The Australian Editing Handbook

Elizabeth Flann, Beryl Hill, Lan Wang

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781118635988
• Edition: 3
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Writing & Presentation Skills

The ultimate editing handbook, updated for the digital age

The Australian Editing Handbook has become an industry standard, recommended by the Society of Editors, and holds a prominent place on the shelves of writers, editors and students alike. Authors Elizabeth Flann, Beryl Hill and Lan Wang have assembled a comprehensive guide to every aspect of the editing process, from working with authors and receiving manuscripts, to editorial, production, printing and beyond.

The modern editor must go beyond editing and proofreading, and is often tasked with obtaining permissions, sourcing supplementary material and keeping the author on schedule and on budget. That means the editor is also the ultimate mediator of style and propriety for the piece, acting as gatekeeper between the author and the public. It's a substantial role, requiring the fundamental knowledge of several different fields to achieve effective results. A guide to managing each aspect of the job, The Australian Editing Handbook is an invaluable resource. The Third Edition includes updated information about the new challenges that editors face in the digital age, including:

• Editing on-screen
• Digital publishing
• Handling ebooks
• Print media versus online publications

The book includes two-color printing to make editing marks easier to understand, and a wealth of charts and diagrams that simplify complex topics and serve as handy quick-checks that make this guide the ultimate desk reference. For professionals and students in the field of editing, writing, publishing or journalism, The Australian Editing Handbook, 3rd Edition is the industry's number-one resource.

PART B
The basics of editing

• 3 Getting ready for editing
• 4 Parts of a book
• 5 Structural and copy editing principles
• 6 Editing practice: onscreen editing techniques
• 7 Editing practice: copy editing techniques
• 8 Editing practice: other elements
• 9 Editing practice: artwork
• 10 Specific areas of editing

Quality control is the editor’s core task in publishing. The skills required to perform this role include understanding the conventions used in publishing; analysing the logic and structure of the text; judging the suitability of the language used; applying appropriate editorial styles and rules of grammar, punctuation and spelling; and preparing the document for typesetting by editing onscreen and applying electronic styling. Editors must also know how to handle artwork, understand legal issues and work with different types of publications. Part B addresses each of these areas of editorial work, with detailed discussion of techniques that will save time and effort so that editors can focus on ensuring the content reaches the highest quality possible within the given budget and schedule.

Chapter 3
Getting ready for editing

Editors’ duties extend well beyond copy editing text. In some organisations the editor may even be encouraged to put forward ideas for future projects or to identify suitable authors for the publisher to contact. The breadth and depth of the tasks an editor performs contributes to ensuring that an author’s work reaches its audience in the most acceptable form.

This chapter looks at how the editor prepares for each editing job, from ensuring that all the relevant resources are at hand to making contact with the author. A checklist of questions to ask at the start of a job is included at the end of the chapter.

SETTING UP THE WORKSPACE

Before beginning, editors should make sure that they have everything they will need conveniently to hand, that their computer and printer are in good working order, and that they are well supplied with coffee or tea (preferably on a separate work surface).

It is important to ensure that the workspace is comfortable, well lit and ergonomically sound, and that there is access to a telephone and email.

For further discussion about the technological requirements for onscreen editing, see chapter 6.

In-house editors will need to work with the equipment and workspace provided by their organisation. Freelance editors may have a little more leeway, depending on their financial and physical resources. In any case, the best results are usually achieved by using the latest software and hardware and the most comfortable furniture available. Almost all editors use a recent version of the word processing program Microsoft Word for editing, mainly due to its strong reviewing features (also known as Track Changes) and ubiquity in the industry. This is the software program that this book will refer to the most.

Track Changes
a system used in Microsoft Word for electronically recording changes in word processing documents

Editing resources

The editor should assemble appropriate reference books or ensure that they are accessible, perhaps through the local library or online. Apart from any specialist references relating to a particular manuscript or in-house style guides provided by the publisher, there are certain resources most experienced editors would not be without. For a new or trainee editor they will prove invaluable.

Essential reference books include:

• a good up-to-date dictionary, preferably the latest edition of the Macquarie Dictionary or The Australian Concise Oxford Dictionary (or the older but more comprehensive The Australian Oxford Dictionary)—if you work for a company or organisation that has a house style, it will normally specify one of these dictionaries; many editors use more than one
• the most recent Australian Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Printers (the Style Manual) or any other style guide that is required for the publication (such as The Australian Guide to Legal Citation, The Chicago Manual of Style)
• Roget’s International Thesaurus.

Other references we recommend are:

• Writing and style
  • — The Little, Brown Handbook
  • — The Handbook of Nonsexist Writing for Writers, Editors and Speakers
  • — New Oxford Style Manual
  • — The Elements of Style (Strunk & White)
• English-language usage
  • — The Cambridge Guide to Australian English Usage
  • — The New Fowler’s Modern English Usage
• English grammar
  • — Rediscover Grammar
  • — Penguin Dictionary of English Grammar.

Details of recommended references are listed in appendix 11.

Editors may also need specialist dictionaries (for example, of medical, biological or computer terminology), foreign language dictionaries, a biographical dictionary, or access to a reputable encyclopaedia.

Increasingly, editors are supplementing or replacing printed references with web reference sources such as the Macquarie Dictionary Online, which offers subscription-only access to its dictionary and thesaurus; the online Oxford Dictionaries, which includes free access to both dictionary and thesaurus, and subscription access to additional resources such as style and usage guides; and Bartleby.com, which offers free access to older editions of dictionaries, thesauruses, encyclopaedias, style guides and related reference materials. Care must be taken to ensure that any online sources used are reputable and of high quality. The vast majority are American or British and therefore must be used with appropriate caution in the Australian context.

Editors also have access to dictionaries and thes...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Foreword
• About the authors
• List of figures and tables
• How to use this book
• Acknowledgements
• Part A: Introduction to publishing
• Part B: The basics of editing
• Part C: The production process
• Where to from here?
• Glossary
• Appendixes
• Index
• End User License Agreement