What’s the point of an editor?
The big question for many people working for the first time with an editor is, why? Why is this step needed? Why must I allow my finely honed work to be trod on by someone who’s not a subject matter…
The art of the query
Carol Fisher Saller, editor of the Chicago Manual of Style Online’s Q&A, writes in her book The Subversive Copy Editor, “To see the author-editor relationship as inherently adversarial is to doom yourself to a career of angst and stress.” Fisher…
Changing hats
Although I’ve been a writer and editor for almost 30 years, most of my work has been outside the book publishing world, and I’ve never worked in-house. So when I pitched a children’s book idea to Orca Book Publishers a…
Remembering John
All of us at West Coast Editorial Associates grieve the loss of Victoria editor John Eerkes-Medrano, who died unexpectedly on June 15, 2015. I delivered these remarks at his memorial on June 26. Thank you to his family for including us in the…
Editing and—beekeeping?
Like other professionals, editors do interesting things when they’re not at their desks. In my “spare time,” I keep honey bees. Now, editing and beekeeping aren’t always the perfect combination. For example, the bees will inevitably swarm just as you…
Veteran comics character raises profile of editors
After 66 years of comic strip life, Rex Morgan M.D. is welcoming an editor into the soap-operatic world that revolves around his medical practice. This gratifying development follows a storyline about domestic violence that saw Buck, Rex’s friend from high…