Copy editing (also copy-editing or copyediting) is the editorial work that an editor does to make formatting changes and improvements to a manuscript; copy (as a noun) refers to written or typewritten text for typesetting, printing, or publication. The editor effecting this is a copy editor; an organization's highest-ranking copy editor, or the supervising editor of a group of copy editors, may be known as the copy chief. There is no universal form for the job, or for the job title; it is often written as one word (copyediting), or with a hyphen (copy-editing); the hyphenated form is especially common in Britain. Similarly, the term copy editor may be spelled either as one word, two words, or as a hyphenated compound term. Generally, in British newspaper and magazine publishing (but not book publishing), the job is called sub-editing or revise editing (The Times).
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Overview
The copy editor's job is summarized in the Five Cs: to make the copy clear, correct, concise, comprehensible, and consistent. Typically, copy editing involves correcting spelling, terminology, punctuation, and grammatical and semantic errors; ensuring that the typescript adheres to the publisher's house style; and adding standardized headers, footers, headlines, etc. The copy editor is expected to ensure that the text flows, that it is sensible, fair, and accurate, and that it will provoke no legal problems for the publisher. Newspaper copy editors are sometimes responsible for choosing which news service wire copy the newspaper will use, and for rewriting it in accordance with house style. Often, the copy editor is the only person other than the author to read an entire text before its publication. Newspaper editors often regard copy editors as the newspaper's last line of accurate defense. A copy editor may abridge text, by "cutting" and "trimming" it, to reduce the length of a novel or an article, either to fit broadcast or publishing limits or to improve its meaning. This may involve omitting parts of the text, but sometimes it is necessary to rewrite uncut parts to bridge the missing details and plot; some abridgements are only slightly shorter than the originals, but others may be much abridged, particularly when a literary classic is abridged for the children's market.
Changes in the profession
Traditionally, the copy editor would read a printed or written manuscript, manually marking it with editor's correction marks. Often, the manuscript is read on a computer display and corrections are entered directly. The rise of desktop publishing means that many copy editors do design and layout work that once was the province of design production crews in print publications. As a result, the skills needed for editing copy have shifted; technical knowledge sometimes is considered as important as writing ability, particularly in journalism, rather than in book publishing.
Traits, skills, and training
Besides excellent command of the language, copy editors need broad general knowledge of the world in spotting factual errors, good critical-thinking skill (to recognize inconsistencies), diplomacy for dealing with writers, and a thick skin for when editorial diplomacy fails. Also, they must establish priorities — balancing a striving for perfection and the necessity to follow deadlines. Many copy editors have a college degree, often in journalism, English, or communications. In the United States, copy editing often is taught as a college journalism course, though its name varies; news design and pagination also are taught. In the United States, The Dow Jones Newspaper Fund sponsors internships that include two weeks of training. Also, the American Press Institute, the Poynter Institute, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and conferences of the American Copy Editors Society offer mid-career training for newspaper copy editors and news editors (news copy desk supervisors). Most U.S. newspapers and publishers give copy-editing job candidates an editing test or a tryout. These vary widely and often include general items such as acronyms, current events, simple mathematics, and punctuation, and skills such as Associated Press style, headline writing, infographics editing, and journalism ethics. In the U.K., training may be on the job or through publishing courses, privately run seminars, and correspondence courses of the Society for Editors and Proofreaders.
See also
- Proofreading
- Fact-checking
- House style
- American copy editors
- AP Stylebook
- Obelism
- Controlled language
References
- The Art of Editing, by Floyd K. Baskette, Jack Z. Sissors, and Brian S. Brooks.
- Butcher's Copy-Editing: the Cambridge Handbook for Editors, Copy-editors and Proofreaders. 4th edition, by Judith Butcher, Caroline Drake and Maureen Leach. Cambridge University Press, 2006.
External links
- General
- Sub-editing style and directory
- Advice on freelance proofreading and copy-editing (UK)
- Copy Editor newsletter (USA)
- Proofreading practice at Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders
- Copyeditors' Knowledge Base
- Organizations
- American Copy Editors Society
- Society for Editors and Proofreaders (UK)
- Editors' Association of Canada
- Editorial Freelancers Association (USA)
- Newspaper copy editing
- Test examples for Dow Jones Newspaper Fund internships
- Test question examples, compiled by the American Copy Editors Society
- The Slot, includes What exactly is a copy editor? and How a copy desk works, by Bill Walsh of The Washington Post
- Testy Copy Editors Newspaper copy editors and their fans talk shop
