Luckily for freelance editors, there are a handful of editorial societies that are available to join to build a sense of community even when working remotely. Providing encouragement and learning resources, each of the organizations listed below are sure to provide some benefit to your range of skills whether you prefer something free to low cost or have the funds to invest in a high-end membership.
Assessing the structural integrity of a house is what developmental editing is to a manuscript. When doing a developmental edit, an editor will organize their thoughts and notes into a cohesive document called the developmental editing letter, or sometimes just the editorial letter, which will then be sent to you. What can you expect from the editorial letter?
Everyone has a favorite genre or story, but comfort isn’t always the key to selecting a desirable manuscript. A publisher should be aware of systemic issues and internal bias. There are fine lines between genre expectations, tropes, and stereotypes. A publisher should consider how these expectations function in the manuscript before rejecting a piece or prescribing edits.
Artificial spell-checking and editing software like Grammarly has been around for several years, but in recent years, more robust artificial intelligence programs have been developed to write documents and fully edit them with little to no human interference. This flux in AI programs for writing and editing has certain implications for the future of copyediting, but can AI really become proficient enough to fully replace human editors? We’ll explore this question in this blog post.
Is this a typo or is it just poetry? Editing poetry can appear so daunting at times because of this infamous question. Everything within a poem can seem intentional. From two em dashes in a row to a misspelled word, it can be hard to decipher what’s needed and what isn’t. However, there are poetry rules of thumb that make it a little easier to navigate a poem.
Automated writing evaluation (AWE) software such as Grammarly, Bartleby, and Microsoft Word’s spellchecker can’t replace human editors, but they can be used in conjunction with traditional editing to increase productivity and allow the human editor to focus on more individualized feedback.
In a world with a broad range of writing, is it possible to specialize in a subject matter you love?
We read content all the time that doesn’t align to any style guide at all and title formatting is based on what the author may vaguely remember from high school. This guide will help clear up some of that confusion and create a document that you can refer back to whenever you come across this problem in your own writing or editing.
There are so many books on editing out there for editing at every stage of the book process. Hopefully this list can kickstart your journey and guide you to more resources as you read.
There are many levels of editing that help shape a manuscript into what readers ultimately pull off the shelves of their favorite bookstore or library, but how does each level of editing work to transform a manuscript from the first draft to the final, polished result?