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Abstracts: Collaboration

Abstracts: Transition | Abstracts: Consolidation | Abstracts: Collaboration
Conference program

Friday, 14 October 2005

Keynote address: So, why are you an editor? Editing as vocation, profession, career then and now

Jackie Yowell

Over the past three decades in which I have been an editor and publisher, I have observed book publishing develop to become increasingly part of a huge market-driven industry. To become a successful book editor today is a rather different role to that which first motivated me, or was exemplified by, for example, the legendary Beatrice Davis. As the industry grows even bigger, through digitalisation and globalisation, new aptitudes and skills are required of editors. However, the essence of the role remains: it is to acquire and develop good authorship and, usually through collaborative creative endeavour, bring it successfully to its audience. As the stakes get bigger in the competitive global publishing industry, so do the tensions between vocational satisfaction and career success. As editing evolves as a profession and a career, will the motivation for becoming an editor transform also, and with that the kinds of books published and the culture those books inspire?

Jackie Yowell has been an editor and book publisher for over 30 years, across the fields of educational, specialist, adult and children?s, fiction and non-fiction. Her career began in Kenya with Longman, and continued in Australia from 1972 to include Longman, Cheshire, Lansdowne, Penguin, her own small press briefly Silver Gum and, since 1996, Allen & Unwin, with whom she continues to work as a consultant publisher

Panel: Freelance and in-house teamwork: successful project management

Cinzia Cavallaro, Brigid James, Colin McNeil and Jo Waite, Chair: L. Elaine Miller

From manuscript to final proofs, every step of the publishing process involves interaction between two or more professionals. Although the allocation of roles varies from company to company, every project will require effective communication between in-house staff and any freelance contractors who will be working on it. Whether the book is a 32-page reader for primary students or a professional reference work, its smooth progress and the sanity and satisfaction of those responsible for it depend not only on each person?s understanding of his or her own contribution, but on how clearly the responsibilities have been set out, as well as the structure of the collaborative effort. This panel discussion will focus on identifying and solving the problems that can arise, drawing on the experience of a managing editor, a project editor, a designer and a freelance editor. We will look at some scenarios and discuss ways in which they were or could be handled, and consider solutions to issues and problems that we deal with every working day.

Cinzia Cavallaro began her editorial career at Harcourt Education as an editorial assistant before moving up the ranks to trainee, then editor. After a brief stint at Lonely Planet, where she was an editor in the guidebooks section, she joined Melbourne University Publishing in mid-2005. She has freelanced for educational publishers and, for almost two years, has been a volunteer proofreader and (sometime) copyeditor for Australian Book Review.

Brigid James, with Jane Angus, established Writers Reign, an editing consultancy business, over 20 years ago. With a background in secondary and tertiary education and textbook writing, they made their main focus educational publishing. They have worked for most of the major educational publishers, as well as a number of non-publishing corporate and government clients.

Colin McNeil is currently the Managing Editor in charge of secondary titles at Macmillan Education. He started his career in publishing in 1995, working for a small scientific publishing company in London. Since then he has worked for a variety of publishing companies (large and small) on scientific journals, monographs, multi-volume encyclopaedias and also secondary titles across all school subjects.

L. Elaine Miller has worked in the publishing industry for 15 years in Australia, the UK and the USA. She now works as an independent editorial contractor specialising in academic and law books, and serves on the Society of Editors (Victoria) committee as freelance affairs officer and Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance liaison.

Jo Waite first began her career as a medical illustrator at the Alfred Hospital. She then moved on to Longman Cheshire, where she developed her love for book design. Jo worked in various publishing houses until 1990, when she became senior designer at the National Gallery of Victoria. In 1995 she established her own company, and has worked for numerous publishing and corporate clients. Presently she is actively involved in teaching communication design at RMIT University.

Presentation: Mentoring: the Australian and New Zealand Society of Indexers (ANZSI) model

Max McMaster

The mentoring scheme developed by ANZSI provides a mechanism for novice indexers (mentees) to gain some professional indexing experience under the supervision of an experienced indexer (mentor). Mentees index worthwhile books and journals that have been published without indexes. Mentees may either select a title from an ANZSI-approved list of unindexed titles or they may select a title of interest to themselves with the approval of their mentor. Mentors provide guidance and advice on the mentee?s index, but the mentor must not do any of the work. Once the mentor has signed off on the finished index as being up to an acceptable standard, the finished index can be published by the Society under the name of Australian and New Zealand Society of Indexers, Index Series. Published indexes are sold to libraries and institutions within Australia and New Zealand holding the same title within their collections. Mentees may use their published index towards their application for registration (accreditation) with ANZSI.

Max McMaster has been a freelance indexer for the past 12 years, working predominantly on back-of-book indexing, but delving into database indexing, journal indexing, newspaper indexing and web indexing as well. He arrived at indexing after spending 19 years in the library and information fields, mainly involved with scientific disciplines in government organisations. He has in excess of 1250 indexes to his name. Max lectures on indexing to editing and publishing students at RMIT University, and runs indexing training courses for the Australian and New Zealand Society of Indexers (ANZSI), and other organisations throughout Australia and New Zealand. He was Chairman of the Panel of Assessors of AusSI for five years. Max has been fortunate to have been awarded the prestigious Australian Society of Indexers Medal for book indexing on three occasions. He is currently President of the Victorian Branch of ANZSI.

Panel: Authors and manuscripts: what publishing professionals look for

Kirsten Abbott, Debbie Golvan, Jennifer Henry, Nick Walker, Chair: Sara Hearn

Working at the interface of publisher and author is a delicate balance of art and science. How do you identify a potential bestseller amongst hundreds of raw manuscripts? How are manuscripts processed before being accepted or rejected? How do you reject an author submission ?gently?? Representatives from trade, academic and educational publishing, and a literary agent, will compare and contrast the ways in which they deal with author submissions. Topics for discussion will include:

• solicited versus unsolicited manuscripts
• manuscripts from different genres
• the publisher?s list
• knowing your target market
• the role of literary agents
• evaluating risk
• assessment and review
• educating the author and constructive criticism
• ?fast-tracking? publications
• handling duplicate submissions to several publishers/journals
• online versus print publishing
• contracts, copyright and intellectual property issues.

Kirsten Abbott is an Associate Publisher at Penguin.

Debbie Golvan has been managing Melbourne-based literary agency, Golvan Arts Management, for 13 years. The company represents authors of children?s and adult fiction and non-fiction, script writers, visual artists and composers.

Sara Hearn has worked in both the print and electronic publishing sectors, both as a commissioning editor and publishing manager. She currently works for RMIT Publishing, a scholarly electronic publisher, as a publishing project manager, having recently returned from maternity leave.

Jennifer Henry joined CSIRO Publishing in 1999, where she is Managing Editor of Functional Plant Biology, and Journal Manager of Historical Records of Australian Science and Reproduction, Fertility and Development. As Managing Editor of FPB, Jennifer has primary responsibility for consideration of submitted manuscripts, and relations with authors and reviewers. As Journal Manager of HRAS and RFD, she is responsible for managing the progress of accepted manuscripts through the production process, and oversees marketing and related aspects on behalf of the publisher.

Nick Walker is Director of Australian Scholarly Publishing Pty Ltd.

Presentation: Blurring the edges: technology and the editorial role

Robert Moore

Over the past 20 years arguably the most profound influence on editorial practice has been the introduction of the desktop computer. Despite this technology?s current ubiquitous use in the profession, the role of the editor and the division of labour in the publishing process has never been overtly redefined the redefinition has taken place de facto. As editors, we need to ask, and satisfactorily answer, questions such as ?What specifically is the limit of my technical authority and responsibility??.

This presentation raises fundamental issues and poses some possible resolutions concerning the blurring of the distinction between publisher, editor, designer, desktop operator and typesetter, in relation to the technology that clients demand we use. In particular:

• costs to the technological editor: hardware, software, skills development and maintenance
• procedures analysis of the current publishing process
• conflicts of authority and responsibility
• conflicts of aims and results
• the desirable future for editors, designers and desktop operators
• the consequences for the ?next generation? of editors and training institutions
• what have we lost or gained and what have our clients lost or gained?

Robert Moore is a specialist mathematics editor with Oxford University Press, after more than 20 years of writing, editing and university lecturing. He has engaged with computer technology since the late 1970s and has edited on-screen since the early 1990s.

Presentation: Effecting organisational change

Cathy Nicoll and Helen Topor

The symptoms are well-known high-profile publications with mistakes, staff who believe that knowing where a full stop should go equates to editing, and a fear of publishing. The disease a lack of knowledge of the publication process is encountered by many editors in their day-to-day work.

This paper presents the experiences of some Canberra editors who have worked successfully in this environment, particularly with government clients, and the implications for training and accreditation.

There is a clear need for ongoing training of editors and their clients to meet these challenges. It has become the job of editors to educate clients. Who now educates editors given the decline of publications sections and lack of formal training opportunities outside the big cities? As a profession facing accreditation we need a better mentor than trial and error.

Cathy Nicoll is a freelance editor and writer of eight years? experience. Coming from a background of agricultural extension, environmental research and teaching, Cathy has championed the cause of government publications that people are able to enjoy reading.

Helen Topor is a lecturer in the Communication, Media and Music Department of the Canberra Institute of Technology. Helen is also a freelance editor. A committee member of the Canberra Society of Editors, she also provides copyediting and proofreading courses for members of the society. She is currently developing a training course on negotiation and liaison skills for editors.

Presentation: MEAA: what the union can offer editors

Jennifer Forward and Louise Connor
Chair: L. Elaine Miller

What do you want out of your working life? A secure job with good superannuation, parental leave and protection from redundancy? Or the flexibility of working freelance, but with pay appropriate to the work you do as a highly educated and experienced professional?

This session will look at the editor?s situation in the ?new economy? governed by increasing insecurity in the workplace, and explore the ways in which editors being members of a union not only has benefits to us as a group, but is vital to the ongoing viability of unions, themselves under threat.

The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) has a different but complementary role to the state societies of editors and to the new national Institute of Professional Editors. An editor who both possesses the documented skills necessary for accreditation and is also a part of the organisation representing those working in publishing has the opportunity to shape her or his professional life, and how we are regarded by the companies that employ us. Jennifer Forward, the MEAA?s industrial organiser for the book industry, will address your questions and lead discussion.

L. Elaine Miller has worked in the publishing industry for 15 years in Australia, the UK and the USA. She now works as an independent editorial contractor specialising in academic and law books, and serves on the Society of Editors committee as Freelance Affairs Officer and Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance Liaison.

Saturday, 15 October 2005

Panel: Culture and practice: Indigenous writing/publishing

Jeannie Bell and Kamarra Bell-Wyke
Organised by the Koorie Heritage Trust Inc.
Chair: Bruce Sims

What are the cultural and work practice issues for publishers and editors (Indigenous and non-Indigenous) in working with Indigenous writing/publishing? Are protocols useful when working with Indigenous culture and communities? Have Australian audiences shifted in how they receive Indigenous writing/stories? What does this mean for how Indigenous texts are published and presented?

Jeannie Bell is a Jagera and Dulingbara woman from south-east Queensland. She has been involved in working with Aboriginal languages for the past 23 years, including in Central Australia and north Queensland, where she coordinated and taught courses in Indigenous Australian language studies at the Tropical NQ Institute of TAFE in Cairns. Jeannie is the elected representative for linguistics on the Research Committee at the Australian Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies in Canberra, and has a Masters degree in Linguistics from the University of Melbourne. In 2004 she joined the staff of Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages, working as the linguist/researcher supporting community language programs and providing information about languages to Indigenous communities and the general community.

Kamarra Bell-Wyke is a Jagera and Dulingbara woman from south-east Queensland. She is a playwright and actor. Her play Shrunken Iris received the Aunty Eleanor Harding Award at the Indigenous Playwrights Conference. Shrunken Iris examines an Indigenous woman?s struggle with addiction and the voices in her head and debuted at Melbourne's Playbox Theatre in 2003 as part of the Ilbijerri Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Theatre season. Kamarra has an interest in the use of theatre for community development and runs workshops across the country, as well as speaking at various writers festivals and playwrights conferences.

Bruce Sims worked at Magabala Books for many years and now runs Bruce Sims Publishing.

The Koorie Heritage Trust Inc. Cultural Centre aims to protect, preserve and promote the living culture of the Indigenous people of south-eastern Australia. 'Gnokan Danna Murra Kor-ki' is the motto of the trust and is the combination of two Koorie languages, meaning 'Give me your hand my friend' and bridge the cultural gap. The Koorie Heritage Trust Inc. believes that through education and promotion it can raise an awareness and appreciation of the cultural diversity of Koorie culture in south-eastern Australia and work towards the broader goals of reconciliation for all Australians.

Workshop: Pathways, possibilities and professional practice

Marilyn Dorman, Sharon Nevile and Jennifer Wright

Professional pathways rarely run in a straight line, and it is often the ?sidetracks? that tell us most about the career decisions, life experiences, knowledge and skills of individuals. Through exploring those individual maps for editors, and gaining a greater understanding of the profiles of editing professionals, we are likely to be in a better position to appreciate the knowledge and skills base of the profession, as well as increasing awareness of possibilities for professional development.

A significant part of this process depends on encouraging editors to reflect on their career paths and to discuss the significance of their particular profile with colleagues. This workshop is intended to facilitate that reflection, to document similarities and differences, and to relate those to current expectations of editors? roles. Through this process, participants should be able to co-construct a personal profile that allows them to articulate specific knowledge and skills, and to identify further professional development needs. Participants will be encouraged to compare their profiles with the Australian Standards of Editing Practice (ASEP) first published by CASE in 2001.

Marilyn Dorman is an instructional designer in the Distance and e-Learning Centre, University of Southern Queensland, and has taught at pre-tertiary as well as postgraduate levels. She has also worked as a journalist/editor, including several years as publishing editor of Distance Education, an international journal.

Sharon Nevile has been an editor and publications project manager for the past 17 years. She began her editorial career with the Australian Government Publishing Service, then moved to its commercial arm, AGPS Press, where she was part of the team that produced the fifth edition of the Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Printers. She is currently a freelance editor specialising in non-fiction editorial work and she teaches in and co-wrote the courses comprising the Graduate Certificate in Editing and Publishing at the University of Southern Queensland.

Jennifer Wright has been a project editor with John Wiley & Sons Australia for six years. Before that she edited Australasian Science magazine at USQ Press for four years and worked in educational publishing for many years. She also teaches the Graduate Certificate in Editing and Publishing at the University of Southern Queensland and co-wrote the course. As well as working with print, Jennifer enjoys digital video, CD-ROM and art.

Panel: Politics, culture and society: editing for diverse audiences

David Green and Susan Turner
Chair: Renée Otmar

Editors working in diverse social, cultural and political contexts face unique challenges in adapting to a range of environments, contexts and audiences. They may be working in the public sector, for non-government agencies or charities, or within specialist knowledge settings (for example, editing histories of government). Linguistic, cultural and political differences may demand from the editor a high level of skill in communication, mentoring and diplomacy. Specialist technical knowledge or experience may be required.

This peculiar breed of editor might be viewed as the ?meat between the sandwich? of perspective and expectation. Agencies must achieve ?corporate objectives?. Authors may have a predetermined approach to their subject or a vested interest in their subject matter, while Publishers want a book that will sell, and often are not averse to highlighting controversial content to help kick along the publicity.

Is it the Editor?s role, then, to manage or balance these sometimes competing interests? What about audience expectation, readability, accuracy and balance? Is it unrealistic to imagine the editor could ever be the ?objective, impartial bystander??

What are the implications for editing practice?

Reflecting upon their own careers and practices, the panel will explore the notion of how diverse contexts and/or audiences can play a role in shaping editing practice.

David Green has extensive experience in editing and writing New Zealand history for the History Group of the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, the New Zealand?s government?s historical unit. Among the major projects he has worked on are The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, the New Zealand Historical Atlas and Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. David currently manages the editing of History Group projects while co-authoring histories of the New Zealand artillery and of government auditing.

Renée Otmar started her editing career in a university research centre. She was so amazed to find out that what she was doing was ?editing?, that she immediately starting looking around for others doing likewise. These like-minded souls she unearthed in RMIT?s Graduate Diploma in Editing and Publishing and through the Society of Editors (Victoria). Since then she?s amassed considerable experience in editing and publishingin-house and freelance. Currently she works part-time as Publishing Manager for a non-government organisation and on a freelance basis for a host of different clients. She has a particular interest in the health and social outcomes for disadvantaged populations, including refugees. Recently Renée published her first work of fiction and commenced the Master of Public Health program at The University of Melbourne.

Renée became a member of the Society of Editors (Victoria) in 1992 and served on its committee for 12 consecutive years, including three years as its president. In 2000 she was made an Honorary Life Member of this Society. She was a founding member of CASE and an early champion for this conference to be held in Melbourne.

Susan Turner is a scientist, mentor to students and an experienced editor of scientific English. Since 1987 she has produced several hundred scientific papers and articles, and published her own newsletter within her discipline.

Susan initially ?fell into? editing manuscripts for her non-English speaking colleagues and students, and this then became part of her business operations/source of income in late 2000, when she began editing formally for the company, ?Online English? . Her range of subject matter includes earth sciences, particularly geology and palaeontology, zoology and natural history, museology, history of science, geotourism and geological heritage. Other clients include fellow scientists and more recently employment with Acta Geologica Sinica English edition, a prestige journal of the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences.

Presentation: Indexing and the editor

Kerry Biram

The Australian and New Zealand Society of Indexers plays a vital role in promoting the role of indexers, and providing training and professional support to indexers of varying levels of experience. The registration of indexers, training programs, the mentor/mentee program and other activities of the Society will be described, along with the Society?s publication, Indexers Available, an on-line list of professional indexers in Australia.

Editors need to have a clear idea of the necessity for and the role of an index in non-fiction books and other publications, and the significant impact on reviews and sales prospects of a book with a competent index.

Depending on the preferences and policy of the publisher or author, the index may be produced by a professional indexer or the author. The advantages and disadvantages of each will be discussed.

Many book contracts include the provision of (or cost of) the index as the author?s responsibility. The cost of a professional index, charged to an author, is often a reason for authors deciding to produce their own index. Alternatives should be considered. If the author is to do the index, they are likely to need more guidance and time, and the risk exists that an unsatisfactory index may need a rescue operation by an experienced indexer, at very short notice.

Both the publisher and the indexer (or author) need to allow adequate time for the production of an index. Time is short at final page-proof stage, when the index is being prepared. The indexer needs a clear brief, including readership, style, limits on budget, time and size.

The in-house editor needs some basic skills in indexing so that they can evaluate an index. Spot-checking and other techniques are described.

Indexing references for professional indexers, authors and editors will be provided.

Kerry Biram is a freelance editor and indexer based in Melbourne. After several years in educational publishing and teacher union industrial research, she began freelancing in 1979, and has worked for many educational, trade and academic publishers in Melbourne and has recently edited or indexed corporate publications for companies including WMC Resources, Australian Red Cross and Amcor. Kerry has been on the committee of the Society of Editors (Vic.) in 198182, and in 200304 (Meetings Organiser) and 200405 (Vice-President). She is a member of the Victorian working group for the Occasional Monograph Series on Australian Editors. She has worked as an indexer since 1982, was admitted as a Registered Indexer in 1984, and has been a committee member for several years of the Australian Society of Indexers (now Australian and New Zealand Society of Indexers. In 200304 she was involved as a mentor in the inaugural AusSI (Vic) indexing mentor/mentee program.

Presentation: The contexts of style: then and now

Pam Peters

Australian editors have always had to be flexible, working with different styles in different contexts. The AGPS Style Manual was there as a reference from 1996 on, but as one of the various style guides around, when state governments reserved the right to style their documents differently from the federal government, and publishing houses and metropolitan newspapers also set their own styles.

The twenty-first century has reconfigured the scene somewhat, with less convergence on the updated Style Manual (6th ed., 2002) because of all the outsourcing of both state and federal publications. Australian style in business and industry is less convergent anyway, and electronic modes of publishing present new challenges to traditional document structure. There editors have to forge style systems for themselves, while best practice is still evolving. The need to edit documents for both Australian and overseas readers is a further challenge.

The paper also discusses key aspects of editorial training: flexibility and up-to-dateness in style, ensuring that editors can adapt to the context and medium of communication, and are empowered to take on the widest variety of work in Australia and beyond.

Pam Peters is Professor of Linguistics at Macquarie University, and Director of its Postgraduate Program in Editing and Publishing. She is Director of the University?s Dictionary Research Centre, and a member of the Macquarie Dictionary Editorial Committee. She contributed six chapters to the latest (6th edition) of the Australian government Style Manual (John Wiley, 2002). Her own major publications include the Cambridge Guide to English Usage (2004), and the Cambridge Australian English Style Guide (1995/6).