Re: What to look for in a technical editor

Subject: Re: What to look for in a technical editor
From: Chris <cud -at- telecable -dot- es>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Mon, 19 May 2003 10:11:17 +0200


Time for my 0.02 euros... What to look for in a technical editor is a rational relationship.

I have *never* worked with an editor who rewrote my work for me - editors mark up existing work and *I* rewrite it. So the editor marks up troublesome passages, and it's up to me to fix them. In other words, the editor defers to my technical expertise. Even in a situation where the editor has been in-house for years and I'm new, the assumption is that I have entered into the deepest level of detail in a product or subject, and so I am the one to make the changes and take responsibility for technical accuracy. (I have been in situations where the editor knew more than I - in that case I listened carefully, but I also verified whatever assertions before basing my copy on them. That goes for dev and Q/A engineers as well as editors... Verify, verify, verify.)

Also, I have *never* worked with an editor who insisted on a structure or passage that I could demonstrate was technically inaccurate. And I have worked with at least one of the editors who has responded to this thread.

Editors are very similar to everybody else on your team - we're all the same type of organism. Work is a social thing. Establish good relationships.
--
Chris Despopoulos, maker of CudSpan Freeware...
Plugins to Enhance FrameMaker & FrameMaker+SGML
http://www.telecable.es/personales/cud/
cud -at- telecable -dot- es


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