#Copy editor how to#
#Copy editor trial#

Sometimes a copy editor is given a piece thatвЂ™s too long.В Sometimes, a 500-word article doesnвЂ™t get to the heart of the topic. Creativity and a healthy willingness to think outside the box Since a copy editorвЂ™s job is to ensure published content fulfills the purpose itвЂ™s meant to achieve, be that driving sales or informing readers, a broad knowledge of all things writing is essential.

#Copy editor trial#

While much of this can be learned on the job, a copy editorвЂ™s job would be trial by fire without at least a passing level of prior knowledge in these areas. While a copy editor doesnвЂ™t necessarily need an English or Journalism degree, they do need some level of formal training inВ grammar, spelling, writing, SEO, newspaper methods, reporting, computer science, graphical programs, and more. Without this deep-seated passion, itвЂ™s tough to integrate fully into the position. Good copy editors do what they do almost compulsively, and they do it because they love the quality of well-written, error-free content. I had a paperback edition of FaulknerвЂ™s вЂThe HamletвЂ™ that was so riddled with typos that it almost ruined Flem Snopes for me.вЂќ I spontaneously copy-edited everything I laid eyes on. It changed the way I read prose-I was paid to find mistakes, and it was a long time before I could once again read for pleasure.

вЂњThen I was allowed to work on the copydesk. This is evident in the way Mary Norris, the copy editor for The New YorkerВ talks about her position is a recent essayВ in the magazine itself: If an editor doesnвЂ™t eat, breathe, and sleep copy, excelling at the job will be difficult, and low-quality content will begin to seep in around the edges. You canвЂ™t be a copy editor without a real, authentic passion for the sector within which you work. Passion for the industry and the content within it While copy editors work in varying industries and specialties, each great copy editor shares the following characteristics: 1.

#Copy editor how to#

How to be a Good Copy Editor: 5 Must-Have Traits Now, letвЂ™s explore the traits that separate a great copy editorВ from a so-so one.

With this in mind, itвЂ™s clear that copy editors do an important job every single day. High-brow journalism as we know it would change, and it would be exceedingly difficult to control the quality of content in any publication.

Imagine if the New York Times, the Washington Post, or CNN refused to hire copy editors. They act as quality control for thousands of pieces of content each year. If nobody was out there enforcing comma standards, the world as we know it would fall to shambles.ДЄlright, while it may not be as dramatic as all of that, copy editors have an incredibly important job: they make sure that the copy that gets to major publications, blogs, and platforms in hundreds of industries is readable, relevant, and informational. ItвЂ™s an essential skill, and even people who work in different sectors of online business could stand to learn a thing or two from these powerhouse professionals. With that in mind, I want to take today to talk about how to be a good copy editor. That being said, though, itвЂ™s also a critically important one, and good copy editors are worth their weight in gold. This is rare, though, and copy editing is largely a thankless job. This is because copy editors work largely behind the scenes, and they only come out at choice moments, like when theyвЂ™re written up in The New Yorker and congratulated for their lifetime of work, for which theyвЂ™ve earned the title of вЂњ The Comma Queen.вЂќ In many ways, copy editors make the internet go around, except that youвЂ™d never see them doing it. TheyвЂ™re the referees, the quality control, the champions of great writers, the seekers of incredible topics, and the organizational force that keeps the entire thing running. In the world of online content, copy editors are many things.