Archive for July 22nd, 2009

  
 

A Look at Copy Editing Jobs

As mentioned earlier, this is my second post on working in a publishing house and in this post I will attempt to give an overview of copy editing. While attempting to gain a thorough experience in proofreading is an excellent way to start your career as an editor, copy editing is what will put your skills to a tough test. Copy editing often involves starting with a raw manuscript and working with it all the way till it gets published. This essentially involves starting from scratch it is surprising how much the manuscript changes from its initial stage.

While working on such a project, you need to interact extensively with the author and keep informing him/her of the changes you are making and if it is okay to make them. If you come across potentially objectionable or controversial arguments, you will need to tell the author to rework on them and rephrase them as much as possible. You need to keep the reputation of your organization in mind and should be very careful that no such content is published which may raise a hue and cry. While copy editing, you will have to constantly cross check the references made in the manuscript and the sources cited. In case of online journals, make sure the links given are correct and the dates of publication match. Often manuscripts undergo so many makeovers that the final product turns out to be vastly different from the first manuscript. There are instances where editors have to rewrite entire essays owing to lack of cooperation from the authors.

The usual routine of checking for spelling, grammar and consistency remains unchanged. In case of illustrations provided, you will have to see whether they complement the accompanying content. While the manuscript is turning into a book, you will have to keep a keen eye on the layout, the consistency of fonts and highlighting and the page numbers. After everything, you can revel in a job well done when you see your project becoming a bestseller;though the lion’s share of the credits will go to the author.

Keep Territories in Mind While Writing English

The young, tech savvy generation might be doing well when it comes to being acquainted with cutting edge technology but when it comes to communication, especially writing, an adverse effect of technology is slowly but surely making its presence felt. Some social networking sites impose a word limit on the users and we all know that mobile messaging (one of the most popular ways of communication nowadays) comes with a character limit. This is leading to the development of a whole new lingo in cyberspace where correct spellings are given very little importance owing to the necessity to provide as much information as possible within the character limits.

While messages like “Tk cr” and “Nice to c u 2″ have come to be accepted in messages and scraps, the trouble starts when people start mixing business communication with personal exchanges. Alarmingly, we are observing more and more people using short forms and incorrect spellings while writing business proposals, letters and so on. They might not be doing it on purpose, but heavy messaging and frequent chatting is modifying their writing style in such a way that they are failing to spot the incongruities of messaging lingo in their official assignments.

Care should be taken to avoid this at all costs as such writing will not be tolerated outside personal exchanges. Messages should be written in proper and correct English to avoid this habit from creeping into the writing style or if that is not possible, a conscious effort to keep personal messages personal and official communication official has to be made. Since messaging and social networking are here to stay and influence almost everybody, educational institutions have a role to play in making young minds aware of this problem.

 
 
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