THE ART OF EDITING

 

More than merely placing marks on paper, editing is an artform, carefully honed and painstakingly executed. Companies, corporations, and enterprises rely on an editor’s skills to help maintain their brand, uphold their image and put forth clear, concise and professional copy for their advertisements, promotions, websites and correspondence. Whether the words are printed on paper, on a screen or on a billboard, the importance of editing cannot be overlooked or taken for granted. A skilled editor can save a company time and money, improve/maintain customer satisfaction and help to uphold an image of professionalism (Kennedy, 2019).

But, as stated by Angela Anne Avery-Ahlijian in her Senior Honors Theses Copy Editing in the Digital Age: How Technology Has Changed Copy Editing, in the age of online journalism, traditional editing processes are changing, and the role of editor would likely be unrecognizable to editors of the past now that editors are expected to perform additional duties influenced by extensive corporate digital transformations and the many technological advancements in the field.

No longer are editors’ duties just a combination of checking story structure and grammar, proofreading, performing fact checking, verifying sources, and writing headlines. Gone are the days of hand written squiggles on top ofprinted pages (NY Book Editors, 2013). Editors are now expected to create page layouts and preview pagination using software programs such as Quark Xpress, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator. Editing online articles brings in additional new skills such as Search Engine Optimization (SEO), web page design, coding and programming languages, social media management, content management, editing audio and video and even making animated graphics. All of these are acquired, learned skills and new software programs that require training and a learning curve. Many in the industry fear that editing has morphed into being a jack of all trades rather than being an accomplished wordsmith. Others believe that these changes are for the better, allowing for quicker and easier access to the tools of the trade such as online style guides, 24/7 access to reference sources, and the ability to fact check many things online (Avery-Ahlijian, 2011).

One thing is certain: editing is no easy task. It requires someone who is not only annoyed by bad writing, but who also has the ability to fix bad writing. While the basic tenets of editing haven’t gone away, the avalanche of new tasks (and their associated skillsets) is worrisome in the struggle to maintain editing excellence. One thing is certain, the job of a copy editor is always changing.

References

Avery-Ahlijian, A. (2011). Copy Editing in the Digital Age: How Technology Has Changed Copy Editing. Copy Editing in the Digital Age: How Technology Has Changed Copy Editing. MI: Eastern Michigan University. Retrieved from https://commons.emich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1252&context=honors

Kennedy, B. (2019). Editing Analysis. Manchester, NH: Southern New Hampshire University.

NY Book Editors. (2013, Jun). A Guide to Copyediting Marks. Retrieved from NY Book Editors: https://nybookeditors.com/2013/06/copyediting-marks/