What Editors Do Lib/E: The Art, Craft, and Business of Book Editing

Editing is an invisible art where the very best work goes undetected. Editors strive to create books that are enlightening, seamless, and pleasurable to read, all while giving credit to the author. This makes it all the more difficult to truly understand the range of roles they inhabit while shepherding a project from concept to publication. In What Editors Do, Peter Ginna gathers essays from twenty-seven leading figures in book publishing about their work. Representing both large houses and small, and encompassing trade, textbook, academic, and children's publishing, the contributors make the case for why editing remains a vital function to writers--and readers--everywhere. Ironically for an industry built on words, there has been a scarcity of written guidance on how to actually approach the work of editing. This book will serve as a compendium of professional advice and will be a resource both for those entering the profession (or already in it) and for those outside publishing who seek an understanding of it. It sheds light on how editors acquire books, what constitutes a strong author-editor relationship, and the editor's vital role at each stage of the publishing process--a role that extends far beyond marking up the author's text. This collection treats editing as both art and craft, and also as a career. It explores how editors balance passion against the economic realities of publishing. What Editors Do shows why, in the face of a rapidly changing publishing landscape, editors are more important than ever.

About the Author :
Peter Ginna was most recently publisher and editorial director at Bloomsbury Press. He has taught editing in New York University's publishing program, and comments on editing, books, and publishing at the blog Doctor Syntax and on Twitter at @DoctorSyntax. Peter Ginna was most recently publisher and editorial director at Bloomsbury Press. He has taught editing in New York University's publishing program, and comments on editing, books, and publishing at the blog Doctor Syntax and on Twitter at @DoctorSyntax. Peter Ginna was most recently publisher and editorial director at Bloomsbury Press. He has taught editing in New York University's publishing program, and comments on editing, books, and publishing at the blog Doctor Syntax and on Twitter at @DoctorSyntax. Along with a diverse career on stage and screen, Susan Hanfield is a prolific audiobook narrator with hundreds of titles to her credit. Susan is an AudioFile Earphones Award winner, three-time Audie Award finalist, and a Voice Arts Awards nominee. From her professional studio in Los Angeles, Susan's favorite fiction genres include literary fiction, historical romance, young adult, and science fiction/fantasy. Nonfiction genres include faith-based/inspirational, personal self-development, and business. Susan is known for her wide range of voices, accents, intonations, and her ability to bring the written story to life. Actor Charles Constant's professional storytelling career began at the age of thirteen, when he became an Actors' Equity Association apprentice. After training in Chicago and London, he went on to appear onstage in theaters across the country. Charles was chosen by Mark Cuban to narrate his book How to Win at the Sport of Business, and his work on Into the Crossfire became an Audible Listener Favorite in February 2014. Publishers Weekly says that he provides "strong" narration and finds his voice to be "deep and assertive."