The Editor’s Visibility

I’m touched to be the recipient of this year’s Karen Virag Award. I didn’t know Karen personally, but she published often on this blog, and if her 2012 post Grammar Class Wars gives a glimpse of her personality, then I think I would’ve really liked her. It’s a privilege for me to now have my name associated with hers.

Anita Jenkins has written a few posts about the award named in Karen’s honour. Anita’s 2017 post describes the award as recognizing “individuals or groups who do an exceptional job of raising the profile of editors and the editing profession.” Another one, from 2019, notes that “editing should be invisible, but editors should not be.” 

I couldn’t agree with Anita more, and I’m grateful to be recognized for my attempts to make our profession more visible — work that I do primarily through my advice column Ask Dr. Editor, which is published monthly in University Affairs. Today, I want to reflect on why I think visibility is so important.

Visibility to (potential) clients

Anyone who has attended one of my many webinars about marketing will know that I’m a big believer in helping writers to understand what we do and how we do it. As editors, we all know that editing requires skill, knowledge, nuance, deliberation, discernment, rigour and care. If our profession is to outlast the rise of the robots, then we can’t be the only ones to recognize our value: we need writers of all stripes to understand what human editors, uniquely, can do.

For me, this visibility work takes the form of writing, webinars and a website — writingwellishard.com — that shows academics how to edit their own work. There’s a seeming paradox there: if I show potential clients how I do my job, will they still hire me? Sure, some won’t, but those people were never going to hire me anyway. The ones who read my column, visit my website or listen to my webinar and recognize the sheer quantity of work that goes into editing will be happy to offload that labour to a skilled expert. 

But I’m not the right editor for every academic, and so I’m a believer in sharing my spotlight: in co-writing with other editors, co-presenting webinars and interviewing colleagues in my column. If you, too, can spotlight a colleague — by sharing a stage, a screen, an article or a social media post — I hope you’ll consider doing so. It’s good for the profession; it’s good for potential clients; it’s even good for you, because you’ll get to learn from your brilliant peers.

Visibility as community

Not everyone is in a position where they can occupy a stage or a screen or a column in a national magazine. Some of us have chronic illnesses that sap our energy; others have caregiving responsibilities; still others wouldn’t be safe in a spotlight. If you can’t now — or can’t ever — be visible to potential clients, then I hope you may safely be visible within our professional editing community. 

I have benefited immensely from participating in Editors Canada conferences and in the programming of the Editors BC chapter and the Editors Canada / EFA Academic Editing Special Interest Group. First as a participant, then as a volunteer, I picked up knowledge, perspectives, lenses, insights, even tools. There is so much to be gained by giving of one’s time, as an individual, as a collective profession, as a community.

I’m touched to be receiving this year’s Karen Virag Award: touched to be nominated, to be selected, and to have my name now connected to this remarkable woman’s. For you, reading this post, I hope you may reflect on your own editorial visibility and consider how to make your labour a little more visible. There is warmth in the light, and whether you’re already in it or still finding your way, it’s all the more brilliant for having you here.

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