Hello Manuscript Workers, I received an email a couple weeks ago from Shanon Fitzpatrick, a former history professor who now works as a self-employed developmental editor. I know Shanon because she took my training course on academic developmental editing a few years ago. I could tell at the time that she had a great talent for helping scholarly writers improve their manuscripts, and I’ve sent many clients to her company,
Thanks for this good column. Shanon articulates her transition to editing work very nicely. Another thing I would add as a benefit, having made the same transition, is that academics who wrote and published bring that experience to the table. I feel like that's one strength I bring to a full-time academic copyediting job at a publishing company: having sat on the other side of the table as a writer/reviewer. I'm more sensitive to writers' needs, feelings, and concerns when they get an edited manuscript back from me, as I was there in my previous career in academia. I can also communicate to them the needs and concerns of the publisher, which I'm not sure most academics understand (e.g., deadlines, costs, staffing limitations).
A career in academic editing
Thanks for this good column. Shanon articulates her transition to editing work very nicely. Another thing I would add as a benefit, having made the same transition, is that academics who wrote and published bring that experience to the table. I feel like that's one strength I bring to a full-time academic copyediting job at a publishing company: having sat on the other side of the table as a writer/reviewer. I'm more sensitive to writers' needs, feelings, and concerns when they get an edited manuscript back from me, as I was there in my previous career in academia. I can also communicate to them the needs and concerns of the publisher, which I'm not sure most academics understand (e.g., deadlines, costs, staffing limitations).