Re: What to look for in a technical editor

Subject: Re: What to look for in a technical editor
From: Jean Hollis Weber <jean -at- jeanweber -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Tue, 20 May 2003 13:48:54 +1000


Dick Margulis gave an excellent example that expands on the point I always make (and Janice Gelb, among others, mentioned), that no one way of working suits all situations. I think too many of us forget that many editors work with writers who have poor writing skills, for a variety of reasons, and therefore the editor may, in fact, need to have the final say. Another common situation, from my own experience, is editing the work done by a writer who has left the company; there _is_ no one else responsible for finishing the document.

Dick said,

In my current gig, ... most of what I edit is ephemeral in nature (Web pages, PowerPoint slides, marketing guff) and the "authors" are people with a point to make but limited or nonexistent writing skills. Yes, sometimes I have to talk with them to find out wtf they meant to say before I can rewrite it, but most of the time I just play the part of gonzo editor and make changes on my own authority. In fact, we have a situation where the roles ... are reversed, because the document owner reviews my edits and has to negotiate further changes with me, rather than the other way around. That's not the way I would approach technical engineering documents, of course.

Regards, Jean
Jean Hollis Weber
jean -at- jeanweber -dot- com
The Technical Editors' Eyrie http://www.jeanweber.com/




^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Robohelp X3, from eHelp, lets you quickly and easily create professional Help systems for all your Windows and Web-based applications, including Net.
Order RoboHelp X3 in May and receive a $100 mail-in rebate, PLUS
free RoboScreenCapture and WebHelp Merge Module.
Order RoboHelp today: http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.



Previous by Author: Re: What to look for in a technical editor
Next by Author: RE: What to look for in a technical editor
Previous by Thread: Re: What to look for in a technical editor
Next by Thread: Re: What to look for in a technical editor


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads