Editing
Recommendations are based on the highest level of international publication standards ...
Editing requires a degree of meticulousness that is in part inherent and in part resulting from years of experience. Much of this experience should be working under an excellent mentor. For me, editing is not only applying the style guide and correcting grammatical and spelling mistakes. It is also having the capacity to see that best possible sentence, and then proposing it to the author in a way that makes it seem essential. While I think that editors must be good writers, good writers are not necessarily good editors. These are two very different skill sets, and so hiring an editor to review your work is an essential part of the publishing process.
After almost fifteen years in the nuclear and security sectors, my knowledge base spans subjects ranging from radiological protection, nuclear safety, regulation and security to radioactive waste management, and decommissioning, along with non-proliferation disarmament. Generation IV reactors, including small modular and micro reactors, are of particular interest, as are the human aspects of safety and security topics.
Many editors would say that it is seeing the published manuscript online or in the stores. For me, it’s that last email from the author … when all is said and done. An email that is overflowing with gratitude at having a finished product that has rendered the author proud. I would say then that the greatest reward is the recognition expressed by the expert that an already excellent work can be made better through my editing contribution.
The style guides that I am most accustomed to using are the OECD and United Nations Style Guides because I worked in the OECD family for a total of 17 years and have been working in the UN family for the past 5 years. What is important for a copy editor, however, is to use the style guide recommended by the publisher, whether it be the OECD, the United Nations, the European Union or any other publisher. As a Canadian/French national – with over 25 years of editing experience in North America and Europe – I am able to adapt to British, Oxford, Canadian or American English, as well as to the different style guides that are used by international organizations or governments.
As senior editor at an international organization – in charge of 75 publications per year, communication material and Steering Committee documents – I often found that I had little time to do what was most important: editing text. There were photos to be chosen for the news magazine, a publication cover to be approved, a policy brief to draft on the basis of a recent publication, a French translation to revise, a Steering Committee to attend and summary record to complete, or a brochure to finalize for a high-level event. I feel privileged today to dedicate all of my experience and time to editing one individual publication at a time.
Samples of the most recent publications that I have edited, along with articles, brochures, copy and précis writing, and French publications that I have helped revise, can be found on the page entitled “Sample work” (click below). If you don’t find what you are looking for there, please send a note through the contact page, and I can provide additional examples.
Copy and line editing
Ensuring that your manuscript adheres to the publisher's style guide and applying best practices in terms of plain language principles and writing.
Proofreading
Verifying that all of the proposed changes to the text, the layout and the graphics have been implemented in the final draft or proofs.
Formatting
Working with publication templates to apply styles, integrate cross-references and set up a table of contents that includes lists of tables, figures and boxes.