The Value of an Editor

[Chris]

Here's a good interview with two professional editors. They discuss how to find a good editor, the difference between content editing and proofreading, and much more. Too many self published books are still poorly edited (in terms of content as well as typos), so this is important stuff.

http://www.wow-womenonwriting.com/51-...

In other news, I'm a guest at The Word Shark, talking about historical fiction for children, including research and the writing process.

http://karenselliott.wordpress.com/20...

[J.A.]

Ooh that sounds interesting - off to have a nosey!
Thanks Chris!
JAC

[Stephen]

Very interesting - I'm now a subscriber on all three blogs :)

[Sarah]

Chris, that not-so-subtle difference (content editing versus proofreading) is a major pet peeve of mine. It drives me bonkers when people say they're editing something and all they're doing is checking spelling and punctuation--and not necessarily correcting that, either!

Content editing is another beast entirely. Developmental editing is another term some people use for focusing specifically on the development of a work of a fiction--the pacing, character depth, the world-building. Then content editing (for people who like to distinguish between it and developmental editing) is more about the size of the book, expanding or deleting plot points to get the "shape" right so that it flows to match the pacing, so that it unfolds to match the genre reader expectations.

There's a lot of work going on with all of this mechanical structure LONG before you ever look at commas and spelling. I call the latter "wordsmithing" rather than "proofreading" because really, so many people confuse proofreading with editing that I think we need an "in between" term.

Proofreading is really just quality assurance--correction of errors, NEVER modifying the word choice or suggesting changes to the plot--which far too many confuse far too often.

Thanks for the links!

-sry