Description
In The Editorial Department, authors and editors Britanie Wilson and Jeremy Lucyk introduce prospective book editors to the trade of book editing: working on book drafts at various stages, working with other editors, and the process of acquiring manuscripts. Written for university undergrads and graduate students as well as communications and writing professionals interested in learning about taking up a career as a book editor, this book offers a compressed tour of the work that book editors do and explains how to do it.
The book is divided into four equal parts:
- Acquisitions: discusses the various sources of manuscripts that editors rely on to bring new manuscripts to their house.
- Editors: discusses the various types of book editors, the work they each do, and how they work together to transform a rough manuscript into a polished book.
- Editing: discusses and demonstrates the four levels of book editing that most manuscripts pass through: substantive editing, line editing, copyediting, and proofreading.
- Exercises: presents three challenging editing exercises and solutions for substantive editing, line editing, and copyediting. These exercises provide an excellent experience of what each level of editing work is like.
The Editorial Department also includes a lengthy publishing contract with side notes by the authors explaining the elements of a publishing contract, the tool by which acquiring editors obtain a license to publish the work of an author. By reading this section, prospective editors may build comfort with and knowledge of all aspects of this crucial legal document.
The second book in the growing Entering the Publishing Industry series, this book introduces men and women to a growing specialist career in the world of books that is quietly glorious, often mystified, and seldom understood by non-editors. Here is a good, long peer into the editorial department of a book publishing house and the world and work of book editing.
