Writers and Editors

• Links to organizations, resources, and tips for editors
• Books for editors
• Books on indexing
• Interesting examples of heavy editing in literature

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Editing is not just finding and correcting spelling and grammatical errors. In looking to hire an editor, be sure to figure out which purpose you are hiring them for. Different types and levels of editing call for editors who charge different rates, or require different amounts of time and levels and kinds of expertise (and eye, or ear). For an excellent essay on what magazine and literary editors do (acquiring pieces for publication), and why, read "No" by Brian Doyle, to which I have provided a link below.

Chapter 1 of the code of fair practices posted online by the Editorial Freelancers Association (see link below) describes the various types of writing and editorial services (abstracting, copyediting or line editing, copyfitting and page makeup, desktop publishing, developmental editing, evaluating a manuscript, illustrating, indexing, project management, proofreading, researching, rewriting, substantive editing, technical writing, translating, typemarking, writing).

What an editor charges depends very much on what the local market will bear, but a proofreader will generally charge less than a copyeditor, who will typically charge less than a substantive editor, who will generally charge less than a writer. Book publishers tend to pay on the low side. Technical and marketing copy command higher rates than other copy, for different reasons (the technical writer must be able to make the meaning clear without changing it; the editor of marketing copy must aim for the best "selling" copy, which requires a different kind of flair). Experience and expertise count for a lot, so an editor with a law degree, for example, can expect to be paid more for more editing legal documents. Good judgment, common sense, and a deep and wide enough knowledge either to spot errors or to know when to check things out are important skills in an editor. Tact in editing will help you get return clients!

Editors and copyeditors: What they do. Do you want to hire (or be) a developmental editor, substantive editor, copyeditor, production editor, assignment editor, or proofreader? Read up on the different functions:
• Becoming an Editor (from the blog, This Crazy Industry)
• Black day for the blue pencil (Blake Morrison, Guardian)
• Developing New Levels of Edit (Judyth Prono, Martha DeLanoy, Robert Deupree, Jeffrey Skiby, and Brian Thompson, STC, revising levels of edit for technical editing, as originally spelled out by Van Buren and Buehler), PDF
• Editing: What? (Delores Farmer and Sherry Southard on levels of editing)
• Editorial skills, categorized and defined (Editors Association of Canada)

• An Evolving Model for Editing (Deborah Howell, Ombudsman, WaPo, on the changing role of the editor as newspaper staffs are cut)
• How (Freelance) Editors Operate (San Diego Professional Editors Network)
• How to Become a Developmental Editor (Scott Norton)
• Levels of Edit (San Diego Professional Editors Network)
• Showcasing the Work Editors Do (Bay Area Editors' Forum), links to many useful articles
• Stop Editing Me (Scott Norton on the editor's natural bent)
• Unraveling the Mysteries of the Editing Process (Erin Brenner, The Writing Resource)
• What Editors Do (Lynette Smith's useful chart, San Diego Professional Editors Network), PDF
• What exactly does a newspaper copy editor do? (Bill Walsh, The Slot, and check his other entries, too)
• Your Copy Sucks: You Don't Even Know What "Edit" Means (TJ Dietderich, PRBreakfastClub)

Bob Miller: The Coming Editorial Crisis. HarperCollins chief Bob Miller tells Media Bistro about economic variables shaping publishing industry and prospects of "more work for fewer people" ahead, with YouTube video of his comments.

Book Doctors and Independent (Freelance, Consulting) Editors--What They Do
• Book Doctors: The Real Deal (Susan A. Schwartz on what to look for in an editor)
• The Doctor Will See You Now (interview with Lisa Rojany-Buccieri, who explains the difference between book doctors, editors, and ghostwriters and offers practical insights into what a book doctor can and cannot do)
• Common Rates for Editorial Services (Editorial Freelancers Association)
• Frequently Asked Questions about Editors (Tara K. Harper, who doesn't put much faith in book doctors)
• Independent Editors and Assessment Services (Writers Beware's excellent article and links, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America)
• A Professional Critique: What Should You Receive for Your Money? (Margot Finke)
• Ten Signs of a Scam Book Doctor (Jerry Gross, an old hand in the business!)
• What a Good Editor Will Do for You (Jerry Gross interviews Viking editor Beena Kamlani on what to expect from an editor in a publishing house, Writer's Digest, 2-11-08)

Dear Writer: Reasons to Love and Fear Your Copyeditor (Sally Fisher Saller, the Subversive Copy Editor, in Prime Number)

18 strategies for brainstorming a title, an excellent guide to developing great titles, from Developmental Editing: A Handbook for Freelancers, Authors, and Publishers by Scott Norton, posted on Scrib'd

How to become a developmental editor by Scott Norton, from his book Developmental Editing: A Handbook for Freelancers, Authors, and Publishers (excerpt posted on Scrib'd)

Indexing, getting started. Study the Chicago Manual of Style on indexing, read Nancy Mulvany's book, Indexing Books (second edition), and attend workshops of the American Society for Indexing. Get started by specializing in a niche, a special area you are knowledgeable in. Join an editorial or indexers' listserv as you'll want a place to ask peers questions about problems that come up.

Metadata, about:
• Metadata Demystified: A Guide for Publishers (PDF, Amy Brand, Frank Daly, Barbara Meyers, Niso Press)
• Publishers Take Seat at Metadata Table with Giant Chair (Jennifer Zaino, Semantic Web, 3-1-10).
• Metadata is the new most important thing to know about (Mike Shatzkin, IdeaLogical, 6-8-10)

The Wealthy Freelancer: 12 Secrets to a Great Income and an Enviable Lifestyle by Steve Slaunwhite, Ed Gandia, and Pete Savage (available by Kindle or as paperback). The blog: The Wealthy Freelancer

Writing Tics: Now You See Them, Now You Don't (The Subversive Copy Editor, 7-22-10, an interesting way of framing a common problem)

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BOOKS FOR EDITORS:

• AP Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law (an essential style guide for magazine and newspaper writing and editing, but absolutely not okay for editing books)

• The Art of Literary Publishing: Editors on Their Craft by Bill Henderson

• Book Business: Publishing Past, Present, and Future by Jason Epstein (based on series of lectures he gave at the N.Y. Public Library in 1999)

• The Business of Books: How the International Conglomerates Took Over Publishing and Changed the Way We Read by Jason Epstein (a reality check for the idealistic)

• The Chicago Manual of Style by University of Chicago Press Staff (16th edition, baby blue cover: the style bible for books, geared to professional and academic authors. The Subversive Copy Editor offers a sneak peek at changes from the 15th edition. If you have the budget, you might also want Words Into Type)

• Copyediting: A Practical Guide by Karen Judd (read the reviews before buying this one)

• The Copyeditor's Handbook: A Guide for Book Publishing and Corporate Communications by Amy Einsohn (with exercises and useful answer key)

• Developmental Editing: A Handbook for Freelancers, Authors, and Publishers by Scott Norton, posted on Scrib'd

• Editing by Design by Jan V. White (well illustrated book on graphic design through which even wordsmiths can learn the value of white space etc.)

• Editing Fact and Fiction by Leslie T. Sharpe, Irene Gunther, and Richard Marek

• The Editor-in-Chief: A Management Guide for Magazine Editors by Benton Rain Patterson and Coleman E. P. Patterson (have not reviewed this one)

• Editors on Editing: What Writers Need to Know About What Editors Do, by Gerald C. Gross (these essays by various editors in book publishing explain how the book publishing business works and what various types of editors do)

• Edit Yourself, by Bruce Ross-Larson (how to edit bureaucratic flab into clearer, crisper, and more effective sentences); Bruce also has a series of workbooks for writing courses at the World Bank and similar organizations

• The Fiction Editor, The Novel, and the Novelist, by Thomas McCormack

• The Fine Art of Copy Editing by Elsie Myers Stainton

• The Forest for the Trees: An Editor's Advice to Writers by Betsy Lerner

• A Freelance Editor's Guide to Book Production by Rachel Hockett (EFA)

• Garner's Modern American Usage by Bryan A. Garner (the very best guide to word usage, for such things as the difference between "historic" and "historical" -- an invaluable tool for wordsmiths)

• Handbook of Writing for the Mathematical Sciences by Nicholas J. Higham

• Levels of Technical Editing, by David E. Nadziejka (Council of Biology Editors)

• Line by Line: How to Edit Your Own Writing by Claire Kerhwald Cook (line by line examples of how copyeditors fix sentences)

• Making Word Work for You: An Editor's Intro to the Tools of the Trade by Hilary Powers, download for $10.25, 80 pages, or order the book for slightly more.

• Mark My Words: Instruction and Practice in Proofreading by Peggy Smith (exercises and answer keys help readers learn skills step by step)

• Max Perkins: Editor of Genius by A. Scott Berg (Perkins edited F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and Thomas Wolfe, among others)

• The NY Times Manual of Style and Usage by Allan M. Siegal

• Recipes Into Type: A Handbook for Cookbook Writers and Editors by Joan Whitman and Dolores Simon

• Selected Takes: Film Editors on Editing by Vincent LoBrutto

• Side by Side: Five Favorite Picture Book Teams Go to Work , by Leonard S. Marcus

• Stet: Tricks of the Trade for Writers and Editors by Bruce O. Boston (for Editorial Eye)

• Stet Again: More Tricks of the Trade for Publications People, from the Editorial Eye

• Style: Toward Clarity and Grace by Joseph M. Williams (an excellent book for deeply understanding the structure of a sentence and paragraph)

• The Subversive Copy Editor: Advice from Chicago (or, How to Negotiate Good Relationships with Your Writers, Your Colleagues, and Yourself) by Carol Fisher Saller, the woman who writes those witty, informative responses for the Chicago Style Manual Q&As.

• Technical Editing, by Carolyn D. Rude

• Technical Editing, by Judith A. Tarutz

• The Time of Their Lives: The Golden Age of Great American Book Publishers by Al Silverman (a delicious read)

• Words into Type (3rd Edition) by Marjorie E. Skillin (better organized that the Chicago Style Manual, and very useful for explaining the process of book editing and production, though way behind the times on technological changes)

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Interesting examples of heavy editing in literature

Sometimes the editor helps create a piece, by carving away the flab and helping to find the artistic center within. Sometimes such heavy editing does not have such felicitous results. Among the most interesting examples of heavy editing in literature:

F. Scott Fitzgerald's heavy cutting of Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises

Max Perkins' heavy editing and reorganizing of Thomas Wolfe's long, long novel manuscripts (including Look Homeward, Angel)

Ezra Pound's beautiful editing of T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland (Eliot's title was He Do the Police in Different Voices

Gordon Lish's editing of Raymond Carver's short fiction (the subject of at least two fascinating magazine pieces, linked to below)