Since the advent of Amazon and self-publishing via the Kindle, the business of writing has become much more complex. Many can put their own book out to the public directly through self-publishing, but professional editors can still prove their worth through focused skills. Though not wonder-workers, editors can bring a text from good to very good or from very good to great. Peter Ginna’s anthology highlights precisely these skillsets through dozens of guest writers who share their expertise in each chapter.

Aspiring editors can benefit from learning more about their craft while writers can learn how to take advantage of the business better. I’m in the latter category. This book helped me understand the book industry – the changing book industry – better. When interacting with the literary industry, in-depth understandings of the acquisition process or knowing various code words used to convey a certain part can allow a writer to judge whether a particular editor is just what their work needs.

This book certainly covers the proverbial shoreline very well. It discusses everything including smaller presses versus corporate publishers, working your way up in the industry’s hierarchy, and how academic presses differ from mainstream outfits. As an enterprise-wide survey, this comprehensive story brings insights from many points of view. In particular, although the effects of technological change lie behind every chapter, the final chapter discusses industry trends and how they might augment the future. Those invested in the book industry, whether by profession or hobby, can master the business of bettering writing and writers. ( )

In this collection of essays, editors from a variety of publishing houses and areas of publishing talk about what it is that editors do. It’s not just correcting spelling and grammar: in many places, “editors” are the ones acquiring the books for the publishing house in the first place, negotiating with agents, coordinating all of the moving parts with Production, liaising with the marketing department, writing jacket copy, and doing so many more things that are part of bringing a book to market.

This book showed me that I really don’t want to be an “editor” at a publishing house that does all of the peopley stuff like acquiring books or networking with agents. I’m more comfortable with the manipulation of the text itself: developmental editing, line editing, copy editing. My favourite chapter, therefore, was Carol Fisher Saller’s chapter on copy editing. I also found the chapters on freelance editing and the ones on editing in specific areas (genre fiction, general non-fiction, and biography) of particular interest.

The only reasons this isn’t a full five stars are (a) I found a couple of copy editing errors, and (b) I thought the biographical information of each contributor should have been positioned or formatted differently. It was stuck just above the footnotes on the first page of each essay, and I found that it was hard to tell where the biography ended and the footnotes began. But these were minor quibbles. Overall, I think this is a good book to read if you’re looking to get into the publishing field and want to know what sort of jobs are out there or what areas you could explore. ( )