What Editors Do: The Art, Craft, and Business of Book Editing (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 022629997X ISBN 13: 9780226299976

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 2017

Synopsis

Editing is an invisible art where the very best work goes undetected. Editors strive to create books that are enlightening, seamless, and pleasurable to read, all while giving credit to the author. This makes it all the more difficult to truly understand the range of roles they inhabit while shepherding a project from concept to publication.

In What Editors Do, Peter Ginna gathers essays from twenty-seven leading figures in book publishing about their work. Representing both large houses and small, and encompassing trade, textbook, academic, and children’s publishing, the contributors make the case for why editing remains a vital function to writers—and readers—everywhere.

Ironically for an industry built on words, there has been a scarcity of written guidance on how to actually approach the work of editing. This book will serve as a compendium of professional advice and will be a resource both for those entering the profession (or already in it) and for those outside publishing who seek an understanding of it. It sheds light on how editors acquire books, what constitutes a strong author-editor relationship, and the editor’s vital role at each stage of the publishing process—a role that extends far beyond marking up the author’s text.

This collection treats editing as both art and craft, and also as a career. It explores how editors balance passion against the economic realities of publishing. What Editors Do shows why, in the face of a rapidly changing publishing landscape, editors are more important than ever.

About this title

About the Author

Peter Ginna was most recently publisher and editorial director at Bloomsbury Press; before that he held editorial positions at Oxford University Press, Crown Publishers, St. Martin’s Press, and Persea Books. He has taught editing in New York University’s publishing program, and comments on editing, books, and publishing at the blog Doctor Syntax and on Twitter at @DoctorSyntax.

Review

"These honest and unflinching accounts from publishing insiders are a valuable primer on the field at a time where the value of editors and publishers has been increasingly questioned." (Publishers Weekly)

“Illuminating.” (Los Angeles Review of Books)

“Ginna has collected essays from 27 of his peers in the book business on everything from the importance of the author-editor relationship to the challenges of editing genre fiction to the ways editors must function as evangelists, creating buzz for their books.” (Entertainment Weekly)

“A vital resource for writers and readers seeking a comprehensive exploration into the author-editor relationship, the lifecycle of a book, and how editors for publishing houses big and small have adapted to an industry in constant flux.” (Starred Review Library Journal)

“Detailed and comprehensive in scope . . . The book explicitly aims to keep in check any romantic notions of an editor’s life, emphasizing that editors take meetings, publicize books, and check contracts at least as often as they make marks on manuscripts or host boozy lunches.” (Times Literary Supplement)

“Every editor should read this book. It’s a top-notch resource no matter what niche or stage of career an editor is in.” (Editors Canada)

“Exceptionally well written. The prose is authoritative, entertaining, and informative. Each chapter is written by a leader in that topic’s realm.” (Copyediting)

“What Editors Do belongs on the shelf of any serious editor.” (Technical Communication)

“Absolutely essential reading for anyone who aspires to be an editor, as well as critically important reading for authors and publishers with respect to the critically important role that editors play in the publishing process.” (Midwest Book Review)

“Offers an excellent opportunity for would-be authors to see the world through the eyes of publishers/editors.” (Australian Book Review)

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 022629997X
• ISBN 13: 9780226299976
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320
• Editor: Ginna Peter