=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= EDline Vol. 8, no. 55 (19 May 2003) Editorial mailing list (digest version) Published by the Electric Editors =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Contents: Business matters [4hw] Copyediting for book publishers =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ---[4]-- Business matters --------------------------------------- Date: Thurs, 8 May 2003 From: Carol Cleary, ferny@telus.net I am a recent graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in English and I am interested in developing a career as a freelance copyeditor for book publishers. Could anyone with a background in copyediting for book publishers offer any suggestions as to how to get started? What kind of courses or books might be optimal for developing the necessary professional and marketing skills? Is the use of proofreading symbols obsolete or still very much in practice, despite the onset of electronic editing? --------------------- Date: Fri, 9 May 2003 From: John Morris, johnjeff@meadowdance.org I imagine that there are as many ways to break into copyediting as there are people in copyediting. I have not personally done any work for book publishers--I do all my work with authors--but here is my story. I started out with a degree in engineering and no desire to enter the corporate market. I lucked into a position doing a mix of things related to desktop publishing that gradually moved me into copyediting. When I left that work, I put copyediting aside for a few years. Finally, a few friends, my wife and I decided that we wanted to establish a word services business. My background suggested that we include editing in the mix. This suggests to me that one way to get going is to take work (paid or not) that, at least tangentially, heads you in the right direction. This is the path I have taken, so I can't suggest the right mix of courses. I just followed my interests to satisfying work that met my needs. In case you have not already discovered this, the Internet offers a host of excellent resources for editors. In addition to the Electric Editors, check out at least two other mailing lists: Copyediting-L: < http://ce-l.technology-corner.com/celfaq/ > and Freelance: < http://www.comteck.com/~tanuki/ > --------------------- Date: Fri, 9 May 2003 From: Caroline Petherick, caroline@the-wordsmith.co.uk What country do you live in? If in the UK, the place to go is SfEP (Society for Editors and Proofreaders): < http://www.sfep.org.uk > who run training courses as well as a directory and loads of other supportive useful stuff for editors and proofreaders - from people who are merely thinking about breaking into this field of work to those who've been doing it since WW2. ----------------------- Date: Sun, 11, May 2003 From: Dawn, dawn1559@aol.com Computers cannot read or think, so any publisher relying on electronic media for its editing will experience strange mistakes and problems. You may receive suggestions from other experienced editors that contradict what I'm going to say. You don't need a course, you just need to start editing. Pick a standard for yourself, for instance, decide that you'll use the Chicago Manual of Style. Some jobs actually require the editor to produce his/her own standards and publish them. Buy yourself an editing reference library. Get Roget's Thesaurus and a very extensive dictionary, not the simple high school kind. I use Encarta, American Heritage, and Websters, simultaneously, but my target audience is military and government employees, about Grade 13 reading level. I am currently editing computer based training materials for the Department of Defense having to do with financial management topics. I have been doing it for over five years. The subject matter experts and writers I coach often have much more education than I have (master's degrees), but it doesn't mean they can explain a complex regulation, write to a certain reading level, maintain consistent technical terminology being used in a course, or write from an outline as any well schooled high school graduate or BA candidate has learned to do. Get started, don't let some freelance editors' unwillingness to share information on how to get started or how much to charge get you spooked. I firmly believe that the secrecy is bogus, there's enough work out there for any aspiring editor. Here's an idea: Why not target a publisher, get the name of the decision-maker, and request an informational interview. Or find someone in your area who is already doing this type of work and ask him/her how he/she got started. Do you belong to any of the editors' professional groups, not just a listserve? I'm hoping this helps you to get started. I was 35 when I started the editing job, and I called my brother to let him know. (I do not remember this.) He said, "You told me when you were nine years old that you were going to be an editor, what took you so long?" The United States Department of the Interior offers a reasonably priced correspondence course on copyediting. You can write for info. Look in the public library for a catalog of these correspondence courses. When I was a corporate paralegal, I noticed that you could earn a paralegal certificate this way. I am making the assumption that the United States Government offers these courses based upon statistics on careers that the country needs where there is a short supply of qualified candidates. ---------------------- Date: Mon, 12 May 2003 From: Christine Headley, chps@globalnet.co.uk My mileage varies! My first job, after very informal training, went fine. The second was a complete disaster. It wasn't the editing as such, but the publisher's editor - happy with the previous job - had *begged* me to do it and then left, and when it went wrong my confidence was completely destroyed. It was a multi-author book on a subject I didn't know quite enough about, and chasing queries was a nightmare. One author simply refused to supply references (having typed his original copy to within a quarter of an inch of the edge of the page, single-spaced IIRC) and the publisher was furious with me. I then did an indexing course, took up indexing with some success and several years later did the SfEP basic copyediting course. (Indexing is a useful complementary skill.) In the UK, the Society of Indexers offers its own course. In the US the 'equivalent' seems to be the USDA indexing course; for all I know they do a copyediting course as well. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= END OF EDline 8.55 E-mail address for posting messages or replies: edline@electriceditors.net Admin page: < http://www.electriceditors.net/edline/admin.htm > ** The views expressed in this mailing list are strictly those of the individual contributors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the moderators or of the Electric Editors. ** Articles (c) 2002--2003, by individual contributors Design (c) 1996--2003 Iain Brown Compilation (c) 2003 Iain Brown / The Electric Editors =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=