Sunday, July 30, 2017

The Traits Of A Developmental Editor

By Edward Reynolds


Every piece of writing requires some form of support during or before it can be produced or published. This writing is what is referred to as developmental editing and the person behind it is the developmental editor. They perform a lot of duties that help ensure that the content in a manuscript is good; thus, ensuring the success of a book.

The editor performs a myriad of tasks so that the success of a book or manuscript is a success. One of the main responsibilities is giving relevant suggestions. It is part of their job to ensure that they offer not only suggestions, but also tangible ones at that. Such ideas may be improvement of the style, language or even character development. They however are not responsible for correcting spelling or grammatical errors. Theirs is just to highlight and let the writer carry out the necessary corrections.

A good publishing supervisor should possess a couple of qualities. First of all they have to be able to make clear edits. They should be able to make changes that are understandable such that the writer may be capable to see them clearly. The edits should be written where they may be visible so that the writer might be capable to compare the original manuscript with the edited one and make all the necessary changes.

They should offer solutions to specific problems. It is their work to inform the writer where the mistakes have occurred and actually suggest a way forward. Mentioning mistakes and not providing any form in which they can be corrected is wrong and shows shallow work.

Creativity is part and parcel of each and every aspect of life. A good editor should possess a lot of it. They should have the ability of thinking beyond the reality of life and embrace impossibilities. They have to be able to visualize things from the perspective of an author and even beyond. This way, they will be able to come up with something creative that if incorporated to the original story-line could see the story becoming more captivating.

In addition, they need to also have respect for the work of the writer. Recognizing that the author has total control over the entire project in the first step into creating mutual respect is important. The author should be the one telling the story and is the only one with the power of making any changes to the content.

They should also be good instructors. They are tasked with the duty of helping a writer become better at delivering their work. They have to try as much as possible to steer this writer in the correct path by informing them what needs to be done. This way the author will avoid repeating similar mistakes in future. They have to also be able to provide market sense for the book. They need to know what the market demands are and advice the writers accordingly.

In order to ensure the success of a book, then both the writer and the publishing supervisor need to chip in equal efforts. They ought to both try and work together by for instance being open-minded, respecting each other in addition to promoting good communication between them.




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