By Editors Western Australia
On 25 June and 2 July 2024, attendees of the “Structural editing for publishers” workshops were afforded the opportunity to gain some clear insight into the world of being a freelance editor for trade publishers. These workshops – one focused on trade fiction, and the other on trade nonfiction – were presented by Kate Goldsworthy, a freelance editor who has more than 15 years’ experience editing trade fiction and nonfiction.
The attendance of both workshops gave a clear indication that IPEd members are hungry for real world insights into freelancing for publishers.
Each workshop was divided into two parts, where Kate took a more informal and conversational approach in the first part. She divulged her experiences in editing for publishers and gave some key insight into what one can expect when working for publisher clients. What was most informative was not learning how to draft a great structural edit report, but rather that in many cases, a structural edit will be more informal and involve back and forth emails and phone conversations with the author.
We also learned from Kate’s experience that a client’s brief may often be … well, brief. So brief, in fact, that this could open the way for some less-than-ideal experiences. The take home here: if the client says very little in their brief, it will be worth going the extra mile and asking many questions about the work before starting.
Overall, the first part of the workshop highlighted that many nuances surround the world of freelancing to publishers, and most of those don’t involve the direct work of editing. While courses, diplomas and degrees can teach us how to draft a report, use Word comments diplomatically, and recognise the formal roles in the editing process, only experience can teach us how the real publishing machine truly runs.
That being said, these workshops weren’t all about experience. The second part of each workshop took a more detailed approach, wherein Kate dove into the fundamentals of what editors should look out for when undertaking a structural edit.
The fiction workshop focused on key things to look out for in specific genres, including crime and thrillers, romance and literary fiction. The nonfiction workshop focused on the key aspects of memoirs and narrative nonfiction.
In both cases, the workshops highlighted the importance of timelines and the idea of scene vs summary in any work, where the balance of these should be a focus for editors.
As Kate’s experiences have shown, navigating being a structural editor for publishers is often as tricky as it is rewarding, and that there is no easy step-by-step procedure that all editors will follow in the publishing world.
Editors WA would like to thank all those who attended these workshops. A special thank you goes out to Kate Goldsworthy for taking us on a journey through her experiences as a freelance structural editor.
A recording of the Structural editing fiction for publishers presentation is available to purchase and view until Monday 16 September 2024.
A recording of the Structural editing nonfiction for publishers presentation is available to purchase and view until Monday 16 September 2024.