(Really copyeditors) / Using Copyeditors?

["Hart, Geoff" <Geoff-H -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA>]

Justin Ressler, referring to an editor who works well with him using
revision tracking, wondered: <<she mentioned that
she likes doing the redlines because it helps to make the document "a little
closer to perfect." I suggested that since I agreed with most of her
redlines, on previous documents, and she was not rewording/restructuring
sentences, that she incorporate the redlines. I loathe implementing
redlines.>>

Unfortunately, while I can understand your sentiments, I don't think it's
wise to trust any editor to simply edit the manuscript blind--for the same
reason that authors can't edit their own writing, editors can't reliably
edit their own editing. I say this speaking as an editor with 20+ years of
experience and a pretty darn good track record; I get it right often enough
that it's easy to forget the times when I blow it, and those times could
occasionally be critical. Even if the editor is as much an expert as you are
in the text she's editing, it's unwise to let her make the changes without
someone approving them.

Here's a compromise that works quite well for most writer-editor teams. If
you hate _reviewing_ each edit individually, simply turn off the display of
the tracked changes. (Tools--Track changes--Highlight changes, then deselect
"highlight changes on screen".) You can then read the "final" manuscript as
if you had accepted all the changes, with no edits showing. If any text
looks suspicious or sounds wrong, turn on the display of the tracked changes
again so you can see what went wrong. Reject the specific change that caused
the problem, make any necessary edits of your own, then turn off the display
of changes again and continue reading.

If you hate _implementing_ the changes one at a time, this approach also
holds the solution: If you see an edit you like, ignore it and skip to the
next one. If you see an edit you don't like, correct the problem (reject the
edit and make any necessary corrections). When you reach the end of the
document, accept all changes: Tools--Track changes--Accept or reject--Accept
all. Tell Word "yes, I really do want to accept all of them without
reviewing them one at a time". (You've just done that, but Word isn't smart
enough to figure this out.) Done! You still have to reject the editing
errors one at a time, but you can't dodge that particular responsibility. At
least you have far fewer clicks to go through.

--Geoff Hart, geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada
580 boul. St-Jean
Pointe-Claire, Que., H9R 3J9 Canada 

"I have always wished that my computer would be as easy to use as my
telephone. My wish has come true. I no longer know how to use my
telephone."--Bjarne Stronstrup (originator of C++ programming language)

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