Beyond cuts: the many roles of a writer's editor

Novelist Eleanor Catton and her editor Max Porter's alliance shows how much more than wielding a blade goes into this relationshipHenry James called editing "the butchers' trade". But he also said, "I glory in the piling up of complications of every sort," so you can see how the old anglophile and his editors may have crossed horns.However, if we're honest, wouldn't we, the reader, prefer to chew over a well-honed slice of literature than wade through fatty hunks of unedited, flabby prose? Isn't the editor's first loyalty to the reader, and not the author? Isn't it better to wield the knife than to club out something that the cow might approve of?This weekend, as part of the New Zealand festival, The Luminaries author and winner of the Man Booker prize, Eleanor Catton, discussed deletion, deadlines and several other facets of the writer-editor relationship with her British editor Max Porter. If this sounds a little like sitting down with your ex-husband to publicly discuss why he always disliked your sense of humour, then think again; the modern editor is, according to Porter, "part proofreader, part therapist, part in-house champion and, increasingly, there to put a marketisation on the written word." This was less meat cleavers at dawn, more gentle emails about getting off Twitter.With 391,000 books being self-published in the US in 2012 alone, the old 20th-century model of the creative editor is, according to Porter, "an endangered species". While Porter described his... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2014-03-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Future sets aside £4.9m for job cuts and unused property

Magazine publisher Future expects to pay out up to £4.9m to cover redundancies and unused property, according to a trading update released today. Continue reading at Media Week

[ Media Week | 2011-09-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Editors Share Twitter Best Practices

Twitter has become part of the daily routine for almost every editor, but are you using it as effectively as you can? Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-09-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Reading scheme axed due to school spending cuts

Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Mon, 19/09/2011 - 09:39 A primary schools project that has helped thousands of struggling young pupils to read is being axed by the government, according to the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT). The Reading Recovery Project involves... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Time Out appoints new editor-in-chief

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 08/09/2011 - 08:30 Tim Arthur has been appointed the UK editor-in-chief of the Time Out media group. Arthur will oversee the editorial and content of the group's UK activities, including the Time Out guidebook series and Time Out London... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Paper Cuts

The printed book is facing its share of challenges in the digital age. But one of the big­gest problems facing the future of the book has gone relatively unnoticed by book lovers—the quality of paper being used in many first edition hardcovers is declining, saddling consumers with inferior... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-09-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Eason proposing job and wage cuts

Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Thu, 25/08/2011 - 07:48 Irish bookseller Eason is to hold talks at the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) next week with staff facing a reported 10% pay cut and 90 jobs at risk. The meeting will take place next Tuesday (30th August) in Dublin... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Report: Tablet Sales to Cut Magazine Paper Use 20 Percent by 2015

Even paper-focused companies are predicting a major fall for the printed page in the coming years. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-08-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Xcite appoints author Coldwell as editor

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Tue, 09/08/2011 - 08:57 Erotic fiction publisher Xcite Books has appointed Elizabeth Coldwell to the role of editor. Coldwell is a former editor of Forum magazine and is also one of Xcite's bestselling authors. Managing director Hazel Cushion... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Little, Brown promotes two senior editors

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[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Forbes Media Makes Minority Investment in Startup of Ex-Fortune Editors

Forbes Media has struck a strategic partnership with Techonomy Media, a new media business founded last year by former Fortune magazine editors and writers David Kirkpatrick, Peter Petre and Brent Schlender. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-07-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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F + W Media Acquires The Writers Store

Adding to their rapidly expanding portfolio of e-commerce storefronts, F + W Media acquired The Writers Store. Becoming the 26th store under the F + W umbrella, The Writers Store sells third-party writing and filmmaking tools globally. The Writers Store offers tools, services and exclusive... Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-07-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ziff Davis Promotes Dan Costa to VP of Content and Editor-in-Chief of PC Mag

Dan Costa is now senior VP of content for Ziff Davis and editor-in-chief for PC Mag, harnessing his 17 years in technology journalism. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-07-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Media Decoder: Lawrence Steps Down as Norton's Editor In Chief

The longtime editor said that the coming of ebooks played a role in his decision. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2011-06-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Booktrust puts three prizes on hold due to funding cuts

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Tue, 28/06/2011 - 11:18 Booktrust has suspended the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, Booktrust Early Years Award and Booktrust Teenage Prize for 2011, blaming funding cuts. The book charity said it hopes to bring them "back with a bang next year", so... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Borders cuts losses as suitors circle

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[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Editors "need digital vision" for their books

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[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Quercus buys football title by Constable editor

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[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Larry Hackett Re-Elected President of the American Society of Magazine Editors

Larry Hackett, managing editor of People magazine, has been re-elected president of the American Society of Magazine Editors today at its annual meeting. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-06-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Women writers "unequal to me" says V S Naipaul

Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Thu, 02/06/2011 - 08:37 Nobel Prize-winning author V S Naipaul has declared that women's writing is "unequal" to his, during an event at the Hay Festival. The writer, who won the Man Booker in 1971 for In a Free State, said during an interview... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Em dashes—why writers should use them more sparingly.

According to the Associated Press Stylebook—Slate's bible for all things punctuation- and grammar-related—there are two main prose uses—the abrupt change and the series within a phrase—for the em dash. The guide does not explicitly say that writers can use the dash in lieu of properly crafting... Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2011-05-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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