A Day at the Office Part II: Editorial

Michael Clark is a production editor at Hachette Book Group and was the first person we met. He is a part of the editorial team and has been working at the Boulder location for two years after ten years in New York City with other publishing houses. At the Boulder location, they work primarily with the Perseus publishing group, a primarily nonfiction division of HBG that includes publishing biographies, memoirs, self-help books, historical nonfiction, and even cookbooks and how-to’s.

There are nine editors split in two teams. Each team works on several books at the same time, conducting a bird’s-eye view of the books rather than diving into the text. HBG, along with most larger publishing houses, contracts out almost all of their line and copy edit work rather than doing it in-house, which is why there are few entry level positions available.

All full service books, which refers to titles that go through the entire editing process up to and including production and marketing, spend two months in the editorial phase before moving on to design. The production editorial begins with the first publication of the book, called a galley. This publication has gone through several passes of copy editing and the editorial team is charged with assessing the copy edits, compiling the style sheets from the contracted editors, formatting and fact checking the index for all nonfiction works, as well as compiling and collating queries for the author. The schedule does vary for different types of books, for instance more design-heavy books tend to spend less time in editorial and more time in design because they tend to have less copy.

Michael said his favorite part about working as a production editor is the in-depth knowledge he gains about a variety of subjects. He loves getting into a book and learning all of its unique qualities and intricate details. He also has learned over the years not to make assumptions about books based on the content at the beginning of a project. Often surprises arise and some projects he thought he would enjoy end up not turning out as he expected while others, which may have seemed dull or uninteresting at the onset, are some of his favorite projects.

Projects can change tones quite quickly and often the reason behind the change is the author. Throughout the publishing process there are two steps that heavily involve the author, acquisitions and editorial. In acquisitions, though the author is a part of the process negotiating a contract and timeline, their literary agent does most of the discussion, acting on behalf of the author. In the editorial process, there isn’t much of a middle man. Author interaction can sometimes be the most frustrating part of the job for editors. There will be a later post about author/editor relationships and how to make the most of the process. But as anyone who creates something, be it a work of art, a book, or a piece of music, no one wants to be told “it’s not good enough” or that they need to change something. That’s what editors do, they use their skills to aid an author in getting their work as close to perfection as possible. Some authors don’t take too kindly to constructive criticism.

Aside from sometimes difficult author interaction and lack of entry level jobs, Michael loves his job. Here are some of the skills needed to thrive in editorial: The number one quality is attention to detail. Seems simple enough, right? Well, do you know the difference between a hyphen, an en dash, and an em dash and which situations require each? Editors need to be able to tell the difference between the three and the rules associated with them, which brings me to the next skill. Having general knowledge of grammar and style guides, knowing where to find information, and using them effectively as to not waste time. Good judgement goes along with knowing the different rules and requirements, because sometimes a project breaks them for good reason and an editor needs to be able to discern what is best for a book. Multitasking, time management, and a good memory are also key working in editorial. There are many deadlines and schedules for different books and each editor needs to be able to handle their workload and stay on schedule to prevent missing deadlines across all departments.

Though an editor’s job is generally independent day-to-day, another skill needed to be successful in editorial is to be able to have tact with others. This goes back to author/editor relations, but also is important in working with other departments. So after reading a bit about being a production editor, do you think you have what it takes to work with Michael?

~M