W hat Editors Do Th e Chicago Guide to Grammar, Usage, and Punctuation Bryan A. Garner From Dissertation to Book What Editors Want William Germano Philippa J. Benson Getting It Published and Susan C. Silver William Germano Permissions, A Survival Guide Storycraft Susan M. Bielstein Jack Hart Th e Craft of Research Indexing Books Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Nancy C. Mulvany Colomb, Joseph M. Williams, Developmental Editing Joseph Bizup, and William T. Scott Norton FitzGerald Getting into Print Th e Chicago Guide to Fact- Checking Walter W. Powell Brooke Borel Th e Subversive Copy Editor Glossary of Typesetting Terms Carol Fisher Saller Richard Eckersley, Richard A Manual for Writers of Research Angstadt, Charles M. Ellertson, Papers, Th eses, and Dissertations Richard Hendel, Naomi B. Kate L. Turabian Pascal, and Anita Walker Scott W hat Editors Do  , ,      Edited by   The University of Chicago Press Chicago and London Th e University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637 Th e University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London © 2017 by Th e University of Chicago All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations in critical articles and reviews. For more information, contact the University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th St., Chicago, IL 60637. Published 2017 Printed in the United States of America 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 1 2 3 4 5 ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 29983- 9 (cloth) ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 29997- 6 (paper) ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 30003- 0 (e- book) DOI: https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226300030.001.0001 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Ginna, Peter, editor. Title: What editors do : the art, craft, and business of book editing / edited by Peter Ginna. Other titles: Chicago guides to writing, editing, and publishing. Description: Chicago : Th e University of Chicago Press, 2017. | Series: Chicago guides to writing, editing, and publishing | Includes index. Identifi ers: lccn 2017025411 | isbn 9780226299839 (cloth : alk. paper) | isbn 9780226299976 (pbk. : alk. paper) | isbn 9780226300030 (e-book) Subjects: lcsh: Editing. | Publishers and publishing. Classifi cation: lcc pn162 .w465 2017 | ddc 808.02/7—dc23 lc record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017025411 ♾ Th is paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1 992 (Permanence of Paper). For Margaret Williams Ginna and Robert Emmett Ginna Jr. who coauthored, and edited, me  ............ . Th e Th ree Phases of Editing / 1  . :    1     by Peter Ginna / 17 2    : Twelve Rules for Trade Editors by Jonathan Karp / 30 3     : Th e How and Why of Academic Publishing by Gregory M. Britton / 40 4    : Acquiring College Textbooks by Peter Coveney / 49  .   :     5    by Nancy S. Miller / 59 6       : Th e Author–E ditor Relationship by Betsy Lerner / 69 7      : What I Learned about Editing When I Became a Literary Agent by Susan Rabiner / 77 8 -  ,       Developmental Editing by Scott Norton / 85 9      : On Line Editing by George Witte / 96 10  , ,  : What Copyeditors Do by Carol Fisher Saller / 106  . :       11      : Th e Editor as Manager by Michael Pietsch / 119 12    : Th e Editor as Evangelist by Calvert D. Morgan Jr. / 131 13  -  : Independent Publishing and Community by Jeff Shotts / 141  .    :     14    : Editing Literary Fiction by Erika Goldman / 151 15 , ,  : Editing Genre Fiction by Diana Gill / 159 16 : On Editing General Nonfi ction by Matt Weiland / 169 17      : Editing Books for Children by Nancy Siscoe / 177 18   : Editing Biography, Autobiography, and Memoir by Wendy Wolf / 187 19     : Editing Works of Scholarship by Susan Ferber / 197 20  : Reference Editing and Publishing by Anne Savarese / 205 21      : Creating Illustrated Books by Deb Aaronson / 213  .    :     22   : Why Publishing Needs Diversity by Chris Jackson / 223 23  : On Being an Editorial Assistant by Katie Henderson Adams / 231 24    : Making a Career as a Freelance Editor by Katharine O’Moore- Klopf / 238 25  -   -  by Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry / 248 26     : Th e Editor’s Role in a Changing Publishing Industry by Jane Friedman / 256 .    : Th e Past and Future of Editing / 269 Acknowledgments / 273 Glossary / 275 Further Resources / 291 About the Editor / 299 Index / 301  .................      People outside the book publishing industry— and even many within it— often wonder: just what is it that editors do? It’s a simple question with a com- plicated answer. Th is book attempts such an answer. It’s intended for readers who are interested in becoming editors themselves, or who have embarked on an editorial career and want to learn more; for those in other jobs within publishing who want to understand their editorial colleagues; for book lovers curious about how the books they loved (or hated) came into being; and not least, for writers who want to know just what goes on inside the walls of a publishing house— or inside an editor’s head. To fi nd out how the literary sausage is made, for better or worse, read on. In today’s book business, the role of editor encompasses an enormous range of tasks. Imagine that the whole American publishing industry could be found on one single street. (So much of it was, in nineteenth- century New York, that the expression “Publishers Row” became a lasting metonym for the book business, as “Madison Avenue” did for advertising. Today publishing is more geographically dispersed than ever, but suppose the contrary with me for a moment.) If we could peek in the windows of all the diff erent publishers, here are some of the things we might see editorial staff ers doing: • In this skyscraper, an editor is on the phone with a literary agent negotiating a contract for a new book. • In the conference room next door, another editor is sitting with an author in front of a pile of photographs, choosing images for a book going into production. • In the hallway, a senior editor is buttonholing the sales director to tell him why he has got to read a memoir that’s just been delivered. • In this ivy-c lad building, a university press editor is scanning a new journal, looking out for promising young scholars. • Across the street, several editors are in a marketing meeting, discussing publicity and sales plans on next season’s titles. • In this cubicle, an editorial assistant is struggling to fi t a fl ap copy description into the two hundred words allotted for it. • In this one, a copyeditor is checking to make sure that a character who 