I was once asked if I corrected typos every second of the day after I pointed out one in someone's Tshirt text. Yes, I replied I do have a habit of getting bothered about spelling and grammar. The person shook his head unable to understand why I would relish correcting mistakes.
Are you like me one of those people who can spot typos at a glance, do the grammar mistakes irritate you, do you crave to correct what others have written, are you a voracious reader and do words buzz around your head all the time?
If yes, then you are a born editor. Of course it's not as simple as getting a pen and correcting spellings and adding commas and hyphens.
You are a prime candidate to learn to become an editor only and only if you are driven, passionate, determined, and truly care about the written word.
An editor’s work involves collaborating with writers to polish, remodel, reorganise and reshape their work into the best possible version of itself.
Editors do acquisitions, manuscript and project development, research, structural editing, stylistic editing, rewriting, fact checking, copy editing, picture research, proofreading, indexing, layout and production editing.
Whether the content is an article, book manuscript, website, report, blog, news release or some other form of communication, the editor (along with the writer) is responsible for ensuring that the document is
1. Accurate
2. Free of plagiarism
3. Has clarity of thought
4. Meets the needs of the audience
5. Retains the writer's voice
Now that we have briefly discussed what an editor's job entails and you are absolutely certain you want to become a professional editor there are steps you can follow to move ahead on this career path.
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