THE EDITORS' WEEKLY

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Wilf Popoff

Wasted Words: Verbal Abuse

September 19, 2017 by Wilf Popoff | 2 Comments on Wasted Words: Verbal Abuse

There are many writers and, apparently, more than a few editors who think that to be and some of its conjugations are not actual verbs. I regularly encounter headings like this: Blabworth is Picked to be Next Publisher. This grammatical confusion is exposed in titles using the conventional upper and lowercase system that calls for […]

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Anne Louise Mahoney

Listening With the Heart: Editing Indigenous Manuscripts

September 12, 2017 by Anne Louise Mahoney | 6 Comments on Listening With the Heart: Editing Indigenous Manuscripts

A Quill and Quire article popped up in my Twitter feed in late June: “Humber becomes new home for Indigenous Editors Circle.” I was thrilled that the Circle had found a home at Humber College’s Lakeshore campus in Toronto’s west end. Even better: a workshop on editing Indigenous manuscripts was being held in mid-August. I […]

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Rosemary Shipton

There’s No Clarity With Editors or Authors

September 5, 2017 by Rosemary Shipton | 6 Comments on There’s No Clarity With Editors or Authors

Editors say they love words, with finding just the right phrase for the context, but, ironically, they can only fail with two terms critical to the world of publishing: “editor” and “author.” When someone says she’s an editor, you have no idea what she does. Is she the editor of a newspaper or a magazine, […]

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Marianne Grier

Swapping Snacks From the Editor’s Lunch Box

August 29, 2017 by Marianne Grier | 4 Comments on Swapping Snacks From the Editor’s Lunch Box

I’ve always found new beginnings deliciously appealing. Whether it’s starting a fresh crossword puzzle, trying a new recipe or signing up for a class, I love the excitement of a new endeavour and wonder what I might learn along the way. As a school student, I wasn’t always keen to get back to class at […]

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Micheline Frechette

Texte de synthèse

August 22, 2017 by Micheline Fréchette | 1 Comment on Texte de synthèse

Dans le monde de la rédaction / édition, il y a des moments où, en dépit de la nécessité d’approfondir un sujet, le rédacteur soit chargé de la responsabilité de faire la synthèse des travaux et des conférences. Il doit alors faire preuve d’un esprit d’analyse et de synthèse remarquable. Mais comment ramener le divers […]

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Paul Buckingham

Non-fiction Developmental Editing

August 15, 2017 by Paul Buckingham | 10 Comments on Non-fiction Developmental Editing

I’ve always loved trying to understand things — investigating ideas and concepts to make sense of them, seeking clearer ways to view them. I was delighted, therefore, when I discovered that there’s a kind of editing rooted in exactly that pursuit: developmental editing. The name describes it well: you’re helping the author develop a manuscript […]

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James Harbeck

Currying Favour With Your Readers

August 8, 2017 by James Harbeck | 2 Comments on Currying Favour With Your Readers

Editing and writing have a lot in common with cooking. For one thing, people come to a text, as to a restaurant, with certain expectations and ideals, and you should satisfy them. You don’t have to give them something completely predictable — especially if you’re in a line more artistic than industrial — but you do want […]

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Tracey Anderson

A Measure of Editing Success

August 1, 2017 by Tracey Anderson | 2 Comments on A Measure of Editing Success

The term “metrics” has become a bit of a business buzzword, especially for digital enterprises. It’s a trendy word for ways to quantifiably measure success such as tracking social media metrics (followers, click-through rates) or sales metrics (monthly numbers). As editors, though, we don’t have the same kinds of reliable metrics to help us measure […]

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Micheline Frechette

Rédacteurs anonymes

July 25, 2017 by Micheline Fréchette | Leave a Comment

L’expression « nègre littéraire » abondamment utilisée dans le contexte de ces auteurs qui écrivent pour les autres s’est bien heureusement perdue dans les temps. Selon la littérature, c’est depuis 1932 que l’Académie française propose de supprimer cette injurieuse expression au profit de : « Il se dit, en langage d’atelier, d’un auxiliaire qu’on emploie pour préparer un […]

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Wilf Popoff

Wasted Words: The Phantom Client

July 18, 2017 by Wilf Popoff | 2 Comments on Wasted Words: The Phantom Client

For many editors positive client engagement is central to a project — a good work relationship, frank feedback and response, and, finally, appreciation. Such pleasures, alas, are seldom part of my grind. Often I don’t get close enough to an actual client to cultivate such a connection. Communications agencies or consulting engineers who outsource projects […]

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