Quote:
Originally Posted by Hatgirl
From what I can see, there is a world of difference between a copy editor and an editor. Copy editing could be, if not a booming profession, perhaps a cottage industry. But editing... that's a whole different ball game.
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There is indeed, and it's critical to keep the distinctions straight.
In this thread, editor, copy editor, and proofreader have been tossed around interchangeably, and they
aren't.
For decent overviews of the jobs of the copy editor and the proofreader, see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copy_editing and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proofreading.
When we say
editor, we are talking about someone performing the task of acquiring the book in the first place (often called a
commissioning editor), and working with the author on the acquired manuscript to improve it prior to publication (often called
developmental editing.) These tasks may actually be performed by different people, with the editor who buys the book for the publisher in the first place handing it off to someone else for development, but for fiction, it's usually the same person.
Publishers are increasingly skimping on these things in attempts to cut costs, with proofreading the first to be dropped.
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Dennis