A career-shaping passion for reading

I grew up as a bookworm in a multilingual household where storytelling was the norm. This early fascination with stories and language led me to pursue English Literature and English Language & Communications at university. Literature reading lists and seminars fed my obsession with books, grammar and language development theories. I wanted to work with books, but didn’t know how or where…

A taste of publishing

I knew nothing about publishing at the time. I figured there must be someone making all those books, but wasn’t sure what the major publishing houses actually did. After some internet searches, I came across the publishing industry.

My placement year offered the opportunity to intern as a publishing assistant at an independent press, to learn more about the business of publishing and whether it was for me – it was!

After graduating, an editorial career beckoned. I applied for publishing roles but didn’t get very far; there were fewer entry-level schemes back then. I eventually got a job as a copy-editor at a market research business where I worked for five years. In that time, I switched to remote working (pre-Covid!) to pursue a master’s in creative writing, to learn more about the craft of storytelling and fuel my ongoing obsession with books and language.

While studying at the University of Edinburgh, I teamed up with some course mates and co-founded The Selkie Publications CIC, a non-profit literary magazine that supports and promotes work by under-represented writers (another passion of mine).

The impact of Covid-19

My master’s degree and experience with The Selkie reminded me how much I missed publishing. So after finishing my degree, I continued to apply for editorial roles, when the coronavirus pandemic hit.

It had a huge impact on the small business I worked for, including redundancies and the startling realisation that I didn’t know what to do after losing my job. My applications for publishing roles saw little success. Why, despite five years of copy-editing, and plenty of admin, experience was I was being turned down for entry-level editorial roles?

A turning point in my career

Then I discovered The Literary Consultancy’s Editorial Skills Training Scheme, in collaboration with the Publishing Training Centre. Curiosity led me to apply, successfully, for the chance to develop more specialist editing skills. It was through this programme that I learnt about freelancing and how different editing books is from business reports.

The programme was an excellent introduction to different types of editing, and it prompted me to think hard about investing in further training. Other freelancers advised taking a proofreading course to gain the necessary skills and understanding of proofreading terminology needed to build a good foundation for a career in copy-editing.

Building for the future with expert training

The PTC’s Essential Proofreading course was fantastically thorough – it was comprehensive and covered everything I needed to know about the proofreading process from beginning to end. My tutor was helpful and provided detailed feedback, including the next steps to take after completing the course.

The course has given me the confidence to approach clients, and the knowledge to adapt to their requirements and deliver high-quality work. For example, one of the key learnings was when to leave things alone! Trust me, it’s harder than it sounds.

Since completing training, and with an industry-recognised qualification under my belt, I’ve been fortunate enough to work as a freelance proofreader with a number of publishing clients. I now plan to build my experience and client base to get more frequent work, and to continue training – in fact, I’ve just started the PTC’s Essential Copy-Editing course!

Taliha Quadri is a freelance proofreader, events officer for the Society of Young Publishers and co-founder of The Selkie Publications CIC.

Follow her on Twitter @talihawrites.

So, you’ve been asked to proofread something. Maybe you’re newly qualified and starting your first job? Perhaps you’re considering training to become a professional? Or maybe a friend has asked you to give their short story a once-over? Here are five pieces of advice to help you on your way.

1. Do the ‘housekeeping’ first

Get the dull, mechanical bits out of the way early and you’re free to focus on the text. In a Word file, scroll down the document, scanning horizontal spaces to check that they’re all even. If there are footnotes, check their in-text indicators are present and correct. If there’s a table of contents, check that chapter/section titles exactly match those in the actual location (it’s surprising how often they don’t).

Open the search box and hit the space bar twice, then press enter; this will catch double spaces and allow you to reduce them to single ones. Go through the document, deleting extra spaces, then start again, continuing until there are none left.

On PDFs, check that running headers, page numbers and page headings all match and are in the same place on each page. Setting the view to show the whole page, then using the left and right keys on the keyboard to quickly ‘flick’ through the file, will help you spot if a ‘fixed’ element moves slightly on some pages; it’ll appear to ‘jump’ like a flipbook animation.

2. Slow down. Then slow down more

Now you can focus on the text. Allow yourself to really focus.

With experience, your prooofreading speed will increase – but when you’re starting out, slow right down and pay atttention to every letter, looking at what’s really on the screen rather than what your brain expects to be there.

Have you spotted the two typos? Reading at your normal speed (even if you normally pick out typos in published books) you’re likely to miss things.

If you’re (for example) a Brit proofreading texts in US English, it can help to read out loud in a theatrical voice. This may feel ridiculous, but it will help you spot discrepancies. For example, if a ‘u’ accidentally appears in what should be ‘color’, or if the text mentions a ‘lift’ rather than an ‘elevator’.

Find ways to slow yourself down and you’ll pick up more errors.

3. Refresh your grammar

There’s a good chance that you’ve got a decent innate sense of grammar. But trust me, it’s worth taking a refresher course.

Before I studied to be a qualified proofreader, I’d been writing professionally for about nine years. I was a strong writer, but I’d never actually learnt grammar at school. A grammar course tailored to editorial roles will show you exactly what you know and don’t know, and will bring structure to your knowledge and use of grammar.

4. Query carefully

Be precise with your feedback. If the text cites organisations such as ‘N.A.T.O. and the BBC’, don’t write a comment like ‘N.A.T.O. but BBC?’ and hope they’ll see what you’re getting at. Be explicit: ‘Q: Should abbreviations use full points or not?’ (at all places where it’s relevant) will avoid any confusion.

Remember that many clients will read your comments and queries in a rush, while (more rarely) others might compile them into a list for a different team member to check separately. Clear feedback will ensure consistency and reduce the chance of misunderstandings.

5. Read the brief and style sheet again

You read the brief and/or style guide before you started, didn’t you? Well, when you’ve finished a job, check it one more time. This has two positive consequences.

First, it’s a reminder of what you need to consider after you’ve read the text. If the brief is to standardise to a certain style choice, then the text, unless it is quite short, will frequently contain instances of the ‘opposite’ choice.

Second, you can go back over your work and check that you’ve captured all the specifications. “Did it really say ‘no Oxford commas’ when I started the job? How did I forget that? And -ize endings! That means that when I changed ‘realize’ to ‘realise’ on page 15 I should have left it alone.” Remember to check one last time before sending your work back to the client.

Bonus tip!

To avoid easy-to-miss, but embarrassing, mistakes, run a whole-document search for specific words that are easy to misspell.

Sam Kelly is a professional proofreader specialising in non-fiction and academic texts. He is also a tutor for the Publishing Training Centre’s Essential Proofreading course.

Visit his website, Undisputed Proof, and follow him on Twitter @samkellyproof and LinkedIn.

If you are working as a copy-editor, or training to be one, you are probably aware that there’s much more to the job than reading a text and correcting the odd typo. Copy-editing is a multi-faceted discipline that requires simultaneous focus and competence in several skillsets.

These top tips will ensure that you start each editing job well, remain organised and efficient throughout, and always stay on the right side of colleagues and authors.

1. Assess the job

Aim to find out as much as you can about the job before you begin, preferably before you accept it if you are freelance. Make sure you know what is being asked of you: what’s the word count, what’s the deadline, what’s the budget/hourly rate, what level of editing is required?

Next look at the text and estimate what level of edit it will require, whether you can comfortably complete it in the time available and whether you’re happy with the remuneration offered. Issues with any of these points are better dealt with early on.

2. It’s all in the brief

Read the brief two or three times before you begin your edit; you could print it out and take a highlighter to the most important bits. Make sure you really understand it and query points that aren’t clear.

Keep referring to the brief throughout the job, especially if you have taken a break to work on a different text; it’s too easy to forget or confuse instructions only to find out later that you edited half a text following a different publisher’s brief and house style because that’s what was in your head!

Before returning an edited file, check the brief one last time – just in case.

3. Divide and conquer

Work out the tasks required for the edit, compile a checklist and undertake them one by one, ticking them off as you go. Don’t set out to edit in one fell swoop from start to finish – you will miss things!

Coding or styling the whole document first is a great way to get an overview of the text, and a huge tick on your to-do list. Get time-consuming or fiddly tasks under your belt early too, such as editing bibliographies or standardising particular terms or spellings. Check and edit tables and figures and their numbering and text mentions in one go.

The more tasks like these you can get out of the way, the freer you are to focus on sense and expression when you complete your full read of the text.

4. Listen to the author

It is essential in fiction editing to connect with the author’s ‘voice’ and edit sensitively and respectfully. Even in non-fiction texts, you can pick up on an author’s preferred style of expression and turn of phrase.

Within the parameters of the brief and house style that you’ve been given, work with the author’s voice so that their text remains theirs and isn’t stripped of their personality. Follow grammatical rules and conventions, and improve syntax for sense and clarity, but hold back from altering expression for the sake of it – it’s the author’s book, not yours!

5. Know your place

Whether you’re working on trade, academic, corporate or web content, understanding the role you play is fundamental, but so too is knowledge of and empathy with the parts played by others.

When you query the author, be polite when you mention problems with the text; it is their intellectual property, their sweat and tears, possibly their life’s work that you are dealing with, after all. It’s not the author’s job to know about style issues or to make decisions about display, so don’t trouble them along those lines.

When you contact the publisher, you can be direct and assume knowledge of editorial conventions and practice; be careful not to sound forthright or bossy, though. The publisher gave you the job; they won’t give you another if they feel you don’t respect them.

Make sure that typesetter and proofreader instructions are fit for purpose. Style sheets are a great aid to the copy-editor while working, but what you send in with your edited file is for others to use, so make sure it’s user-friendly, clear and concise, without repetition or room for misinterpretation.

The copy-editor sits in a privileged position between those who originated and own the text and those who will turn it into a finished product – that’s a wonderful, and responsible, place to be.

Bonus tip!

Don’t attempt to survive on coffee and biscuits! Screen work requires regular breaks, and a sedentary work life requires an active antidote. Even at your busiest – especially at your busiest – make some ‘me time’, grab a refreshing drink and a healthy snack, and walk round the block (or whatever your exercise of choice may be) for 10–30 minutes at least once a day to clear your head and wake up your body. Your wellbeing is much more important than any book!

Heather Rawlin is a freelance editorial project manager, an Advanced Professional Member of the CiEP and a tutor for the Publishing Training Centre’s Essential Copy-Editing and Essential Proofreading courses.

Visit her website, Future Perfect, and follow her on Twitter @perfect_heather.

In a fast-moving industry like publishing, investing in your skills can ensure you rise through the ranks and enjoy a long, happy career. Each year, The Printing Charity supports many ‘rising stars’ through investment in their training and development.  

Training throughout your career

As our careers progress, we learn a great deal along the way. From challenges and shared experiences with colleagues, to organisational ways of ‘doing things', we develop and grow our skillsets from various sources and interactions every day.

This on-the-job learning is vital for any organisation and individual, but external, certificated training also plays a valuable role in personal and professional development. It:

• challenges you with an alternative viewpoint
• ensures you learn about industry best practice
• allows you to build recognisable skillsets to carry beyond your current role
• enables you to extend your network beyond your organisation

Professional development during uncertain times

As the coronavirus pandemic continues, it can be hard to find the enthusiasm to invest in personal development. However, using any additional free time to find new ways to develop as an individual, both professionally and personally, can stand you in good stead for the future.

The pathway for progression might not always be clear, so don’t be afraid to seek guidance from others, whether that’s a colleague, close friend, or someone in your network.

A great place to start is with a personal development plan. Identify potential training courses, discuss them with your network, and validate that the course is relevant to your needs and worth the investment of time and money. If you have an annual appraisal at work, mention any training needs then, so that your line manager knows that you have done your research.

Recognising talent with the 2021 Rising Star Awards 

At the Printing Charity, we encourage young people working in our sector to think about enhancing their personal skills through our Rising Star Awards. The awards recognise young talent, while creating a firm foundation for the sector’s future.

A Rising Star is someone with great potential, who knows exactly what training and development they need to advance in their chosen field. They can receive up to £1,500 to help them reach their career goals.

Each year, we fund several rising stars to undertake training courses, including with the Publishing Training Centre (PTC).

At the interview, we want to know what the candidates have done to invest in themselves to date, who they have  discussed the proposed course with, and how they have validated that it’s relevant for their personal development plan.

The feedback we receive from winners regarding PTC courses is always very positive.  

“Professional development is vital to both professional and personal progress. I’m currently studying the PTC’s ‘Essential Proofreading’ course and have already learnt so much about proofreading. The feedback I’ve received upon completing assignments is detailed and of great use. Studying this course is not only beneficial to me in my publishing job, but it is also a fantastic introduction to the world of freelance proofreading which I hope to venture into in the near future.” 2020 Rising Star

How to apply

To be named a 2021 Rising Star, you need to:

• Be working in the industry
• Be aged between 18 and 30
• Know what you need to advance your career

Why not make this the year to take ownership of your development and accelerate your career in the right direction? Find out more about the awards and apply here here. Applications close 7 March 2021.

“Becoming a Rising Star Award winner in 2020 helped open doors in a year when everything seemed to be shutting. The application process, whilst challenging, proved a rewarding experience and a fantastic chance to meet some of the industry’s leaders. The course has been fantastic and allowed me to get to grips with the details like never before. Not only has The Printing Charity made the qualification possible, but receiving the award has given me extra confidence when taking the next steps in my career. The awards also led me to meeting, albeit virtually this year, the other recipients doing incredible work. I feel honoured to be amongst them. I would encourage anyone who is thinking about applying for the Print Future Awards to do so.” 2020 Rising Star

Sophie Kirby is Head of Education & Partnerships at The Printing Charity.

Follow the charity on social media @printingcharity and sign up to their newsletter via  www.theprintingcharity.org.uk.