D3Rj9r6rKNV5xZR8526oyHjqlaWiZTTMAOILyN4JhaZVN8S6cLnRwXUb&lesson=1
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Self-publishing has become wildly popular in recent years. Check out iUniverse's site, in particular to see the editing and production services offered.
Copyediting.com http://www.copyediting.com These folks publish a first-rate newsletter exclusively about copyediting issues. Click the Free Sample Issue link on the left side of the page to sign up for a complimentary newsletter.
FAQs Q: Does it take special training to become a production editor or acquisitions editor? A: Production editors have mostly a business focus, whereas acquisitions editors have a thorough understanding of the publishing industry coupled with good strategic-planning skills. It's conceivable that a strong business background would be enough for someone seeking a job as a production editor, but knowledge of publishing would certainly be a plus. Acquisitions editors usually have solid experience in publishing before they assume that position.
Q: Can a beginning copyeditor tackle developmental work? A: Novice copyeditors might find developmental editing to be too challenging at first. It takes practice to develop the instincts for reorganizing and rewriting. Once you've edited a few manuscripts, however, you'll begin to get a feel for developmental needs and probably be well equipped to try it.
Q: I'm a freelance writer for a weekly newspaper and looking to expand my skills. Could you offer suggestions on how to include this course on my resume? Or is that recommended? A: You should absolutely include the course on your resume—I'm a firm believer that all professional training enhances your marketability. If you're sending out résumés during the time you're taking the course, you should say that you're currently enrolled in a professional editing course. But once you've successfully completed the lessons, count it as bona fide training.
Assignment
Is there a difference between a line edit and a copyedit? And what does an editorial board do? Visit the following Web site to find out. Read as many of the glossary as you have time for. Of particular importance are the editorial , but all of them relate to the publishing industry and will be useful for you to know. About Publishing: Commonly Used If you have questions about any of the you find, come to the Discussion Area and post them there.
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Lesson 1: Printer Friendly What Editors Do Lessons > Lesson 1 > Printer Friendly
Chapter 1 Introduction Welcome to The Keys to Effective Editing. My name is Jackie Landis, and for the next six weeks I'll be sharing with you the knowledge and tricks of the trade that I've picked up during the two decades I've been a working editor. Whether you're interested in pursuing editing as a career or simply want to learn how to fine-tune your own writing, you'll finish this course with the knowledge and skills that will help you pull ahead of the pack with the ability to produce a clean, clear, and concise manuscript. Before we begin, let me tell you a little about myself. As I mentioned, I've been a working editor for nearly 20 years. I have a B.A. in philosophy, and after college I continued my education with an intensive program to hone my editing skills. I also do some writing, as many editors do, but my primary focus is copyediting. Although my work is exclusively freelance these days, I've spent time working for publishers, too. I loved the hustle-bustle of the typical publishing house, but I've found that the freelance life suits me even better. Editing is a word that covers many different stages of the writing business. We'll be taking a look at the different kinds of editors later in this lesson. But it's important for you to know that what we'll focus on in this course is mainly copyediting, a term I'll use interchangeably with editing throughout the course. Copyediting is traditionally defined as the act of preparing text, or copy for the typesetter. Although typesetters are now more commonly known as designers and graphic artists, the copy editor's job remains the same: getting the copy ready for the next step in the publishing chain. For those of you who are taking this course to learn editing techniques for improving your skills as a writer, you'll find out that editors don't work on hunches and gut feelings. Instead, they follow a whole bunch of guidelines and applications to make writers look like geniuses. In the lessons, I'll cover all the elements involved in an editor's everyday work, including methods and tools, usage issues, author-editor relationships, and copyright law. We'll also dip our toes into the dreaded waters of grammar and punctuation—but only briefly and as painlessly as possible. As we wrap up the course work, I'll devote the final lesson to how to get started if you're considering a career as an editor. So let's jump into this fascinating world of editing. In today's lesson, we'll focus on the characteristics of a good editor. We'll take a look at the publishing process, the various levels of editing, and a list of five immutable laws designed to demystify the entire process and make both editing and writing a whole lot easier. Are you ready?
Chapter 2 Characteristics of a Good Editor Have you ever been halfway through a good book only to find a big fat typo? Does it make you crazy to know that such a goof would never have gotten by you? Here's another scenario: You're reading a book in which a character is talking about plans to leave town on Friday night. Then, a couple of pages later, it's Saturday and the character is still around with no explanation. Exasperating? You bet it's exasperating, especially if you have a natural editorial bent. These built-in reactions are actually characteristics of a good editor. Let's look at a few more of the typical qualities of a natural editor. Let me describe you in more detail! You probably like nice pens and pencils and have a good collection of them—everything from fine-point roller balls to expensive mechanical drafting pencils. You undoubtedly have a good command of the English language and like words. Lots of 'em. Big words, little words, obscure words, it doesn't matter. You absorb them and tuck them away in a corner of your brain to retrieve later. https://www.ed2go.com/Classroom/PrintLesson.aspx?classroom=7HPMzob8D3Rj9r6rKNV5xZR8526oyHjqlaWiZTTMAOILyN4JhaZVN8S6cLnRwXUb&lesson=1
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Shall I keep going? You're an exceptionally good speller of all those words you collect. One of my defining moments was at a young age, when I was runner-up in my sixth-grade spelling bee. I handed victory to a classmate by misspelling sacrilegious. But I can tell you this: I have never again misspelled that word. Am I covering familiar territory with you yet? If so, welcome to the wacky, compulsive world of professional editing. The good news is that although we may be a bit obsessive about our commas and the like, no good writer has ever made it to print without an editor who questions, researches, suggests, refines, and tweaks. We are needed. Writers know it, and so do publishers. If you're a writer who's looking simply to improve the technical quality of your work, never fear. You won't be lost here at all. In fact, this is the perfect place for you to pick up the tools you'll need to self-edit your work, a skill that many, many writers could benefit from having. Here's a story I heard not long ago. A writer friend came to me and said, "I had an agent look at my manuscript, but she said it needed so much editing, she put it down without finishing it. I read it over and over again, and it looks fine to me. I don't know what she means." What the agent means is that she couldn't get past all the typos, punctuation errors, and dangling participles to get any good sense of the quality of what she was reading. This isn't to say that my friend's writing isn't fine; I know it is. But many writers, including my friend, find it difficult to edit and proofread their own work. We tend to proofread with our heart, not our brain, and the brain fills in what the eye doesn't see. However, if you're willing to take a little time to absorb some basic editing skills, your writing will improve remarkably. And then publishers and agents will be much more receptive to your work. The Publishing Process What exactly does an editor do? When people ask me that question, if I try to explain all the technical stuff attached to the craft, their eyes start to glaze over. Instead, I usually describe editing like this: Imagine that someone brings you a Faberge egg that's been sitting around in somebody's basement for a long time. As you look at it, you know it has great beauty and value, but it's kind of hard to see underneath all the accumulated dust and grime. So this is your job: to carefully clean up the goo that's detracting from the beauty of the egg. Maybe you'll need to tighten up some ornamentation here and there. Maybe you'll need to scrape away some dried-up mud. Maybe a little piece is broken and needs reshaping. What you won't do is add anything new or change its color or pound it into another shape. When you return the egg to its owner, you'll want the reaction to be, "Oh, this is exactly how I hoped it would be. It's cleaner, brighter, and clearer." That's the desired reaction from an author when you return an edited manuscript. The single most important thing for an editor to is that the work belongs to the author. It's not our job as editors to try to put our mark on it or change the content so that it becomes our writing rather than the author's. Our job is to finesse the author's words and make their meaning clear to the reader. Period. Most editors are writers, too, so it's tempting to try to improve on someone else's writing when you think you know a better way of saying something. A good editor will resist that temptation. The best compliment I've ever gotten from an author whose book I edited came after the project was finished and she had reread the manuscript. "Jackie," she said, "I know you've done a ton of work on my book because we made a lot of changes. But when I read the finished product, I can't what you've taken out or changed or rearranged. It reads just like I've written it." Perfect. Let her live in ignorance because I did my job. I edited the manuscript (and, believe me, it was a big, ugly bear of a manuscript), and she couldn't detect my mark on it. We were both happy. Now let's learn a little about the actual process of publishing, from beginning to end. In recent years, the process has been greatly condensed by electronic publishing and digital printing. The result is that some steps have been eliminated and the process has sped up somewhat. Here's how this process looks today: Manuscript
Copy Editor
Designer-typesetter
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Page proofs
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Final product
1. Manuscript: The author, after writing and rewriting numerous times, completes the final draft of the manuscript and hands it over to the copy editor.
2. Copy editor: The copy editor does two, three, or more read-throughs on the manuscript, working hand in hand with the author to clarify content, answer questions, reorganize as necessary, and clean up grammar, punctuation, and spelling. When both the author and the editor are happy with the manuscript, it goes to the designer-typesetter.
3. Designer-typesetter: The designer-typesetter is the artistic force that takes a manuscript from mere text in a computer file to how it will look when it is printed. These gifted folks, who are also called graphic artists, use graphic-design skills and a comprehensive knowledge of layout principles to create works of art. Once the design process is complete, actual images of the page are printed.
4. Page proofs: Designers-typesetters print the page images directly from their computer files to give to the author for approval. At this point, the copy editor or even a proofreader might take a final look at the proofs to search for lingering errors missed in the copyediting process. 5. Printer: When page proofs are approved, the computer file goes to the printer, who creates the negatives and plates, and then prints the pages that will ultimately become the final product. 6. Final product: Whether the end result is a book, magazine, or newsletter, it gets tweaked a little at every stage of the process until it meets the approval of everyone involved. The final product should be something that brings a smile to everyone's face. Additional back-and-forths between the players can occur at any stage of the process, but this is the general direction a publication takes from raw manuscript to bound and finished product. Keep in mind, too, that the publisher is carefully overseeing the entire process every step of the way. The publisher has undoubtedly read the manuscript in a couple of its versions, given instructions to the editor, worked with the designertypesetter in of what the final product should look like, and set a schedule with the printer.
Chapter 3 The Different Kinds of Editors By now, you've probably picked up on the fact that there are a few other cogs in the publishing wheel besides copy editors. Let's take a look at a few of the other kinds of editors. Acquisitions Editor These are the folks who scout authors and match them to specific projects. The field used to be limited primarily to textbooks, and acquisitions editors would try to locate the best academician to write about a certain subject. Doesn't sound too exciting, does it? These days, the job description has become a little broader. Acquisitions editors need a combination of good instincts and a deep knowledge of the publishing industry and the buying public. They https://www.ed2go.com/Classroom/PrintLesson.aspx?classroom=7HPMzob8D3Rj9r6rKNV5xZR8526oyHjqlaWiZTTMAOILyN4JhaZVN8S6cLnRwXUb&lesson=1
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determine the right project and author combination, and they negotiate contracts. Once a contract is in place, they work with the author to maintain a schedule. A book's marketability is hugely important, and it's the acquisitions editor's job to predict well. For some it's a dream job; for others it's a lot like buying stocks on margin. Developmental Editor Imagine that a publisher has a manuscript from a proven author, like Stephen King, but the manuscript isn't quite up to the standard of his usual writing. Mr. or Ms. Publisher knows it'll be a best seller regardless of how good, bad, or ugly it might be. But publishers do have their standards, and they like their books to be treated kindly by the critics. Enter the developmental editor. These editors work hand in hand with authors, helping them strengthen weaknesses, do more research, rewrite whole chapters, toss out other chapters, and (in fiction) develop characters and plotlines. This is painstaking work and takes the diplomacy and toughness of a United Nations ambassador. Production Editor As we all know, there's a business end to getting a book or magazine printed. That is where production editors take over. Production editors must have strong analytic and organizational skills, along with the ability to manage outside vendors, like printers and distributors. They supervise the manuscript from the point it reaches the editing phase all the way through printing. Some production editors will even serve as the designer-typesetter, too, and then act as liaison to the printer. Designer-Typesetter Designers-typesetters—or graphic artists—are responsible for creating the actual pages that contain words and pictures. They have a ion for typography. This means they design the look of the words to effectively express their content. They choose a font size and style, they design heads and subheads, and they position images on the pages. Only recently has book design become a thriving freelance industry made possible by sophisticated software that allows formatting to be done on a home computer. Book designers have become specialists in this particular area, combining a thorough knowledge of design software such as Adobe InDesign with strong creative skills in graphic design and layout. Deg a publication has become an art form where every detail, from font style to sidebars, gets special treatment. Managing Editor For those with a desire to climb the corporate ladder, this is the ultimate goal in the publishing industry. The managing editor is the equivalent of a chief operating officer. Think of a movie or television show set in a newsroom, where a wise, hard-driven, all-knowing head honcho makes the tough decisions about which stories to run. That decision-making guru is the managing editor. In book and magazine publishing, the reality of the job is a little less frenetic than what you might see on television, but the job is no less demanding in of responsibility. The managing editor oversees the entire process of publishing, from acquisitions to raw manuscript to bound publication. He or she also supervises schedules, budgets, and must be able to manage a team of editors, the production department, and outside vendors. Proofreader Alas, the poor proofreader is an endangered species. Blame computers. Blame tight budgets. Blame short schedules. They all have contributed to the near demise of a once-crucial link in the publishing chain. Publishers who still use proofreaders should get a medal. The proofreader's critical importance has not diminished even though the career prospects have dimmed. A traditional proofreader would get what's called a galley, a kind of photocopy of what a typesetter would produce from an edited manuscript. The proofreader would compare the galley to the copyedited manuscript, looking for anything that didn't reflect the copy editor's marks. At the same time, the proofreader would be on the lookout for typos and misspellings that slipped by the copy editor. From the proofreader, the manuscript would then go back to the typesetter for fixes. Today, the copy editor, the author, and anyone who happens to read the manuscript serve as unofficial proofreaders. Furthermore, editing often takes place entirely on-screen (more about that in our next lesson). Therefore, the whole galley-proofreading process is often eliminated. Usually authors will get to see page proofs—actual printouts of what the printed page will look like—and that's their last chance to make corrections. On rare occasions, a proofreader will still get a shot at taking one last look, but this is increasingly rare these days. Other Editors This miscellaneous category includes very specialized editors, such as photo editors, permissions editors, subsidiary rights editors, and factcheckers. These editors typically work in-house for large publishers that produce a huge volume of printed material, much of which needs special handling. Photo editors secure the rights to reprint photos from their owners. Permissions editors track down authors of material to be reprinted or incorporated into another work and secure permission to use that material. Not as easy as it sounds. It involves lots of paperwork and https://www.ed2go.com/Classroom/PrintLesson.aspx?classroom=7HPMzob8D3Rj9r6rKNV5xZR8526oyHjqlaWiZTTMAOILyN4JhaZVN8S6cLnRwXUb&lesson=1
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negotiation. Those who handle subsidiary rights deal with foreign markets and multimedia production of books and articles. Finally, we have fact-checkers, who serve as the conscience and the insurance policy for publishers. They don't assume that authors are always right, and they make sure that what gets printed is correct. Copy Editors At last, the good stuff! I saved copy editors for last because they are what this course is all about. We've already talked a little about some of the characteristics of a copy editor (those who like words, are good spellers, are keen on spotting typos, and so on). But the skills of a good copy editor must go even further. Copy editors must be able to assess a sentence on several different levels at the same time, looking for flaws in spelling, grammar, punctuation, style, flow, and content. Now, on to our job. Typical copyediting is done on one of three different levels. Light Copyediting When asked to do a light edit on a manuscript, you can assume that the content is finished and that the manuscript is just about ready to go to production. In a light edit, the copy editor is responsible for correcting faults in the following areas: Spelling, grammar, and punctuation Capitalization Numbers Hyphen use Lists of items Table of contents Table and figure numbers What you don't want to do in a light copyedit is start questioning the author about content or style problems. Even if you think a manuscript is weak in these areas, you're best advised to keep your lips zipped. Chances are, someone already knows it, and it isn't your job to play critic at this point. If, however, you were to find big inconsistencies or factual errors in a light copyediting assignment, you should never hesitate to point them out to your client or employer in a diplomatically worded memo. Don't expect a thank-you, but you'll sleep better knowing that you at least tried to save the author and the publisher some embarrassment. Medium Copyediting A medium, or regular, copyedit is the most typical assignment editors get. Responsibilities include all the duties of a light copyedit as well as ensuring correctness and consistency in these areas: Gender neutrality: In today's world, it's simply wrong to use he when referring to a generic person. You sometimes have to be creative to achieve gender neutrality in writing, but it can be done. We'll explore ways to do this in a later lesson. Format: This may seem like a job for the designer-typesetter, but in fact it can sometimes belong to you. Copy editors make sure that titles, heads, and subheads are consistent and noted appropriately within the manuscript. You'll also look for consistent formatting of lists, tables, and figures. Content and style: In addition to the basics, copy editors scrutinize content and style in a medium copyedit. When evaluating content and style, look for these key attributes: Audience: Does the text speak to its intended audience? Imagine you're editing a psychology self-help book meant for a general audience, and it's top-heavy with professional jargon like Dysphoria and Metacognition and Cathexis. In fact, it seems like you have to stop and look up every other word. Is this manuscript serving its intended audience? No! You have to make sure that the level of writing matches the level of the audience. Logic and clarity: Are the ideas presented in a logical, clear, and coherent format? If you find yourself reading a paragraph and saying, "Huh?" at the end of it, chances are the reader will, too. Word usage: Are the right words used to convey the intended meaning? Are clichés and hackneyed expressions overused? Do the https://www.ed2go.com/Classroom/PrintLesson.aspx?classroom=7HPMzob8D3Rj9r6rKNV5xZR8526oyHjqlaWiZTTMAOILyN4JhaZVN8S6cLnRwXUb&lesson=1
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words create a picture for the reader? Editors should also catch commonly misused words, like affect instead of effect. Heavy Copyediting This is also known as substantive copyediting. Here's where you get into some heavy-duty style work in addition to everything required in a light and medium copyedit. A good copy editor will pick these things up in a medium edit, but it's easy to miss them unless your mind is tuned in for them or you've been instructed to look for them. In a heavy copyedit, look for these problems: Redundancies Wordiness, triteness Vague generalizations Weak sentence style Organizational weakness Lack of focus This involves lots of heavy, labor-intensive work and diplomacy with the author. The reason is that you, the editor, shouldn't be rewriting the manuscript yourself. It's okay to make suggestions to the author, but any rewriting should come from the original source. On rare occasions, an author will ask the editor to make an appropriate rewrite. But you should never do it without clear authorization. Those are the duties of a copy editor. Now let's move on to Chapter 4 and talk about some key points to that'll help make your job a whole lot easier.
Chapter 4 The Five Immutable Laws of Editing I promised that before the end of this lesson, I'd give you my five immutable laws of copyediting. Learn them, live them, and love them. These laws are designed to guide you through every stage and every level of editing and ultimately make your job as a writer or an editor easier. If you follow them, I promise they'll serve you well. Immutable Law 1: Look It Up Sounds obvious, doesn't it? You'd be amazed, though, at how much we rely on memory to ensure that facts are correct and that spelling and grammar are in order. You'd be even more amazed to find out how often we're wrong. Word processing programs have spelling checkers, which can be lifesavers (and time-savers, too), but they're not infallible. For example, which is correct: work week or work week ? A spelling checker says they both are, but the dictionary nails the proper spelling as work week . If you have the teeniest doubt about spelling, usage, or factual correctness, look it up. Here's a classic example. I recently edited a manuscript that included a quote from Epictetus, whom the author identified as a Roman philosopher. Coincidentally, I had just finished reading a novel that mentioned Epictetus, and I was pretty sure my author had misspelled his name. When I looked our friend up in my biographical dictionary, I found that the author had indeed spelled his name wrong. I also discovered that Epictetus was Greek, not Roman. That's what's called a lucky catch. Editors are grateful for them, but they make us nervous, too, because we then wonder what we might have missed. Lucky catches just pound home the importance of constantly looking it up, no matter how much you think you know. Immutable Law 2: Be Consistent Proper names, numbers, and abbreviations present special problems because there are so many ways to write them. You'll usually have a set of standards to follow, whether the standards come from a style manual or they're something that the author and the publisher dictate. But variations are the rule rather than the exception, and it's up to you to make sure the style is consistent. Here's an example. I edited a diet and fitness book that included a diet plan called the Stuff Program. Throughout the manuscript, the author wrote it as the Stuff Plan, the Stuff-it Program, and even in one case, the Stuffed Program. To further complicate matters, the author's capitalization varied with every mention of it. The first thing I did was clarify with the author the exact name of the plan and whether or not she wanted it capitalized throughout the manuscript or only in section heads. Then it was my job to make sure it was named, spelled, and capitalized consistently everywhere it https://www.ed2go.com/Classroom/PrintLesson.aspx?classroom=7HPMzob8D3Rj9r6rKNV5xZR8526oyHjqlaWiZTTMAOILyN4JhaZVN8S6cLnRwXUb&lesson=1
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appeared. Immutable Law 3: The New York Times Isn't Infallible We're human. We have an ingrained respect for such noteworthy publications as the New York Times and Time magazine and books published by giants like Random House. So it's natural to read something that may seem questionable to you, but because it's the New York Times, it must be right. Right? Wrong! The folks who put together newspapers, magazines, and books are just as human as we are and just as capable of error. I reading a newspaper article some years ago that identified Phoenix, Arizona, as the sixth-largest city in the United States. This caught my attention because I had just finished writing an article that stated with certainty that San Diego, California, was the sixth-largest city and that Phoenix was the seventh. I frantically ran to call my editor to see if I could make a quick change before the article went to press. I then ed Immutable Law 3, stopped myself, and called the chamber of commerce in both cities to get the latest population count. I found that I was right in the first place. A few days later, a correction appeared in the offending newspaper, placing Phoenix back where it belonged at the time: in seventh place. Immutable Law 4: Editing Is Subjective I can hear you now: "What do you mean subjective? What about all those rules we have to follow?" Relax; this is a good law, and it'll make your life easier. The English language is constantly evolving. New words and new forms of usage appear constantly. As editors, we need to be aware of current usage as well as evolving usage. We should maintain the flexibility to adapt. I can give you an example that appears in this lesson. The term best seller is in constant transition. In the past decade, it has appeared in dictionaries as bestseller, best-seller, and its current form, best seller. It changes so often that I can scarcely keep up with it. What this means is that rules of punctuation, grammar, style, and usage are not completely rigid. Writers and editors do have some latitude in deciding how to proceed. Even my most trusted editor's resource, the Chicago Manual of Style, agrees. Dictating inflexible guidelines in areas where there is little justification for them would probably result in many more instances of poor writing. We prefer to trust in the judgment of most writers (and in the even better judgment of their editors). Immutable Law 5: Perfection Is the Enemy of Done Every editor's dream is to complete work on a manuscript and have it be flawless. I've been an editor for more years than I care to count, and it hasn't happened yet. In fact, I'm tempted to create a sixth immutable law: When you receive a brand-new book that you've edited, fresh from the printer, I can almost guarantee you'll find a typo on the first page you look at. It might not be something noticeable to the average reader. It might be that you had the Stuff Program on page 2, and now here on page 312 you have it as the Stuff program. You'll know you should have capitalized that second p, and you'll want to kick yourself. Get over it. You'll never achieve perfection. There will always be something that could use a little fix, a little tweak, or a little finesse. If you insist on perfection, you will never, ever finish. Your work is nearly always deadline-driven, and you simply don't have the time to make it as perfect as you'd like. You can come close. In fact, you're expected to come close. However, pure perfection is a pipe dream, and it stops progress cold. Learn the art of letting go.
Chapter 5 Summary You now have the basics of an editor's job. If it sounds formidable, don't let it scare you. We'll take it one step at a time. Today you learned about the qualities that define a successful editor: an eye for detail and a good ability for spelling and grammar. You may have seen yourself in the description, or you may feel like you come up a bit short. Not to worry. Much of what an editor does, you learn. It's easier if you have some inherent traits, but it's not impossible if you don't. We also took a close look at what an editor does. Most of a copy editor's work involves being able to assess a sentence on several different levels at once, watching for spelling, punctuation, grammar, and usage errors. If you're a writer or an aspiring editor, you might be looking at writing in an entirely different way already. If this seems like a lot, give it some time to sink in. All new concepts have a learning curve, and editing is no different. https://www.ed2go.com/Classroom/PrintLesson.aspx?classroom=7HPMzob8D3Rj9r6rKNV5xZR8526oyHjqlaWiZTTMAOILyN4JhaZVN8S6cLnRwXUb&lesson=1
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During our discussion of the publishing process and the editors that oversee it, you might have seen a different kind of editor that appeals to you. Publishing is a vast, complex process, and every level has its own excitement. Learning the ins and outs of copyediting will serve you well no matter what kind of editor you'd like to be: copy editor, managing editor, production editor, developmental editor, book designer, or something even more specialized. The three levels of editing—light, medium, and heavy—are important to because they have different demands. Most important of all, I hope you'll take to heart my five immutable laws of editing. They will be your friend and help boost your confidence as you edit your own or others' writing. In our next lesson, I'll introduce you to the two tools that editors use to do their job: copy editors' symbols for editing on paper manuscripts and Word's Track Changes feature for editing on-screen. See you next time! Next Steps Okay, you've finished your first lesson. Now what do you do? You'll want to take the following steps, in any particular order you like: Take the quiz. Reinforce what you learned in the lesson by testing yourself with a short five-question quiz. You can access the quiz for each lesson by clicking the Quizzes link. Do the assignment. Want some hands-on practice applying what you've just learned? Then roll up your sleeves and dig into the assignment! Just click the Assignments link to get to each lesson's assignment. Check out the FAQs. Since learning something new usually raises questions, every lesson in this course comes with an FAQs section. To get to the FAQs, click the Resources link, and then click FAQs. Drop by the Discussion Area. Come talk with me and your fellow students in the Discussion Area! Ask questions about anything that came up in the lesson, and share your insights with everyone. This is where we'll create a learning community. View the index. If you want to find a topic but can't quite where it was, then the index is the place to go. You'll find it by clicking the Resources link, and then clicking Course Index. Browse resources for further learning. I've included a list of recommendations for books so you can continue learning more about this topic long after our time together ends. You'll find these by clicking the Resources link.
Supplementary Material Book Jobs http://www.bookjobs.com This site is devoted exclusively to jobs within the publishing industry. Browse the listings to get a sense of the diversity of editorial jobs available.
iUniverse.com http://www.iuniverse.com https://www.ed2go.com/Classroom/PrintLesson.aspx?classroom=7HPMzob8D3Rj9r6rKNV5xZR8526oyHjqlaWiZTTMAOILyN4JhaZVN8S6cLnRwXUb&lesson=1
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Self-publishing has become wildly popular in recent years. Check out iUniverse's site, in particular to see the editing and production services offered.
Copyediting.com http://www.copyediting.com These folks publish a first-rate newsletter exclusively about copyediting issues. Click the Free Sample Issue link on the left side of the page to sign up for a complimentary newsletter.
FAQs Q: Does it take special training to become a production editor or acquisitions editor? A: Production editors have mostly a business focus, whereas acquisitions editors have a thorough understanding of the publishing industry coupled with good strategic-planning skills. It's conceivable that a strong business background would be enough for someone seeking a job as a production editor, but knowledge of publishing would certainly be a plus. Acquisitions editors usually have solid experience in publishing before they assume that position.
Q: Can a beginning copyeditor tackle developmental work? A: Novice copyeditors might find developmental editing to be too challenging at first. It takes practice to develop the instincts for reorganizing and rewriting. Once you've edited a few manuscripts, however, you'll begin to get a feel for developmental needs and probably be well equipped to try it.
Q: I'm a freelance writer for a weekly newspaper and looking to expand my skills. Could you offer suggestions on how to include this course on my resume? Or is that recommended? A: You should absolutely include the course on your resume—I'm a firm believer that all professional training enhances your marketability. If you're sending out résumés during the time you're taking the course, you should say that you're currently enrolled in a professional editing course. But once you've successfully completed the lessons, count it as bona fide training.
Assignment
Is there a difference between a line edit and a copyedit? And what does an editorial board do? Visit the following Web site to find out. Read as many of the glossary as you have time for. Of particular importance are the editorial , but all of them relate to the publishing industry and will be useful for you to know. About Publishing: Commonly Used If you have questions about any of the you find, come to the Discussion Area and post them there.
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