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Welcome to my world of working words. Do you like reading, and do you find yourself noticing how words don’t always work as well as they might? Editors help writers to make their words work, and it’s an absorbing occupation. Most of what an editor does is to see that the words in a document really work to get the author’s message across. But it’s not just dealing with words. Editing is a multifaceted occupation, involving all aspects of the publishing industry, working with others in specialist areas, having confidence in your own understanding of acceptable English grammar, and so on. And it’s great fun.

Well, just what is the editor’s regular job? Where does the editor’s job end and someone else’s begin? Is an editor supposed to get involved in design work, or indexing, or making decisions about how documents should be presented?

Why not? Some might contend that indexing is not an editor’s job. Designers might feel that they are the best qualified to advise on the look and feel of a book – and so they probably are in most cases. Some publishers restrict the editor to working on the text and not interfering with any other aspect of the publication. Others welcome the editor’s suggestions.

Often we editors are asked ‘Oh, by the way, would you have a look at the cover too, and while you’re about it, could you do an index?’ Now, if I didn’t have some design skills, or know something about indexing, or have a feel for the whole document and not just the words, nobody would ask me. But I do, and they do ask.

It’s like plain English. Many people think of plain English as just readable text, but that’s only half the battle. Text can be perfectly correct, straightforward, easy to read, yet miss the mark because it’s set in uncomfortable surroundings.

Anyone editing for plain English needs to consider white space, paragraph length, type size, readability of font, placement of graphics, and so on. Without consideration of all these, the text might as well be gibberish.

So editors have a wide-ranging role to play, if they want it. They can be part text editor, part designer, part indexer, part writer, even English grammar tutor or mentor, all at once. Or they can stick to the narrow path of, say, copyediting or proofreading on certain jobs. Editing jobs are as varied as that, and 6 the work is the more enjoyable when that variety challenges all of our skills at different times.

However, all of the above is only the editing part of the job – the words. How about other things that must be considered, such as explaining your recommendations to your client, following through to see that the document reads well and expresses the author’s intentions clearly, and checking that any instructions to designers and printers are carried out? Let’s look at each of these.

While you might not be a teacher in the accepted sense, you still have an explaining role as an editor. Your written comments on the text or your comment notes in Track Changes or your verbal explanations must all be clear. For example, there’s no point telling the client that they ought to use active voice instead of the passive construction that’s in the text if they don’t understand the difference between active and passive. You need to be confident that you can explain that difference and show the client how much better the material would be if they followed your recommendation.

You need, at the same time, to have respect for the client. It won’t help them if you write a stream of negative comment notes – this will only demoralise and discourage them. If you find yourself with material that will not get to publication without major restructuring, your responsibility is to help the client understand the value of good structure – achievable by means of a few short examples from an early part of the document and a word of praise for the ideas they are trying to get across. Having understood that your recommendations have merit, the client is likely to be in a frame of mind to accept that much more of the same is going to be required throughout the document, and that you are willing to help. At this point, they may well ask for guidance in English grammar, or whatever the problem area is. Great! You’ve won a friend and a convert to good writing.

Leaving the document after the initial edit is not always a good idea. You may have only one opportunity to work with the author (as perhaps with an academic thesis), but if you can follow through (as perhaps with a novel), all the way to final proof or pre-press stage of the document, do so. A book often has to go through many stages before it is ready to go to the printer. Try to stay in control throughout.

Some jobs include illustrations, photographs with captions, complex design issues and so on. It is the editor’s responsibility to get the document to publication; therefore you as editor need to liaise with designers and anyone else involved, so that you can keep control of all these aspects that impinge on the effectiveness of the words that you have carefully edited. This doesn’t mean that you need to have design qualifications, or be an indexer or an artist, 7 but such people need to keep you informed and you have to be happy with the work that they produce, or the document will be a failure. If you have agreed to take the project right through to printing, you then need to liaise closely with the chosen printer to make sure that you all agree on the stock (the paper) to be used, the colours for the cover and any illustrations, the print run (and nowadays how it will appear in ebook formats).

The editor’s job is as big or small as you want to make it. Having an interest in all aspects of the process of getting ideas into print makes the actual editing all the more interesting and satisfying.