English majors aren’t qualified copyeditors

I’m unsure how to say this gently, so I’ll just say it.

An English degree by itself is not a qualification for working as a copyeditor or proofreader.

Good news

Anyone can train as an editor. Have a background in agriculture? Take classes to learn to edit, then work on various farm and ranch publications or prepare research articles for journal submission. Likewise, a knitter who develops their editing skills can polish patterns or guide fiber arts publications.

Reality

But this freedom can make it harder for authors to decide who to hire, and narrowing their options by looking for someone with an English degree won’t improve their odds of getting a good copy edit.

What’s your reasoning, BFF?

Well, look at the qualifications for an English degree. Do you see anywhere that indicates an English major has learned to edit copy or read proofs? The editor position listed in the Forbes guide refers to a developmental editor, not a copyeditor. As I defined in my article about the roles of editors, the first five types of editors deal with content—the substance of a manuscript—whether it’s a newspaper article, thesis, dissertation, epic fantasy, or romance novel. English majors, with their study of literary theory and analysis, current and historic cultures, modern authors’ works, research methods, and even film, have learned how to work on story and how to tell a story, not how to prepare it for publication.

Specific training is required

To edit copy or read proofs, one must learn how to do so. I was fortunate to take a course specifically for copyediting and proofreading as an elective when I was earning my Communication Arts & Sciences degree at Penn State University. Our instructor taught us how to use style guides and proofreaders’ marks. He challenged us in grammar, spelling, punctuation, consistency, and accuracy. We identified repetition, misplaced modifiers, and expletive construction as we marked up each other’s papers.

Real-world experience

I used the skills I learned in that class when I read proofs at a national advertising magazine. I compared graphic ads with ad copy—the orders from our clients. I made sure the correct image was placed, the text was spelled and punctuated correctly, the ad looked good, and that clients’ changes were implemented. Accuracy was important, as errors could cost our company thousands of dollars and I could’ve lost my job.

Those skills helped me in my career as a feature writer and photographer at a group of local weekly newspapers. I edited articles my colleagues wrote, ensuring they followed Associated Press style and our in-house style guide. And my understanding of newspaper style and good writing helped me craft articles that needed little work from the full-time copyeditors, saving them time for edits of other articles.

Retraining and continual training

When I entered book editing, I needed to learn how to edit books, which is different from editing newspaper articles. And I had to update my knowledge from the 15th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style to the 17th. [Note: We’ve now moved on to the 18th edition!]

English degrees don’t teach recipients how to create style sheets. Degrees don’t train individuals to use commas effectively. They don’t discuss how to style sounds and other nonverbal expressions or how to format unspoken dialogue (shifter mindspeak, anyone?). Where do the em dashes go in interrupted dialogue? What’s the difference between an em dash and an en dash and how they’re used, anyway? What’s the difference between tags and action beats in dialogue? English literature classes rarely discuss such things.

The training I took from the Editorial Arts Academy before launching my business made sure I knew how to resolve those issues and where to find resolutions for future issues.

Easy reading

I’ve read several thousand self-published books since 2018, and it’s been obvious which books have been edited by trained professionals. Those books are a joy to read because nothing interrupts the flow. Reading is an immersive experience; the ink on the page (or the screen) disappears as I fully enter the narrative. I am free to focus on the meaning, on the substance.

A book worked on by a good editor will be remarkable for its smoothness. It will sound like the author’s voice. A book that’s gone through a poor editor—or no editor at all—will be remarkable for how many mistakes are contained within its pages and the effort readers must employ to find the story.

Consequences

“Eh, why does it matter? They bought the book, so I have their money.”

Well, that’s assuming they read your blurb, bio, and “look inside” feature and weren’t turned off by the draft-quality writing. How many customers are you losing right up front?

Then, suppose you had your blurb and bio edited and readers are downloading your ebook. If you’re in Kindle Unlimited—and this may be true for Rakuten’s Kobo subscription, but I’m not familiar enough with that service to know—you get paid only when an individual reads the book from cover to cover. If the text is too difficult to read, they’ll DNF (do not finish) and you won’t be paid.

While you’re right about a purchase having gone through by the time a non-subscription reader finds out how rough the text of your book is, readers are not without recompense.

• While in the app, they may use the “report content error” function to point out misspelled or misused words, missing or extraneous punctuation, garbled sentences, and plot errors. Too many of these may prompt Amazon to close your publishing account without notice.

• Readers may return the book, and you’ll lose credit for the sale and potentially owe Amazon money.

• Readers may give your book low ratings and note their reasons in their reviews, thus dissuading other readers from buying your book.

• Related to that, when readers talk about books—and they do!—yours will be discussed in a negative light, or even worse, it won’t be mentioned at all. (Yes, some readers like to read traffic accidents of a book—it’s sort of like rubbernecking past the wreckage—so you might get a few sales out of them.)

• You’ll have printed copies tucked away in the attic or the garage because you’re ashamed to display the prettily packaged word salad on your bookshelf. If you’re going to spend the money on printing, make sure you’re printing a worthy finished manuscript, not a hot mess of a draft.

Knock-on effects

Harsh words? Yes. I’m tired of seeing people who like to read or write hang up a sign, slap together a cutesy low-contrast graphic in Canva, and proclaim themselves in business as professional editors. These folks are usually unprepared to do accurate, conscientious work, but because they set rates lower than trained, experienced editors charge, authors flock to them. And then editors in general get bad names and poor reputations because authors were duped by low prices and pretty graphics.

Conclusion

I’m a d@mn good editor, and I charge accordingly. Editing is a respectable and respectful occupation. Would that more people understood that.