KOK Edit: Your favorite copyeditor since 1984(SM)

Friday, February 17, 2012

Editor, Know Thyself

I guess I'm just a get-down-in-the-mud-and-wrestle kind of editor.

I came to that conclusion today during a discussion on the Copyediting-L e-mail list about how much rewording to do while editing.

Don't get me wrong; I don't tamper with the author's voice or substitute my writing style for the author's. But even before I specialized in medical editing years ago, publishers and authors tended to send me the manuscripts that needed—and for which the senders wanted—heavy editing. Sometimes that's called developmental editing or substantive editing; some people don't understand the various levels of editing enough to call it anything in particular. I haven't seen anything come across my desk in years that needed light editing. I don't even enjoy editing anymore unless it's heavy. I picture all of my clients thinking, "This requires drastic work—get KOK!" rather than "We need somebody who'll zip through this quickly."



Katharine O'Moore-Klopf said...

My colleagues and I are having a great time discussing this topic on my Facebook wall:


scieditor said...

Why, all day I've been feeling a bit down because this chapter doesn't need a monumental fix. When there's no crisis, I'm a bit lost. - That is to say, I, too, am a down and dirty editor.

Katharine O'Moore-Klopf said...

All that hard, hard work makes the brain feel good, doesn't it, Scieditor?

Juliette said...

Most of the editing I do is developmental as well. I'm very much of the opinion that it's not *really* fun unless it's developmental! =D

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