Pathways to editing: is there a right way?
by Melanie Dankel
I was speaking to a fellow editor who was bemoaning their heavy workload, and the fact their boss’s solution to the problem was to ‘just give some editing to the assistant’.
Now, I can feel the collective gasp of horror followed by the groans of despair at this point — and rightly so. But it got me thinking about how editors become editors in a world where outsourcing business is the predominant model.
Back in the day (I know that makes me sound old, but my other option was ‘once upon a time’), editors just sort of ‘fell into it’: Mary Norris (Confessions of a Comma Queen) ‘fell into’ a job at The New Yorker library after failing the test for the typing pool. Janet Mackenzie DE recounted ‘falling into’ the job by chance and noted that ‘aspiring editors have an uphill battle’. She went on to quote an APA recommendation for ‘killing an editorial assistant and assuming their identity’ to get a start in the profession.
And while it can be said that our social media groups and increased globalisation are making it easier than ever for editors to gain skills, make business contacts and solve problems while on the job, we are in some ways still isolated. One of the biggest things I miss about working in-house is being able to turn to the editor next to me with some technical grammar query and have a robust discussion about it.
So, this article is really about two things: mentoring and the changing role of editors
1. Mentoring
Whether explicitly stated or not, many editors I know (myself included) did a lot of our learning on the job, working with more experienced editors and observing how they approached tasks and solved problems. I miss this. It was such a rich source of learning and I wish I had sucked more marrow out of the experience. While it’s a great opportunity for the assistant when the boss says ‘give some editing to the assistant’, I wished they’d said, ‘let’s start mentoring the assistant to take on some editing’. In this instance I do think there can be a right way and a wrong way.
I think mentoring, whether formal or informal, is still one of the best ways to gain skills as an editor. Opportunities to experience that mentoring in-house are perhaps not as available in companies that outsource most of their editing. But in some of the excellent social media networks we have access to, and in many of the fabulous workshops hosted by IPEd and other organisations, it seems editors have many mentors these days, and learning just looks a bit different now.
I think IPEd’s Mentoring Program is one of the most untapped resources that members have on offer. Imagine being paired with an experienced editor whose sole role was to help you get really good at something you wanted or needed to learn.
2. Editing is not editing anymore
As roles evolve and businesses restructure, jobs start to look a bit different. If you set up a job alert for ‘editor’, you will be sent jobs for communications coordinators, publications managers and so on, where editing is just one part of a bigger role. The hirers will probably want you to edit, write, produce video, post for social media, develop the web content, manage SEO, all while juggling three polar bears, but that is probably a gripe for another newsletter.
Editors have many highly transferable soft skills that we probably don’t even count as skills because we do them so instinctively. I’ve never met an editor worth their salt who wasn’t an expert organiser, problem-solver, time-management guru, detective, negotiator, peacekeeper and all-round general legend. We can probably all relate to having a poor-quality project with insufficient time or money to really invest in it, but we’ve still managed to turn in a bloody decent manuscript that meets the brief and makes the author look good.
So, while this may sound like a self-indulgent longing for the old days, I hope it’s more about adaptation and embracing change. The rapid evolution of technology, products and even language over the past 20 years leaves us in a perpetual state of change, and it’s up to us to seek pathways that enable us to meet that challenge and continually learn, adapt and upskill — which is really good news if you want to establish yourself in the profession because there are multiple pathways. And if you’re lucky enough to be an assistant being mentored in editing, I hope you suck the marrow out of the experience.
Melanie Dankel is the EdSA President. Contact her at edsa.president@iped-editors.org.