Many books about editing tell you what to do, but few of them tell you how to go about it. Previous chapters have explained editorial tasks such as appraisal, substantive editing, language editing and proofreading. This chapter discusses production methods, hardware and software, and explains how to work with paper and electronic documents.

Screed or screen?

Editors agree that hard copy is easier to read than a screen and that they are more likely to detect errors in hard copy. Some jobs are still done entirely by hand, but most of the time editors work on screen using Microsoft Word. Before beginning work on screen many editors read, or at least skim, the whole manuscript in hard copy and note the editorial problems. It is inefficient, though, to fully edit on hard copy and then key in the corrections.

The screen encourages you to focus on fine detail ??? words and sentences ??? and you can lose the threads that link paragraphs and chapters to make a good book. After you???ve edited on screen and are reading through the printout, it may be quite plain that paragraphs are in the wrong order, or that a statement contradicts something said a few pages back, or that a connection needs to bemade with some earlier mention. Books edited entirely on screen may be bitty,with the information chunked in screenfuls rather than in paragraphs, sections and chapters.

Completeness and consistency make a publication fit for purpose, to use the terminology of the Trade Practices Act. Readers feel cheated when they are referred to a non-existent illustration or are unable to follow information to its source. The editor is responsible for overseeing the integrity of a publication, as Chapters 13 and 14 of the Style Manual explain. Of course completeness and consistency apply to all parts of the publication, but here we survey the non-text items; proofs and quality control are discussed in the next chapter.

Eliminate meaningless variation

A large part of copyediting consists of imposing consistency on the linguistic and visual elements of a publication. The rationale for this is that meaningless variation distracts the reader. He may not consciously notice, for instance, that enquiry is sometimes spelt inquiry, but too many such variations will disturb him at a subliminal level and impede his absorption of the meaning.

The editor establishes an appropriate style, or follows house style, and ensures it is applied consistently throughout. As you gain experience you will do this routinely, knowing which expressions are likely to give trouble. You must ensure consistency not only in spelling but in all the matters listed in Standard E of Australian Standards for Editing Practice - the expression of numbers, the style and wording of the headings and captions, the layout of lists, quotations and tables, and so on.

The terms ‘substantive editing’ and ‘structural editing’ are commonly used as synonyms, but shades of meaning can be distinguished. Substantive editing, being concerned with the substance of the book – content and expression as well as structure – is the more comprehensive term. This type of editing requires close consultation with the author and publisher.

Here we examine what substance and structure mean for print and screen publications; methods for substantive editing are described in Chapter 9.

Substance

It is not possible to edit a book unless you can comprehend it. An editor should be able to deal with any publication intended for the educated general reader, but specialist or groundbreaking works might challenge the limits of your understanding. If your knowledge of the topic or your cognitive ability is less than that of the intended reader, say frankly that you're not up to the job and allow the publisher to find an editor with suitable expertise.

The requirements for substance and structure are discussed in Chapter 4 and language is covered in Chapter 5. This chapter explains in detail the tasks that make up the process of editing. They are divided, somewhat arbitrarily, into copyediting, language editing and substantive editing, but there is always considerable overlap and the editor may perform elements of all three on each pass through the manuscript.

Copyediting: a twelve-step program

Copyediting is the heart of the editorial process, comprising the essential tasks that must be done to prepare any document for publication – correcting spelling and grammar and checking for inaccuracies and inconsistencies. Copyediting can take place at various levels, depending on the quality of the original document and the time and money available. It includes language editing and it blurs into substantive editing. The advice given here is for the sort of manuscript that comes with the optimistic instruction, ‘It's just a straight copyedit – shouldn't need much at all.’

The profession of editing for publication has a broad reach, spanning literature, education and business services. Since its function is to clarify communication, it lies at the heart of the knowledge economy.

Text is being displaced in the dissemination of information – largely because it is often clumsy and ineffective. Editors add value to raw text; we transform information into knowledge. But editorial skills, properly applied, do not draw attention to themselves, and therefore they are overlooked and undervalued. Editing is crucial to the effective presentation of information and the lucid discussion of ideas. The editor knows how to make a product that is functional and fit for its purpose. We conceptualise the kind of publication that will best do the job for the given resources – whether it is a marketing brochure, a website, a textbook or a novel – and we bring it into being.

The profession has taken the future into its own hands. In 2001 editors nationwide adopted Australian Standards for Editing Practice which codify the knowledge that editors bring to the job. Admirably succinct, they are statements of principles with wide ramifications that need to be unpacked. The Standards can be regarded as beacons on a rockey shore; The Editor's Companion takes them as its reference points for a detailed chart of the coastline.

The freelance lifestyle offers both the pleasures and the irritations of working at home. As a no-collar worker you wear what you like, you work when you like, you control your working environment and equipment, you don't have to commute, you avoid meetings and office politics. The disadvantages are equally obvious: you need to obtain enough work to survive, your income is uncertain, it is difficult to maintain a smooth schedule, there are no workmates down the corridor, and you need to separate your work from the demands of the household.

This chapter surveys the concerns of freelance editors. Further guidance can be found in books on freelance writing and journalism, self-employment, working from home, and small business management: look in business bookshops or under Dewey 650s in libraries. It is advisable to obtain specific professional advice on matters of finance, tax and law.

I think I'll go freelance

Some experienced editors choose freelancing as a career option; others are forced ntio it by retrenchment or dabble for extra income in retirement. Not everyone is suited to self-employment: being good at editing is not enough. Do not think of becoming a freelance editor unless you have the personal qualities that make editors such paragons, as listed in Chapter 1, and competence in the knowledge listed in Australian Standards for Editing Practice.

Language creates and controls the world: the act of naming brings concepts into existence and imposes order on chaos. Modern English is an amazing artefact, the product of thousands of years of collaborative human effort, a communication tool that is protean, subtle, sophisticated. Historical circumstances have given it a unique role as a global lingua franca, spoken as a first or second language by two billion people.

English is capable of great precision because its vocabulary is rich in near-synonyms. It also has great flexibility in two dimensions. First, it relies on word order rather than inflections – an upset win is the opposite of a set-up win, and the difference between good-looking and looking good is about twenty years. Second, its parts of speech are largely interchangeable – for instance, out may be an adverb, a preposition, a noun or a verb. English is also succinct, as textbook publishers have found to their cost when trying to fit translations into a tight page grid.

All living languages exist in a state of tension between growth and decay. Languages change because playfulness and the desire to impress are universal human traits; they grow in response to technological innovation, cultural contact and social developments.Working against these impulses to the new are the forces of stability: inertia, the fear of being misunderstood, and the fixative effect of writing.

Angus & robertson, in the glory days when Beatrice Davis was their senior editor, used to consider three typos per book were a reasonable number. Even in these degenerate times fifty in 570 pages are too many, as HarperCollins demonstrated by pulping thousands of copies of Jonathan Franzen's novel Freedom after the wrong files were sent to the printer. Of course, there is huge potential for mistakes in any publication – all those letters, words, names, dates, facts, numbers and typography – and the closer you are to it the harder it is to see them. It's common for experienced editors to glance at a proofread page and immediately spot an error that the proofreader has missed. This is not a sneer at proofreaders; it just demonstrates how hard it is to detect errors in print. It's fatally easy to miss typos in the displayed type of titles and headings.

Some editors claim that the process of reading actually creates typos. The action of passing one's eyes over the text, they say, disarranges or moves the letters; consequently, the more often a page is read, the more errors there are. Despite considerable anecdotal evidence about this effect, rigorous scientific investigation has proved that it is illusory. Editors should, however, understand the operation of Muphry's Law of Proofreading, as stated by John Bangsund:

At the risk of imitating the podiatry textbook which claimed that the foot extends to the armpit, I see the editor as the pivotal figure in the production process, at the centre of a triangle. The points of the triangle are:

• Author: It's my book!

• Publisher: I'm paying the bills!

• Reader: Don't forget me! I'm the purpose of the whole exercise!

For the author you are an assistant; for the publisher you are a quality controller; for the reader you are an advocate. So you're always subject to a three-way stretch, balancing competing demands.

Liaison and negotiation

The aim in liaison is to work out what everyone needs to know and to tell them at the appropriate time. The editor maintains the flow of information between author, publisher, designer and typesetter, but don???t flood people with detail they don???t need.

Before you begin editing, find out whether the publisher or commissioning editor has informed the author of the schedule and told her what she is expected to do in the way of approving changes, obtaining illustrations and permissions, providing material for publicity, preparing the index and so on, and especially the technical requirements for these tasks. You may have to brief the author yourself.

In considering types of publication we begin with the book, since that sets the standard and working editors learned their skills on it.

The book

The printed book is arguably the most successful, durable and significant invention of the last two thousand years. For much of that period it has been the most efficient means for storing and distributing information. Until the advent of electronic communication, there were few alternatives. Broadsheets and songs provided entertainment, public lectures spread knowledge and botanic gardens codified it, but their reach was limited; the book reigned.

The book predates printing. Even if you discount its Chinese antecedents, the Romans were using the codex, or manuscript book, more than fifteen hundred years ago. The church, in the form of monasteries and universities, dominated the early publishing scene; the language was Latin and the content mostly theological. As a literate middle class emerged in the late Middle Ages demand arose for new types of books: popular works for recreation and technical instruction, generally in a vernacular language. Such books were being commercially published by the fourteenth century. Then Gutenberg introduced movable type to Europe in the mid-fifteenth century, and the printed book was launched.

Because editors tend to focus on words, they may fail to appreciate the power of graphics to convey information. Collaboration with designers can provide an education and enlarge your view of what is possible. In heavily illustrated publications – coffee-table books, annual reports, art catalogues and cookbooks – the pix take precedence over the text. Their production requires close liaison between the editor and the designer throughout the project.

The term ‘illustrations’ covers a wide range of material, defined in Standard D of Australian Standards for Editing Practice as including drawings, cartoons, diagrams, charts, graphs, maps, photographs, computer-generated graphics and moving images. Here we will look at the editor's tasks. For more information, see the Style Manual, Chapter 21.

Appraising pix

Pix appear on your desk in various physical manifestations ??? rough sketches, printouts of scanned photographs, computer-drawn graphs. When working with photographs and drawings, use photocopies or printouts; this saves the originals from harm and also allows you to freely mark crop lines and other instructions for the designer. The edited photocopies are known as artwork roughs. Store original artwork and photographs safely and return them, carefully packaged, with the edited manuscript.