By Margot Lloyd, Felicity Dunning and Jacqueline Blanchard
Editors spend their careers helping other people’s words shine, yet they are so rarely in the spotlight themselves. Beyond the Margins: Australian Editors in Conversation grew from a simple question: if editors are such an essential part of Australia’s publishing culture, why don’t we know who worked on the definitive Australian books of the past 40 years?
The project began in 2023 from conversations in the corridor of the editorial department at University of Queensland Press. As mid-career editors, we often found ourselves discussing the limited professional development opportunities available to us and the invisibility of editorial work. We wanted to find a way for emerging editors to learn from the profession’s most experienced practitioners, accessing all the knowledge that was currently hidden within the covers of books.
From those conversations came the idea of creating a record of the experiences, working methods and industry insights of some of Australia’s most respected editors. In partnership with the Institute of Professional Editors (IPEd), we set out to interview editors whose contributions have helped shape Australian publishing and our literary landscape.
The result is a collection of 6 written interviews and 4 audio conversations exploring editorial craft, publishing history and professional practice. The interviewees include editors from diverse backgrounds and career paths, from those who built their careers within major publishing houses to those who forged independent paths through freelancing, small presses and entrepreneurial ventures. Together, their stories provide a rich portrait of the Australian editing profession.
One of the greatest challenges was simply identifying and locating editors. Unlike authors, editors are rarely celebrated publicly for their work. Many can be traced only through acknowledgements pages or the memories of publishers and colleagues. This search reinforced one of the central motivations behind the project: the need to recognise and preserve editorial contributions.
The conversations themselves are wide-ranging and often surprisingly candid. Interviewees discuss everything from structural editing and tracked changes to AI, publishing economics and the delicate art of working with authors. While their approaches differ, a common theme emerged: the importance of author care. Again and again, editors spoke about building trust, communicating honestly and helping authors realise the full potential of their work.
Another striking insight was how many of today’s challenges are not new. Issues such as workload, remuneration, professional recognition and the sometimes-blurred distinction between editing and publishing have been part of industry conversations for decades.
Hearing these perspectives across generations offered valuable context for understanding the profession’s present and future.
Most of all, Beyond the Margins has been a project about connection. Editing can be a solitary profession, but these interviews reveal that editors from diverse publishing backgrounds and across generations have much in common. We hope the series provides encouragement for emerging editors, recognition for established professionals and an enduring resource for anyone interested in the craft of editing. With many more names still on our list of potential interviewees, we also hope this is only the beginning of the conversation.