Editing as part of a portfolio career

Writing and editing are services I offer as part of my portfolio career so I’m interested in this area in all its forms. My friend Jhana Arnold, a budding script-writer, forwarded me this article on the lost art of editing the other day which got me thinking. The article is primarily about book publishing and questions if the days of really thorough editors demanding re-writes and littering manuscripts with corrections, were giving way to the fast-paced, less meticulous world of multitudinous texts, marketing spin and attention-grabbing copy in a world where there is a proliferation of reading material available instantly on never-before imagined scales.

Wearing one of my many hats, a few years ago I researched and wrote about the correspondence between a nineteenth century author, Mary Kingsley, and her publishers Macmillan. Kingsley didn't think of herself as a writer, and said so to her publishers, who were keen to publish her story of travelling in West Africa. Their letters to each other are an insight into the facilitative role editors played over a hundred years ago and really illustrate the archetypal image of an editor poring over manuscripts, making marks in the margins. But is this role really a dying art? I don't think it is.

In this age of mass communication including blogging and tweeting as well as traditional book, periodical and news publishing, there is without doubt still a place for editing of the highest standards. Sure, editors now may need to be able to move swiftly between the different lexis of a wide variety or texts serving radically different purposes. They adapt their editing methods accordingly. This doesn't mean that quality need be lost. I hate it when I spot typos in books and newspapers but I recognise the sheer speed and volume these and other types of editors are now being asked to deal with.

I have edited a huge range of materials from lifestyle and education articles, news and features to curriculum materials, case studies, CVs and marketing materials. Every job requires a different approach. Arguably blogging is dangerous for someone in my line of work, leaving me open to people waiting to delight in any minor errors. I don't want there to be errors in anything I do, particularly my own shop window but at the end of the day, I'm human, just like book editors who miss things and I have to prioritise just like everyone else. A perfect blog is going to play second fiddle at times when I'm working on something for a client. So of course it doesn't mean I can't and don't produce excellent results that clients are delighted with by putting in the time that they don't have to get things to the standards they require.

Perhaps this is where the opportunities lie for the portfolio careerist then. I'm a perfectionist by nature so being able to pick and choose my work means I can choose to flex my schedule to build in the appropriate amount of time to do things to really high standards and thereby provide some much-needed respite for businesses who are trying to keep up with information overload but still maintain high standards. Writing and editing and definitely here to stay in my portfolio career life.