gordhaddow wrote:I always thought that part of the job of an editor was to correct errors in spelling, vocabulary and grammar. I guess I was wrong.
If that was my only job, I should be most fortunate, but it is only part of my work. Editors not only have to correct, but to format stories for html, to read the slush pile, to correspond with authors about proofs, rejections, and the like. They confer with one another, plan issues, and generally prepare a publication for general consumption. Oh, and they don't get paid for any of it, either.
As shorts editor, I read and edit up to 30,000 words a month, every month. That includes read-through, spellcheck, and trying to catch everything I can. By the time it reaches the zine, I have usually spent between an hour and a half to two hours on each story. On top of this, I also make the covers, track the reader survey, format Dan's editorials and Mare stories for him, flip the issues live each month and post notices about it here and on Facebook.
Since we have no budget for advertising, I work on coming up with marketing and future improvements to the magazine, ones where if I were a programmer instead of a printer it would be so much easier. Most of these "improvements" hit roadblocks that prevent readers from ever seeing them, but they would have been outstanding, I assure you. Just because we are a free zine does not mean we don't do all we can to draw readers.
Somewhere in there I have a 50 hour a week day job, including travel, prepping newspapers and magazines for printing presses, and try to be a husband, father, and homeowner (and the handyman that one must be with a house).
I am as human as the next, so it is certainly possible that I may have missed things you regard as "errors." Trust me, for every 1 "error" in any story, there are 10 that never see the screen. However, there are colloquialisms, dialect, and tone changes that can change what one regards as "correct." My standards try to follow the Chicago Manual of Style where possible, but other editors and even readers have their own guidelines and standards. Moreover, what Lester says is true, the authors here are on the way up, hopefully, so they have to learn by doing, or even by failing. There are times where I leave some things as written on purpose, others not. Here, in this story, I might have left them on purpose or might have just flat out failed to catch them. I honestly can't remember anymore as since then I have read and edited several more stories.
If you would like to show the author (or myself) how we can improve our art, why not give specifics instead of general complaint? It's easy to say another has fallen down. It's much more difficult to help them stand, or to teach them to walk in a new way. As editors, we try to help our authors stand up through the light of publication. Will you help us stand in that light?
Nate
