Key Qualities Of A Developmental Editor

Posted by Brett Slansky | 2:56 AM | 0 comments »

By Edward Reynolds


People, who offers support to authors either before or during the publication and release of a manuscript is referred to as the developmental experts. The developmental editor offers his services to the clients either directly or through an editing firm. Depending on their skill set, an editor can handle different genres.

In order to ensure the success of a book, there are a couple of duties that a publishing supervisor needs to do. Number one involves offering suggestions. They should be capable of offering suggestions that are relevant in the context of the story. For instance, looking at the goals of a book, they might give suggestions about how the character may be developed, style that should be used and the language that would effectively pass the message across. They also highlight grammar and spelling mistakes made, but they do not do corrections themselves; though, pass it to the authors to correct them.

There are a number of qualities that good editors should possess. For one they have to be capable of making clear edits. This means that they should clearly highlight whatever they feel needs altering. The highlights should be written in such a way that they are visible. This way, the writer will be able to see clearly, understand and thus make all the required changes.

They should offer solutions to specific problems. It is their work to inform the writer where the mistakes have occurred and actually suggest a way forward. Mentioning mistakes and not providing any form in which they can be corrected is wrong and shows shallow work.

Every person in the writing world is required to have one more thing and that is creativity. Having the ability of seeing things in a different perspective and imagining the imaginable is important. This is because, one will be able to realize new creative ideas that may be included in the original story; thus, making it more captivating for readers.

Respect is another core value. At the work place, everyone needs to practice mutual respect and recognize that everyone has a unique role, which they need to play in order to ensure that business runs smoothly. The same applies here, where the editor should realize that their job is to revise, offer suggestions, and leave the rest to the writers, who are the only ones with the control of making any kind of alterations to the script.

Everyone needs some guidance at some point of their life and it usually does not matter how experienced you might be. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the editor to give the writer proper instructions of what needs to be done. They should also provide market analysis and know what the readers want.

Writing is a two way thing and it requires equal efforts from both parties that is the publishing supervisor and the author. Therefore, the writer should also try to create an atmosphere where they can both work together to produce quality results. They ought to be open minded and accept corrections.




About the Author:



0 comments