This is going to be a long one, but only because it’s important and I care.
It’s a little bit of a rant, but also a little bit of advice. I really
appreciate anyone who takes the time to read this through. It matters a great
deal to me and to many others. And before I begin, a friendly reminder: I do
not think less of people who aren’t as good at English as I am. I’m not picking
on them, I promise. This is about the role of editing.
Lately I've noticed a number of obvious and damaging written errors in some
important places: news articles, magazines, emails, ads, promotional posts by small businesses,
etc.
The one that made me cringe the most: I was reading a reliable and well-known science
magazine that had misspelled "extinction". Twice. On the same page.
But that’s not the end of it.
At a later date I was reading another article in the same issue of the same
magazine and stumbled upon three more errors. This time they’d left out a space
between “match” and “our”, creating this weird new word, matchour.
Then they had used neither and or together, instead of neither and nor. The
general rule is to pair neither with nor, and either with or. Mixing them up
just sounds wrong.
Finally, further along in that article, I found this: “The prospect of genetic inequality
are at the heart of public concern…”
That was even more irritating once I realised they’d re-used and emphasised
that quote in a larger font separately on the page with the correct grammar.
They had indeed used “is” instead of “are” there, so why was it wrong in the
actual article?
How
do writers for a science magazine misspell a word used commonly in the science
world? How do writers forget spaces and confuse plural with singular? Well, the
writers have probably just made some mistakes. That happens and is forgivable
human nature. But that’s why editing exists – to look over written work for
inevitable errors. And I think it’s a given that an acclaimed magazine would
have an editing department. And so the question now becomes: How do errors like
that get through editing without being picked up?
I might shrug it off if bad writing was confined to Facebook posts and texts,
but it’s not. People are bringing their poor grammar and spelling with them
everywhere, in contexts where more damage can be done.
Errors have been popping up all over the place, and I’ve been left feeling
dejected and disappointed.
The career I’m attempting to pursue exists to avoid these issues. Nevertheless,
I am seeing more issues, and getting less work. This post is an attempt to
address what I believe is contributing to this lack of care for language, and
to encourage those reading to consider the value of the editing role.
One of these contributing factors, from my observation, could lie in the “editor”
role that is so well known in media, and yet so not an editing job.
I call myself an editor because editing is what I do. But if I accepted a job
at a magazine to be an editor, I don’t think I’d be spending my days focused on
editing. Many times I’ve looked at ads for jobs like this, and all too often the
actual “editing” part of the role is mentioned briefly down the bottom of the
job description, or not at all.
I get that there are other jobs to be done in editorial departments, but it
seems there is a lack of focus on the editing itself. I rarely find job
postings that are just looking for people to edit words. There are always other
tasks that take precedence, and this is a problem because editing requires all
the focus in the world. There’s no point hiring an editor who has great
attention to detail if you’re giving them a hundred different details to focus
on beyond their actual editing work. No wonder magazines and newspapers are
producing content riddled with errors. Their editors don’t have the capacity,
time, or focus to put everything into the task at hand because they have a list
of other roles to fulfil as well.
Where are the editing roles that are just about editing? Sure, get your editor
to run some other errands when things go quiet, but let editing be their thing.
If you need people to do all those other tasks, create a new job title.
To be fair, I know there are editors editing magazines. And I know there are
jobs out there. I’ve looked. Occasionally I do stumble upon a job offer that
indicates the role predominantly involves editing and fact-checking. But I have
a point to make: the editing role requires more care and focus than it seems to
be getting. It isn’t valued enough. If it was, I’d be finding more jobs to do,
and the world’s words would be cleaner and make more sense. If editing was
valued, I wouldn’t have easily found four significant errors in a science
magazine.
And yes, that matters. People are lazy with language these days, so much so
that anyone trying to correct poor grammar is picked on and called a “grammar
nazi”. People would rather joke about it than try to improve. I’ve had people
joke about poor grammar to me, like it’s just some annoying hobby I do. But
it’s my chosen career and I think it matters, as much as dental health matters
to a dentist, and education matters to a teacher.
And beyond the fact that I care, it just seems very few people get the
importance of speaking and writing well. In my view, it’s all about effective and
meaningful communication, which matters in every aspect of life, in every
corner of the globe.
Spelling errors in prestigious magazines, for example, can damage credibility,
reputation, and the reader’s experience. The same can apply to novels and news
articles. And that’s just the media side of things. Words are used in many
other important places where mistakes can be far more impactful.
Beyond all of that, there is another contributing factor that affects me more
directly.
I can detach from media jobs to some extent. I know it’s a role I may have to
play at some point in this career, but I was never into the idea of a
nine-to-five office job anyway, because I’m driven by what makes me happy.
That’s why I put my focus (for now) into flexible freelance work, helping the
small businesses, passionate individuals, and independent authors out there who
could use a second pair of eyes.
So far, that’s worked out a little bit for me. But only a little bit.
I appreciate all those who have reached out in the past year and hired me for
their own passions. Every opportunity has brought so much to me. Thank you for taking
it seriously and seeing the value.
But, unfortunately, it hasn’t been enough for me to leave my other job which is
slowly breaking my back. And spirit.
I’m passionate, I work hard, and I am good at what I do. But I don’t get to do
it enough. I’ll keep on doing whatever is necessary to get more work – promoting,
networking, and advertising. I know a large part of it is how hard I work to
get myself out there. But I believe the following message has to be relayed as
well, because clients are the other half of it.
Many of you are ignoring the editing step. And for your sake as well as mine,
you shouldn’t.
I’m noticing that small businesses I follow are making constant mistakes in
their social media posts. These people know I exist and they know what I offer,
but I am not contacted.
I’ve also had clients show interest in edits for their websites and blogs, but
have followed that up by not replying to my messages at all. I even gave away a
free website edit as part of a deal, and one of my clients simply didn’t use
the edits, so I was unable to reference her website as work experience. She
also didn’t acknowledge or thank me when I sent them to her.
I mean, if nothing else, that’s just unbelievably rude.
Let me put it this way:
You’d probably rely on a professional printing company for your business cards and flyers. It’s
definitely worth spending the money
instead of doing it yourself if you’re not good at that sort of thing. You’d
spend money on advertising and equipment too.
But why, when it comes to presenting clean words in promotional posts,
websites, blogs, etc., are people so unwilling to pay a small amount of money
for proofreading?
Speaking and writing well doesn’t come naturally to everyone. Perhaps you put
more effort into your passions and your strengths. That’s important to you, so
your focus is on that, not your words. And that’s how it should be. But if
writing and grammar aren’t your strengths, and you know that, you should be getting
a professional to check words for you before publishing. If you know you’re not
the one to oversee it, then hire someone who can, who is passionate about
writing when you’re not.
It matters, by the way. I’m not just typing this up because I want work. I am
also typing this up because I really want to help. I’m tired of seeing problems
I know I could have helped with. It’s frustrating and disheartening. And it
also sucks for you and what you’re selling, whether you realise it or not.
If you are trying to gain a reputation and make your professional mark on the
world, having an editor you can rely on is a good idea. Proofreaders and
editors are everywhere, and we exist for this exact reason. Writing is not for
everyone, but it does have an effect on the way your potential clients perceive
you, and whether they will take you seriously. You don't have to be the one to
perfect your writing, especially if it's not something you enjoy. But please
recognise that, and acknowledge that someone else can help. If you don't care
enough to present your work well, your clients may not care enough to give you
a chance. It might be easy to brush proofreading off as an unnecessary step in
your work, but I can assure you it makes all the difference. I know many
people, myself included, who will be less inclined to give money to a company
whose words are all over the place. Poor spelling and grammar turns me off. It
turns a lot of people off.
It's great to see so many people sharing their passion with the world, but your
followers can be easily distracted by messy writing, and may subsequently lose
interest.
Unfortunately, the services editors offer aren’t as
desirable as personalised arts or crafts, clothes, food, or photos. It’s a need
more than a want, and as a client it can be hard to confront your faults. But
that doesn’t mean you should ignore it. You probably need it, and I’m here.
Also, my rates are more than reasonable. I’ll probably raise them some time in
the near future, so now is kind of a good time to use me.
If you made it this far, thank you. I want to be clear that I don’t intend to
offend anyone. I am simply choosing to speak up
because it affects people and I believe talking about it can help. Over the past year I’ve
realised I do a thing that people don’t seem to want. But it’s a thing they
need. Please don’t be afraid to reach out. I love to support other people pursuing
their desires, and I’d appreciate your support too.
www.thewritething.com.au
