What the Hell is a Copyeditor?
Just the sexiest person in publishing, I swear.
This is from an older podcast, but it’s just super important, and I want you all to know it now and remember it forever because it’s a big deal:
The sexiest person in publishing is your copy editor.
I am dead serious.
First things first: What the hell is a copy editor?
That’s a hard question because honestly copy editors can’t even agree on how to spell copyeditor or copyediting.
Grammar nerds use style guides for consistency and those guides could be Chicago (most books), AP (most newspapers), MLA (other stuff like college) and they all have slightly different rules that copyeditors and publishers follow.
Those differences are really obvious when you just look at how to spell copyeditor.
Chicago Manual makes it all one word – copyeditor.
AP makes it two words – copy editor.
WIT uses – copy-edit or copyedit
Agh!
But basically what copyeditors do is broken down like this:
1.    Make your words conform to a style that the publishing house or magazine or newspaper uses.
2.    Makes sure the cross references are cool, checks things like footnotes, tables, endnotes, illustration, caption, content, etc.
3.    Edits the language, grammar, etc.
4.    Tells us writers if there is something super inconsistent in the story
5.    Reminds us authors that we need permission to use poems or song lyrics, etc.
6.    Sometimes checks the chapter numbers, subtitles, headings,
They are the organizational, picky geniuses of the publishing world. They are people who look for errors, remind you of the rules. They are the hall monitors of publishing.
It’s hard to make that sound sexy, but damn, it’s sexy. These unsung heroes make your book look good, you look intelligent, and what’s sexier than that?
They save your butt over and over again. They are the knights in shiny armor that carry around hefty grammar guides and memorize all the rules. They are there to take away all your boo-boos with a control-alt-delete or something.
And that?
It’s damn sexy.
Writing Tip To Remember
Being sexy isn’t about having your hair down. Listen to our random thought for more on that. Being sexy is about taking all the steps to make what you create as good as it can be. What you create might be a marriage, a book, a painting, a baby. Whatever. Invest the time in it. Invest care in it. I repeat: That’s damn sexy.
Dog Tip For Life
Pay attention to people who help you better. Blow off the people who hurt you in the guise of helping. Go with your gut instinct and how that ‘constructive criticism’ makes you feel.