Forum: Editors/Reviewers Hangout

somewhere where an editor could list a selection of stories they have edited

Some editors already do that in their profiles and, IMO, that's a big positive in their favour.

My reservations are more about what types of editor, what help did they provide, and the frequent situation with stories having multiple editors.

Some stories citing multiple editors are actually quite poor, containing schoolboy errors that make me wish they'd had just one, competent, editor. I suspect quite a few editors could better be described as advance readers.

While I think the OP has a good idea in principle, I have to agree with @ErnestBywater that it's impractical to implement. There are almost 43,000 stories on this site and nobody will have the time/inclination to retrofit them into a new system.

Besides which, some editors prefer to remain anonymous and that includes me, not that I've done any SOL work recently.

(Using the 'random story' facility, I recently came across a story I proofread for the author many years ago, long before I joined SOL. I didn't even know it had been posted here. Fortunately the author respected my request for anonymity. But finding it gave me a warm glow!)

AJ

Some stories citing multiple editors are actually quite poor, containing schoolboy errors that make me wish they'd had just one, competent, editor. I suspect quite a few editors could better be described as advance readers.

And ultimately, that's the crux of the problem, as it's difficult determining what's the fault of the editors, and what's the fault of the author—who may not heed their editor's advice.

You also get the case of editor who only edited a handful of chapters before quitting a project, or those who disagree with an author and either resign or are 'fired'. And, content editors often have a major impact on a story, while a proofer will have little impact on the actual story content (especially since each editor tends to spot separate typos, so it's not like any one is catching everything.

However, another option is to create a dedicated thread, possibly entitled "Editor Lists", where author's publicly list which editors served in which roles in their books, while also listing other books they've helped in.

That's a much easier idea to implement, as it doesn't require any coding, and can also list which books each edit has edited. I definitely wouldn't mind highlighting my editors, and they're often the backbone of my stories, and I don't mind sharing the credit (list mine in my End Notes, and also in each of the books I publish, though the list is constantly changing over time, and based on the story content).

Another alternative is if one of us (Ernest or Ross, possibly) who could compile suggestions by different authors into a regularly updated 'Editor's Stories' document, which Lazeez could then post for the entire website. That way the list would not only be more complete, not listing the partial editors, but it would reflect the newest additions too.

(Using the 'random story' facility, I recently came across a story I proofread for the author many years ago, long before I joined SOL. I didn't even know it had been posted here. Fortunately the author respected my request for anonymity. But finding it gave me a warm glow!)

Good to know. I'll keep that in mind the next time I add my list my editors to my next book ("Ignore any objections by Awnlee, as he's really not sincere in his protests.") 'D

P.S. My two most significant editors are: schmintz (my content editor, a damn good proofer (he takes multiple passes through each story, rather than marking things as he reads), but also has an excellent eye for which words or phrases will fit a given passage better than my do), Princely Guy (another multi-pass editor, who catches most of my errors), Woody and TeNderLoin. These are among my most recent editors, but these are my most essential editors.

P.P.S. My most recent book had seven editors, but only five were listed (Woody and TeNderLoin, while excellent, generally have less time to dedicate to re-editing stories).

The system provides ample means for readers to contact authors and editors willing to be contacted. My answer to the OP is, "Ask if you're interested!" If authors or editors don't respond they wouldn't cooperate with any new system either.

I agree. Your best bet (if a newbie author) is to connect to a few established authors, let them know what you're interested in, be polite and interested, and then request contacts and helpful insights into how to succeed.

Sadly, if you just run down a list of potential editors, you're likely to be disappointed for one reason or another, as it's akin to searching for criminal defense attorneys by searching for the cheapest one in the yellow pages. :( You may save some money, but you're likely going to jail!

What may be possible to implement is for a section where the editors record the authors they editor for. Naturally this will require the editors to enter the names after they got permission from the author to list them.

It also works in the opposite direction, as many editors don't want to be listed, or they may not want to be listed using their normal ID (in the case of several author/editors), so even if you could search by editor, it would, at best, be an incomplete list.

But this is a problem across the publishing industry. While most dead-tree publishers list editors, you can't list them when publishing without giving the editor equal credit with the author, as that feature is reserved for either someone posthumously editing an author's work, or a translator or illustrator, who either changes what's said, or who's equally involved in creating the books content.

For myself, I once tried listing my editors when I published one of my books, as it listed seven different people whenever you searched for a book, and you couldn't figure out who was the author, or who did what in the book. That matter is best handled in the front matter of the book, rather than changing the records.

Now, what would help, is chronicling the correct location of editor listings for stories, and Lazeez should make that part of parcel of his 'posting on SOL' guide, just so it is easier to figure out who edits which books.

However, your best bet is to write each author you like, and whose work is well-edited, and ask them for a list of books their editors have edited.

Chances are, those who have a major impact on a book will want credit for their work, and for the author/editors, they're used to promoting their own work, so having someone searching for their edits would also boost their stories too, so I don't think the 'participation' would be a major deterrent.

But, I really can't conceive of any other way of searching by editor, as adding the feature for stories by long dead authors wouldn't be terribly productive.

You couldn't credit editors by chapter but that in itself is something most readers don't want to see anyway.

In something like that, you wouldn't want to list your partial editors, only those who worked consistently throughout the story.

While you need to list each of your editors, just so you don't slight anyone, some had more of an overall impact on the story's quality than others. :(

If a separate section doesn't work then the end-note section is the only correct place left.

That's what I do. End-Note for SOL and a separate section in my books. The other question with multiple proofers, partial editors, grammarians and content editors is how do you list them? Alphabetically, and by first name or last? By job title or order of importance to the story? And if the last, then what if they were instrumental but then quit after chapter 15?

There's really no clear-cut rules unless you treat everyone the exact same (last name, first name, with no details about who they are). :(