Did you know there are different types of editors out there? Not all editing is the same. Here’s what you need to know when hiring an editor.
I have edited works in academia, fiction, and online marketing. And with the rise of do-it-yourself marketing, brand building, and self-publishing, many in the industry are now making their way to the editors. When you start a project yourself, whether that is writing a book or starting a business online, you don’t know what you don’t know until you go out there and learn it. This is the experience I see now with many new clients. They didn’t realize they needed an editor until they did, and then they realized the value.
This blog initially was to address why someone would hire an editor at all. However, I realized upon starting that in order to answer that question, you have to understand that there are different types of editors. Therefore, this article will address the different types of editors, what they do, and why you might hire one.
What Does an Editor Do?
The editor in general is widely defined based on industries. For writing and publication, editors manage content production, topic choice, content calendars, and then the monitoring, modification, and revisions needed to make a manuscript ready for public eyes.
Now, the editor is treated kind of like a wordsmithing consultant. The editor will take a piece of content and look at it with an analytical gaze and optimize the piece so that the content is effective, no matter what the goal. The range of skills needed to be an editor varies from consulting and education to fact-checking and syntax and grammar improvements.
It’s not easy to say what an editor actually does because there is a range of skills and jobs that editors do. To talk about what an editor does, let’s dive into the different types of editorial tasks. Here are some of the different types of editors by industry:
Book Publishing Editors
The book publishing industry is the gold standard for editors. This is where editing really developed as a career, a subset of skills, and an ideology. Well, that and the journalism industry (which I have lumped under publications editors). When I think of editing, I think of those word-wizzes who know perfect grammar and have memorized the dictionary. But, editing, especially in book publishing, isn’t really about that. There are about 6 different types of editors in the book publishing industry. And these I’m getting from this GCU language communications blog. There are many more:
1. Acquisitions Editor
It’s surprising and not surprising at the same time that the acquisitions editor is called an editor. Because they do not, in fact, perform labor that is normally defined as editing. However, in terms of their job role and the position within the company, they are very much an editor because they must understand the context of the acquired book or book author within the goals of the publishing company. Therefore, this type of editor is similar to a developmental editor in that they are looking at the broader picture of how well an author, book, or book idea will fit, and then are perhaps editing the people, book, or idea to fit the publication company’s models.
2. Developmental Editor
The developmental editor is very much a common skill set in the editing community. The developmental editor works largely with larger texts and manuscripts (both fiction and non-fiction) to ensure that the story makes sense or to offer recommendations for improvements. The developmental editor might use software like Fictionary to track the book’s overall structure, plot, character development, dialogue, tone, and voice. This editor will not be critiquing comma placement, but they may make recommendations based on poor or inconsistent style and syntax. The developmental editor is by far one of the most important roles in book publishing because a faulty plot or poorly developed character could ruin a book.
3. Fact-checking
Fact-checkers are very important, and this type of editor is probably one of the most common even outside of publishing. Fact-checking is especially critical in non-fiction and academic publishing (which I will get to next) as they will go through your text line-by-line and cross-reference any item that is not an original thought of the author. Fact-checkers are avid researchers and usually have access to several historical and academic databases for verification.
4. Line editing or stylistic editing
Line editing is probably my favorite type of editor and it’s mainly because no one outside of the industry has ever heard of line editing except they know exactly what they do. Line editing is your classic editor – what one might think of when they think about editing – and yet it’s so surprising that the term line editor has largely evaded public knowledge.
Good line editing is tedious work. When manuscripts are submitted, they are given page numbers and line numbers, and it is up to the line editor to go through every line and to provide the necessary technical changes, such as appropriate placement of clause, appropriate noun, tense, and POV used, word place, verb changes, syntax, style, and more.
Line editing is sometimes referred to as stylistic editing as it is suggesting word choice improvements, adjusting the sentence structure, and really combing through that manuscript to make it look sharp.
5. Copy Editing
Copy editing is also another popular editing choice and is widely used in the freelance and gig economy. I believe it is referred to so much in that industry because marketing material is often called “copy.” Although, I would like to hope that marketers also understand the core job requirements of a copy editor. My experience tells me that they don’t, especially since many job listings ask for copy editors to do all of the above (i.e., developmental editing, stylistic editing, fact-checking, and then a final proofread).
Nonetheless, copy editors are also very similar to line editors. They make improvements that bring together the small changes made by the line editor and the bigger changes necessary from developmental editing. Copy editors also go through things like consistency. This includes consistent spelling, the referencing of names or places, capitalization, tenses, and more. Copy editors might be the person who goes through and makes sure that the manuscript is following the publishing company’s necessary guidelines.
6. Proofreading
Proofreaders are absolutely fabulous. Proofreaders should be one of the very last people to read the document to make sure that it is free of errors. The proofreader will normally get the book once it’s been sent to a typesetter or designer and a galley proof has been printed. This also involves double-checking the work of the typesetter for any inconsistencies there.
Publications Editors
Editors in the publications outside of books including magazines, trend journals and subscriptions, online magazines, newspapers, and online newspapers. The most common role is an all-hands Editor-in-Chief, especially with smaller publications, and they might be acting as an acquisitions editor, developmental editor, copy editor, and proofreader. it’s often that most publications would be able to hire supporting editorial staff, like line editors and copy editors, but not so much for the smallest publications.
Academic Editors
The academic industry while vast (and rampant with issues) is a little less structured when it comes to understanding editing roles. This is the case because academia is the wild-west when it comes to publications. Professionals in academia, including students, associate professors, tenured professors, and research fellows, are often required to submit manuscripts for publication with academic journals and with academic publishing companies.
The range in quality and support available at these firms vary. Some require the author to source all of the editorial squad on their own; in which case, the individuals might hire someone freelance or through an academic editing agency to perform various tasks. If hired through freelance, then there are likely to get a less than par manuscript simply because only one or two people may be looking at the manuscript.
Editors exist at journals book publishing firms in the same capacities as book publishing; however, since the academic publishing industry is relatively unregulated here, then they might only supply an acquisitions editor and then the peer review team, which may act as a pseudo- fact-checker, but not really.
Editors at journals are usually those in charge of ensuring the quality of publications submitted, sending articles out to the review team, and seeking final approval. No “technical” editing is usually supplied in-house.
If you go out and hire an academic editor, then you are likely able to hire someone who is experienced, trained, and knowledgable in the area of study so that the editor can perform the task. Tasks range from developmental editing to syntax/grammar (line editing) tasks, indexing, citations, and alignment with source manuals like APA or MLA.
Content Marketing Editors
Probably the most underdeveloped industry, editors exist to improve the content in the content marketing industry. Editors for videos, images, and infographics also exist, but the editors I’m talking about here are word editors. These involve content development specialists, content strategists, content editors, fact-checkers, and proofreaders.
There is a serious problem in content marketing when it comes to editing. For the most part, content marketers don’t take them seriously. Experienced content marketers know that editors are required in this industry, especially if they go out there and hire their first freelance writer and then realize that they are doing all the editing themselves.
With the rise of work from home and the everyone-can-writer culture spawning in this decade, its no surprise that the rise of the need for content marketing editors is also coinciding with the rise of content marketing and WFM writers. Basically, novice writers go out and are told that this is a lucrative industry, all the while not knowing that their work needs to be edited and when just starting out, usually that comes out of their budget (and they didn’t budget for it). Or, there’s the scammy type of content marketers, who know that they can take advantage of new or unskilled writers and ask them to do multiple jobs for cheap labor.
Luckily, content marketing agencies are in full development. I currently work for one called okwrite Technologies, and we are continually combatting this idea that writers should be able to edit. In fact, this is how I found consistent work – as an editor here at this firm. We continue to prioritize our editors and the editing process because it literally saves us clients (and money). Not everyone can write.
The biggest hurdle in content marketing is the scams and the education. You need an editor to look over your work before you publish it online, and it should not be the author. The best paid editors in the business most likely work for government entities, non-profits, and large enterprises.
Other Editors
There are other editors as well, these include:
- Associate Editor
- Editor-at-large
- Technical editor
- Editor in chief
- Editing Consultant
- Niche Editor
- RFP and Proposals Editor
- Indexers
- Citations managers
I am not going to go through each of the tasks of each of these editors (maybe I’ll do it at another time). But these are additional roles that “editors” can fill.
Why Would You Hire an Editor?
I want to address this point since it was the original goal of this blog. As you can see, there is a range of skill sets and jobs related to editing, and any one of these is a good reason to hire an editor. Why you would hire an editor will depend on your industry, budget, and goals. However, if you want someone to help you make your content better, then you want to hire an editor.
If you’re interested in learning more about editorial work, don’t hesitate to reach out.
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