A word (or two) about editing
FROM CAROLE HERSELF
It's an unending source of mystification and irony to me that the words 'editing' and 'editor' -- the core meaning of each being precision -- are used so imprecisely so that functioning as an editor can mean everything from "make a change" or "fancy proof-reading" to the role of ultimate gatekeeper, writing coach and decision maker about content as practiced by the likes of Maxwell Perkins and Ben Bradlee.
While neither gentleman needs worry (yet) about me replacing him in the annals of publishing, I'm at my professional best when approaching their end of the spectrum of editorial responsibility. Admittedly, and with all due respect, I bring stellar copy-editing skills to the table, and I speak the language of copy editors as well as writers. Nonetheless, I thrive on the greater overarching responsibility of driving and shaping content while advocating for both writer and reader. I excel at coordinating and collaborating within a team and among media as well as practicing the rules of engagement by means of accessible and captivating topics, copy, design or delivery mechanisms. I enjoy both writing and editing. (Be sure to visit my Content Development page for measurables and additional samples to verify my accomplishments as an editor.)
For clarity (within this website at least) -- and as reflected in billing practices in the freelance world -- I distinguish between the following editorial roles and functions based on the extent to which they affect content and change or shape words on the page:
EDITOR
In keeping with the goals of a communications plan, this content specialist decides how best to deliver on the message: via which media, in what voice, from what angle? Wearing many hats along the way, the editor delegates and does, cajoles and coaches, reshapes and refines, improves and disapproves, compromises and holds fast. This gatekeeper guides a publication (print or digital) from concept to delivery -- with occasional stops for testing and surveys -- and is often the one to either sign off or flip on the lights at launch time. Of course there are many warranted layers of editors on larger publications (executive editors, managing editors, assistant editors and more), some of whom may lose sleep over budgets and numbers more than how to communicate a corporate culture or stay on brand in a given media. My focus and specialty is the editor who leads the content side of a team. A last marker: While no one can be a master at all the publishing specialties, a strong editor is masterful in all the separate functions such as print vs. online, design, photography, writing, production, branding, SEO, social media and marketing, for starters.
SUBSTANTIVE EDITING+
While the person doing a substantive edit may not be involved with the overarching pre-draft publication-wide decisions as above, a substantive edit entails restructuring an article; adding titles and subheads or improving those in place; rewriting or adding copy; moving paragraphs; asking for photos or art, choosing pull quotes, or suggesting other design elements; writing captions or clarifying art elements such as graph language; and copy editing.
COPY EDITING+
Functioning primarily as the enforcers of an agreed-upon voice and style, copy editors mark up manuscript so it conforms to an in-house or industry style (such as Chicago, GPO or AP Style). They fix inconsistencies, correct grammar, address capitalization, flag dropped copy and are expert about the rules of grammar or a given style. Good copy editors participate in building or generating a style guide, and the best flag and query authors and editors to ensure clarity. They can be partly defined by what they don't tend to do: write. Copy editors don't usually add copy or write per se, but rather rewrite or restructure smaller chunks of copy, usually a sentence or two at a time. Once a manuscript has been placed in pages, copy editors may be expected to check design elements such as spacing, levels of head, column length and word breaks.
PROOFREADING
Proofreaders are the clean-sweep artists during the final stages of production after all content and design issues have been resolved. Like copy editors, proofreaders check corrections and ensure consistency -- especially among detailed lists as found in references, indexes, addresses and URLs -- and are also responsible for spelling, capitalization and basic grammar. Column and word breaks tend to take on an increased importance in these very last passes, as does testing that links, URLs and page jumps are accurate.
+ The samples below clarify the finer distinctions between these two functions.
ISN'T IT IRONIC? I know. I start with irony and end up demonstrating it by having so much to say about this of all topics. Physician, heal thyself ...
FROM BRAND STRATEGIST & ENTREPRENEURSHIP HEAVYWEIGHT AMY SWIFT CROSBY
(( blog link :: http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/?u=241b01c3fa4a0291a31c662f5&id=071403a690&e=46e44c706a ))
11/22/16 Editors.
I was recently in a LA/NYC hot spot – a true den of trends – where it felt like the team, earnest as they probably are, said yes a little more than no. Apart from wool-vested, man-bun clad bartenders and suspender wearing, Japanese denim-adorned waiters, they had somehow captured every interior restaurant trend of the past ten years, in 3,000 square feet. Macrame? Check. Distressed wood? Check. Subway tile? Check. Repurposed shipping container? Check. Faux-industrialized materials in every corner possible? Check. I saw Austin, Brooklyn, Portland and Venice – bundled up into one unedited concept.
Every writer, every designer, everyone, everywhere, benefits from an editor. If I could have an editor every time I publish this blog, I would, and typically I have a very good one edit my work before clients see it. Writers benefit because we can’t discard what we don’t know is in the way. We can’t replace ‘meh’ words with better words when those were the words that seemed best when we wrote them. Editors have a perspective that sees the good, replaces the less effective, and removes the rest. They de-clutter. They see the mission and make sure you’re meeting it. All creative endeavors benefit from such a person, but it’s hard for some of us to admit it because we mistakenly see their participation as an intrusion on something sacred.
In my role as a brand strategist and writer, I often wear the hat of creative director as well. Overseeing design means I see what’s working, and what isn’t, and support the designer to land in the right place. It doesn’t mean I can design – I can’t. And it doesn’t mean I know more than she does – I don’t. But we all want the best work, and that usually requires a healthy tension between the first version and the third.
Editors are essential.
Find a good one.
Then, let them take your precious ideas, concepts and manifestations – and force a focus, a distillation and a commitment to something better.
Because it almost always will be.
It's an unending source of mystification and irony to me that the words 'editing' and 'editor' -- the core meaning of each being precision -- are used so imprecisely so that functioning as an editor can mean everything from "make a change" or "fancy proof-reading" to the role of ultimate gatekeeper, writing coach and decision maker about content as practiced by the likes of Maxwell Perkins and Ben Bradlee.
While neither gentleman needs worry (yet) about me replacing him in the annals of publishing, I'm at my professional best when approaching their end of the spectrum of editorial responsibility. Admittedly, and with all due respect, I bring stellar copy-editing skills to the table, and I speak the language of copy editors as well as writers. Nonetheless, I thrive on the greater overarching responsibility of driving and shaping content while advocating for both writer and reader. I excel at coordinating and collaborating within a team and among media as well as practicing the rules of engagement by means of accessible and captivating topics, copy, design or delivery mechanisms. I enjoy both writing and editing. (Be sure to visit my Content Development page for measurables and additional samples to verify my accomplishments as an editor.)
For clarity (within this website at least) -- and as reflected in billing practices in the freelance world -- I distinguish between the following editorial roles and functions based on the extent to which they affect content and change or shape words on the page:
EDITOR
In keeping with the goals of a communications plan, this content specialist decides how best to deliver on the message: via which media, in what voice, from what angle? Wearing many hats along the way, the editor delegates and does, cajoles and coaches, reshapes and refines, improves and disapproves, compromises and holds fast. This gatekeeper guides a publication (print or digital) from concept to delivery -- with occasional stops for testing and surveys -- and is often the one to either sign off or flip on the lights at launch time. Of course there are many warranted layers of editors on larger publications (executive editors, managing editors, assistant editors and more), some of whom may lose sleep over budgets and numbers more than how to communicate a corporate culture or stay on brand in a given media. My focus and specialty is the editor who leads the content side of a team. A last marker: While no one can be a master at all the publishing specialties, a strong editor is masterful in all the separate functions such as print vs. online, design, photography, writing, production, branding, SEO, social media and marketing, for starters.
SUBSTANTIVE EDITING+
While the person doing a substantive edit may not be involved with the overarching pre-draft publication-wide decisions as above, a substantive edit entails restructuring an article; adding titles and subheads or improving those in place; rewriting or adding copy; moving paragraphs; asking for photos or art, choosing pull quotes, or suggesting other design elements; writing captions or clarifying art elements such as graph language; and copy editing.
COPY EDITING+
Functioning primarily as the enforcers of an agreed-upon voice and style, copy editors mark up manuscript so it conforms to an in-house or industry style (such as Chicago, GPO or AP Style). They fix inconsistencies, correct grammar, address capitalization, flag dropped copy and are expert about the rules of grammar or a given style. Good copy editors participate in building or generating a style guide, and the best flag and query authors and editors to ensure clarity. They can be partly defined by what they don't tend to do: write. Copy editors don't usually add copy or write per se, but rather rewrite or restructure smaller chunks of copy, usually a sentence or two at a time. Once a manuscript has been placed in pages, copy editors may be expected to check design elements such as spacing, levels of head, column length and word breaks.
PROOFREADING
Proofreaders are the clean-sweep artists during the final stages of production after all content and design issues have been resolved. Like copy editors, proofreaders check corrections and ensure consistency -- especially among detailed lists as found in references, indexes, addresses and URLs -- and are also responsible for spelling, capitalization and basic grammar. Column and word breaks tend to take on an increased importance in these very last passes, as does testing that links, URLs and page jumps are accurate.
+ The samples below clarify the finer distinctions between these two functions.
ISN'T IT IRONIC? I know. I start with irony and end up demonstrating it by having so much to say about this of all topics. Physician, heal thyself ...
FROM BRAND STRATEGIST & ENTREPRENEURSHIP HEAVYWEIGHT AMY SWIFT CROSBY
(( blog link :: http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/?u=241b01c3fa4a0291a31c662f5&id=071403a690&e=46e44c706a ))
11/22/16 Editors.
I was recently in a LA/NYC hot spot – a true den of trends – where it felt like the team, earnest as they probably are, said yes a little more than no. Apart from wool-vested, man-bun clad bartenders and suspender wearing, Japanese denim-adorned waiters, they had somehow captured every interior restaurant trend of the past ten years, in 3,000 square feet. Macrame? Check. Distressed wood? Check. Subway tile? Check. Repurposed shipping container? Check. Faux-industrialized materials in every corner possible? Check. I saw Austin, Brooklyn, Portland and Venice – bundled up into one unedited concept.
Every writer, every designer, everyone, everywhere, benefits from an editor. If I could have an editor every time I publish this blog, I would, and typically I have a very good one edit my work before clients see it. Writers benefit because we can’t discard what we don’t know is in the way. We can’t replace ‘meh’ words with better words when those were the words that seemed best when we wrote them. Editors have a perspective that sees the good, replaces the less effective, and removes the rest. They de-clutter. They see the mission and make sure you’re meeting it. All creative endeavors benefit from such a person, but it’s hard for some of us to admit it because we mistakenly see their participation as an intrusion on something sacred.
In my role as a brand strategist and writer, I often wear the hat of creative director as well. Overseeing design means I see what’s working, and what isn’t, and support the designer to land in the right place. It doesn’t mean I can design – I can’t. And it doesn’t mean I know more than she does – I don’t. But we all want the best work, and that usually requires a healthy tension between the first version and the third.
Editors are essential.
Find a good one.
Then, let them take your precious ideas, concepts and manifestations – and force a focus, a distillation and a commitment to something better.
Because it almost always will be.
How I perform ...
AS AN EDITOR
Please see my Content Development page for the best representation of how I function with the responsibilities of shaping content and the message, delivering a regular publication, and improving an end product.
WHEN DOING A SUBSTANTIVE EDIT vs. COPY EDITING
The downloads below demonstrate how I execute each of these distinct functions.
Please see my Content Development page for the best representation of how I function with the responsibilities of shaping content and the message, delivering a regular publication, and improving an end product.
WHEN DOING A SUBSTANTIVE EDIT vs. COPY EDITING
The downloads below demonstrate how I execute each of these distinct functions.
Substantive editing
Notice how both of these editing passes capture on paper a conversation between editor and writer to define more precisely the audience and goals of the piece as well as editorial input to hone the language.
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Copy editing
My first sample is a light copy edit done to an eighth-edition textbook, so the content had passed through multiple prior generations of copy editors as well as author updates. The Yosemite article is an example of a typical level of copy editing.
|
An editorial toolbox
To ensure consistency and excellence as well as save time (and headaches and money), I'm a proponent of open-ended in-house style guides. The sample style guide below reflects McGraw-Hill's internal style adapted to a psychology college textbook series. Enterprise-wide style guides outside the publishing world can be a daunting pipe dream, but I nevertheless actively seek and participate in editorial information-sharing across business areas in a quixotic quest for organizational consistency.
Other examples of how to to keep everyone on the same page (literally) are the cheat sheet and line gauge shown below. When I run across writers and designers (and yes, sometimes copy editors) who are unschooled in the common language of mark-up conventions, one easy coaching solution is to create a customized cheat sheet like this that demonstrates proofreading symbols for marking up a manuscript, which is particularly invaluable for print and when production is outsourced. And for print publications especially, line gauges help designers and editors.
Other examples of how to to keep everyone on the same page (literally) are the cheat sheet and line gauge shown below. When I run across writers and designers (and yes, sometimes copy editors) who are unschooled in the common language of mark-up conventions, one easy coaching solution is to create a customized cheat sheet like this that demonstrates proofreading symbols for marking up a manuscript, which is particularly invaluable for print and when production is outsourced. And for print publications especially, line gauges help designers and editors.
mcgraw_hill_style_sheet.pdf | |
File Size: | 199 kb |
File Type: |
gts_line_gauge.jpg | |
File Size: | 1065 kb |
File Type: | jpg |