copyediting

[nevers]

a lot of smart, bookish, literate people i know who are great writers and enjoy wordsmithing their friends' and colleagues' work wonder if they would make good copy editors. i'm never sure the best way to explain what copyediting involves beyond sprucing up someone else's writing. so today i made this list of challenges and judgment calls i faced

Comments

[flexagon]

While at Hofstra, Mary became part of a team developing and field-testing the New York and Slavery: Complicity and Resistance curriculum that was developed with the support of the New York State Council for the Social Studies.

I want to add a comma after "curriculum", and change the following that to a which. I think I feel that way because I think this is a specific curriculum title.

I'd be okay with "the math curriculum that was developed by whoever".
But surely it's "the Math and Nature: Fibonacci and Sunflowers curriculum, which was developed by Professor Woo-woo".

[shepline]

This is why, whilst in the new digital age authors can do without publishers, they can't do without editors. Sadly, too often, the established old guard of publishers also think they can do without editors... :-(

[ullrsawah]

Thanks for this! There's a part of me that thinks I'd enjoy publishing/editing, but examples of the reality of the job really help knock some sense into me! I'll stick with trying to find a way to teach writing and research methods and leave the fiddly bits to better editors than I.