What Editors Do
Title | What Editors Do PDF eBook |
Author | Peter Ginna |
Publisher | University of Chicago Press |
Pages | 319 |
Release | 2017-10-06 |
Genre | Language Arts & Disciplines |
ISBN | 022630003X |
Essays from twenty-seven leading book editors: “Honest and unflinching accounts from publishing insiders . . . a valuable primer on the field.” —Publishers Weekly Editing is an invisible art in which the very best work goes undetected. Editors strive to create books that are enlightening, seamless, and pleasurable to read, all while giving credit to the author. This makes it all the more difficult to truly understand the range of roles they inhabit while shepherding a project from concept to publication. What Editors Do gathers essays from twenty-seven leading figures in book publishing about their work. Representing both large houses and small, and encompassing trade, textbook, academic, and children’s publishing, the contributors make the case for why editing remains a vital function to writers—and readers—everywhere. Ironically for an industry built on words, there has been a scarcity of written guidance on how to approach the work of editing. Serving as a compendium of professional advice and a portrait of what goes on behind the scenes, this book sheds light on how editors acquire books, what constitutes a strong author-editor relationship, and the editor’s vital role at each stage of the publishing process—a role that extends far beyond marking up the author’s text. This collection treats editing as both art and craft, and also as a career. It explores how editors balance passion against the economic realities of publishing—and shows why, in the face of a rapidly changing publishing landscape, editors are more important than ever. “Authoritative, entertaining, and informative.” —Copyediting
Editors on Editing
Title | Editors on Editing PDF eBook |
Author | Gerald Gross |
Publisher | Grove Press |
Pages | 404 |
Release | 1993 |
Genre | Biography & Autobiography |
ISBN | 9780802132635 |
An indispensable guide for editors, would-be editors, and especially writers who want to understand the publishing process. In this classic handbook, top professionals write about the special demands and skills necessary for particular areas of expertise--mass market, romance, special markets, and more.
What Editors Want
Title | What Editors Want PDF eBook |
Author | Philippa J. Benson |
Publisher | University of Chicago Press |
Pages | 189 |
Release | 2013 |
Genre | Language Arts & Disciplines |
ISBN | 0226043134 |
Research publications have always been key to building a successful career in science, yet little if any formal guidance is offered to young scientists on how to get research papers peer reviewed, accepted, and published by leading scientific journals. With What Editors Want, Philippa J. Benson and Susan C. Silver, two well-respected editors from the science publishing community, remedy that situation with a clear, straightforward guide that will be of use to all scientists. Benson and Silver instruct readers on how to identify the journals that are most likely to publish a given paper, how to write an effective cover letter, how to avoid common pitfalls of the submission process, and how to effectively navigate the all-important peer review process, including dealing with revisions and rejection. With supplemental advice from more than a dozen experts, this book will equip scientists with the knowledge they need to usher their papers through publication.
Career As an Editor
Title | Career As an Editor PDF eBook |
Author | Institute For Institute For Career Research |
Publisher | CreateSpace |
Pages | 36 |
Release | 2015-05-01 |
Genre | |
ISBN | 9781511995269 |
WITH FINGERS DASHING ACROSS THE keyboard, editors can transform mediocre writing into epic prose. They can take a forgettable jumble of words and turn them into literary jewels. Wherever there is good writing - books, magazines, newspapers, websites - there are editors working in the background. For their efforts, editors get no byline at the beginning of the story or credit on the title page. They are never asked to autograph a written piece of work they have helped create. Only rarely will an editor's name appear in the masthead of a newspaper or magazine. Occasionally an editor's name may be mentioned in the acknowledgment of a book. Otherwise, they work in complete anonymity. So why do editors take on this seemingly thankless task of refining the writing of others? Because they hate to see words misused, grammar mangled, and sentences run on forever. For those who appreciate the written word, editors are unsung heroes. Editing is a specialized talent that is honed to perfection through years of experience. Top editors literally know everything there is to know about the written word. They approach their work like highly skilled surgeons, except that editors are looking to cure the ills of manuscripts, rather than patients. Most writers would prefer not to alter a single word in their manuscript. They are simply too close to the work. So an editor takes an objective look at the text, spots flaws, and corrects them. Though writers rarely admit it, they appreciate the work of a good editor who takes a manuscript and makes it better, stronger, tighter. In their jobs, editors work with all eight parts of speech - verbs, nouns, pronouns, adverbs, adjectives, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections - for starters. It gets more complicated from there. Just think about the parts of a verb - base, past tense, and past participle. Do not forget to throw gerunds and infinitives into the mix. Of course, past, present, and future tense have to be taken into consideration as well. Add sentence structure and word choice into the equation, plus tone and voice. Synonyms and antonyms also come into play. Spelling and punctuation do not escape the watchful eye of a careful editor, either. There is also the flow of the story. Does it all make sense? Does it hang together? Are the characters fully developed? These are all things readers are grateful they do not have to worry about because they are taken care of by studious editors before the written word is released for public consumption. Editors are on the front lines of the literary world. The quality of what everybody reads is in their hands and the results of their work are an open book.
Editors Talk about Editing
Title | Editors Talk about Editing PDF eBook |
Author | Susan L. Greenberg |
Publisher | Mass Communication and Journalism |
Pages | 0 |
Release | 2015 |
Genre | Book editors |
ISBN | 9781433120039 |
The work of «editing» is by and large something that happens behind the scenes, noticed only when it is done badly, or not done at all. There is not much information about what editors do. The result is that editing is not often talked about in its own right - not even by the people who do it. This collection of interviews attempts to fill some of the gaps. The author, a former editor herself, interviews practitioners at the top of their game - from newspapers, magazines, broadcast news, book publishing, scholarly editing, academic publishing and digital curation. The interviewees think out loud about creativity and human judgment; what they have in common and what makes them different; how editing skills and culture can be shared; why editing continues to fascinate; and why any of this might matter.
Editing Fact and Fiction
Title | Editing Fact and Fiction PDF eBook |
Author | Leslie T. Sharpe |
Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
Pages | 240 |
Release | 1994-10-28 |
Genre | Reference |
ISBN | 9780521450805 |
Editing Fact and Fiction is a concise, practical guide for people interested in book publishing or already working as editors who want to learn more about the opportunities in various kinds of book editing. Writing in a lively, informal style, two editors with extensive experience in a wide variety of fields--fiction and nonfiction, trade and reference, academic and commercial publishing--explain what editors in different jobs really do. The authors take the reader step by step through the editing process, from manuscript to bound book. They discuss the principles of sound editing and provide many specific examples of how to--and how not to--edit copy. They also give examples of how to deal tactfully with authors and show when editorial restraint is the best intervention. Editing Fact and Fiction is a book to be read, not just referred to. It will be an indispensable guide for anyone thinking about a career in book publishing, a valuable resource for working editors who want to enlarge their knowledge, and a useful tool for senior editors training staff. Leslie T. Sharpe and Irene Gunther are both editors and writers. An experienced trade book editor, Leslie T. Sharpe teaches editing and writing at New York University and Columbia University. She is also a regular contributor to New York Newsday. Irene Gunther was a senior editor at Macmillan Publishing and has extensive experience in reference and college book editing. She is the author of a teenage biography and a contributor to various publications.
The University of Tennessee Record
Title | The University of Tennessee Record PDF eBook |
Author | University of Tennessee |
Publisher | |
Pages | 150 |
Release | 1921 |
Genre | |
ISBN |