Treasures from the World's Great Libraries
Committee changes
The President's column
Editing theses: the letter CASE has sent to the AVCC
Time to smile
By the way...
Book review
News and notes
Training notes
End-of-year barbecue
Are we really donkeys?
Dates for your diary
Copyright and deadline
The first meeting of the society for 2002 is on 20 February (a week earlier than usual), and will be a curator's tour of the Treasures from the World's Great Libraries exhibition. The exhibition, which includes one of the Dead Sea scrolls, a Gutenberg Bible and other priceless items, is a celebration of the significance of libraries as caretakers of profound knowledge throughout the world.
First we meet in the Friends' Lounge of the National Library at 6.00 p.m. as usual, for nibbles, drinks and chat. Then at 6.30 p.m. we will be introduced to Margaret Dent, who will give us an insider's view of the exhibits.
As numbers are limited to 50, please book with Ann Parkinson (by fax 6282 1081) or click to email her.
Following the arrival of unavoidable commitments that were unforeseen at the time of her election, Anne Greiner has, unfortunately, been forced to resign from the treasurer's position, but will stay on as a general committee member. Peter Martensz has agreed to be the new treasurer.
Ed Highley
Welcome all members - old and new - to 2002, the first palindromic year since 1991, and the last until ... well, you work it out.
What does the year hold in store? For me, perhaps the most exciting prospect is that the accreditation working group, set up by CASE at the end of last year, will begin its labours. The task of the working group is to research and develop some models of how editors of our ilk can proceed towards a system of accreditation that will ensure that we are all true professionals and are recognised and paid as such. Maureen Wright is our delegate to the working group, of which Janet Mackenzie of the Society of Editors (Victoria), Inc., is the convener. I am happy to report too that Pamela Hewitt, who has only just left us for life in Glebe, will be continuing to contribute to the professional development of editors: she is the NSW Society's representative.
Planning for a national conference of editors to be held in Brisbane in winter 2003 is the task of another special purpose group set up by CASE. Our representative on that group is Louise Forster. The conference working group is seeking, among other things, to develop a theme for the meeting. I am sure that Louise would welcome suggestions on that.
My thanks go to Maureen and Louise for bringing their knowledge and experience to these jobs. We look forward to their reports.
I have little doubt that the accreditation working group has a very difficult task ahead of it. The difficulty arises not because of any doubts among ourselves and others with perspicacity that what we do is essential, but because of general ignorance of our work and its value in facilitating noiseless information transmission and ensuring the proper and elegant use, and enlightened conservation, of our language. The only way to overcome ignorance is education and we can perhaps help the working group by a bit of well-targeted publicity on its and our activities.
Another problem we face is that, in some quarters, while our existence is recognised, we might be seen as being little more than dilettanti. As an example of this, I call to your attention a display advertisement for the position of editor of the Australian Journal of Rural Health that appeared in the Australian on 20 December. The board of management of the journal 'seeks to appoint a new Editor in 2002 who will advance the ARJH [sic] and maintain its scholarly standards'. But to the crucial point: 'The position is honorary. Essential expenditure will be reimbursed. The appointment is for three years with the right to apply for a further two years'.
Now many of the readers of The Canberra Editor will be well aware that it is common practice for learned and professional societies to seek honorary editors for their journals - often from among retired academics, scientists and professionals - and that there are issues of semantics here. But think about the sorts of messages that such an advertisement might transmit to naïve readers (and perhaps potential clients): a peculiar bunch, these editors, who are prepared to work for nothing; it's queer that rural health is not quite important enough to pay someone to edit the journal; maybe editing isn't really so important, if people will do it for nothing. We would have been spared the potential fall out from these misconceptions if the board of management called for, say, an 'Honorary Managing Editor, suit retired GP'. I am sure that many other issues that could be explored here will come to mind, and which also will have to be dealt with by the accreditation working group.
Among my Christmas presents was a new novel by a domestic author whose name, I am sure, will be familiar to many of you. The book is beautifully presented: handsome dust jacket; superb binding with head and tailbands and figured endpapers; nice text stock; immaculate typesetting; finely drawn illustrations. In short, no expense appears to have been spared … except perhaps for the editing. Here are just a few examples of what I mean by the latter:
'Madame Bovary, cest moi!'
'What were once vices are now manners.'
'by shanks's pony, …'
'Some alternate ideas of ourselves'
'like the room in which we sat, overcrowded & awful confused.'
'a French botanist called Lamarck whose seven-volume Histoire naturelle des animaux sans vertébrés …'
'that soon Manchurians & Liverpudlians …'
'I looked up & stared at the intricate arabesques large huntsman spiders formed with the webs they spun, …' [huntsman spiders do not make webs]
In spite of these and many other defects, I much enjoyed the book, but I cannot keep from pondering why publishers continue to irritate readers, and to aid and abet the slow torture of the language, by short-changing on editing that might cost less than a not-too-outrageous business lunch.
An antidote to the heavy stuff. A man was walking through a park when he saw coming towards him another man carrying a very long pole. On approaching this other man, he said 'Ah! Are you a pole-vaulter?' To which the response was: 'No! I am German … and how did you know my name was Walter?'
Ed Highley
Fellow Members,
Here's a copy of the letter about editing of theses that CASE, on behalf of all the Australian societies of editors, has sent to the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee. Ed Highley
5 December 2001
Dear Vice-Chancellors,
For some years now there has been earnest but inconclusive discussion in the various state-based Societies of Editors about the propriety or impropriety of having professional editors accept commissions to edit dissertations and theses, whether at honours or higher-degree levels. At a recent national meeting of the Council of Australian Societies of Editors (CASE), which comprises state presidents or their representatives, these matters were discussed more conclusively.
Paradoxically, the anxieties that members of the Societies of Editors have expressed have not arisen because they feel underqualified to earn fees in this way but because most of them are excellently qualified. For example, the Freelance Register 2001 of the Society of Editors (Victoria) Inc. includes the names and business names of 83 editors. Of these, 74 have at least one undergraduate degree each and 51 also have higher degrees or postgraduate diplomas, including 8 with doctorates.
The services undertaken for higher-degree candidates usually consist of copyediting (which in a newspaper would be called "subediting") and/or proofreading. This would typically involve giving extensive written advice on improving the English expression in the thesis. Such annotation rarely, if ever, involves substantive editing - that is, giving advice on the fundamental shaping of the thesis - as this is quite clearly the responsibility of candidates themselves in collaboration with their formally appointed supervisors within university departments or faculties.
Unlike a supervisor's contribution, a professional editor's contribution to the finished product is not usually acknowledged in writing. Hence the concern felt by some editors on the grounds that the quality of the finished thesis when it goes for examination is not exclusively a result of the efforts of the candidate and the candidate's supervisor. A number of professional editors around the country even decline such work altogether, purely for this ethical reason, despite being aware that many candidates, especially at honours level, can obtain amateur copyediting help from family and friends.
Those editors who do accept contracts to edit theses are sometimes paid by the candidates themselves and sometimes by university departments via their research funds.
To clarify the ethical issues which at present cloud the arrangements for freelance editing of dissertations and theses, CASE recommends adoption by the AVCC of the following draft guidelines:
1. That where a thesis or dissertation is to have input from a professional editor, the candidate must obtain written permission from the supervisor for editing. The candidate should supply to the editor a copy of this permission, along with the manuscript.
2. The name of the editor and a brief description of the service rendered should be printed as part of the list of acknowledgements or other prefatory matter near the front of the work when it is to be presented for examination.
3. If the professional editor's current or former area of academic specialisation is similar to that of the candidate, this too should be stated in the prefatory matter, as it may suggest to examiners that the editor's advice to the candidate may have extended beyond guidance on English expression to affect content in the thesis.
Yours sincerely,
Robyn Colman, President, Society of Editors (Tasmania) Inc.
On behalf of:
Amanda Curtin, President, Society of Editors (WA) Inc.
Gina Inverarity, President, Society of Editors (SA)
Pia Herbert, President, Society of Editors (Victoria) Inc.
Shelley Kenigsberg, President, Society of Editors (NSW) Inc.
Ed Highley, President, Canberra Society of Editors
Helena Bond, President, Society of Editors (Queensland) Inc.
Gail Warman, CASE Representative, Society of Editors (NT)
A priest I know had entered the funeral service in his computer, so the secretary could 'search and replace' the name of the deceased. John was easily changed to George, George to Mary, Mary to Agnes. However at that last funeral the attendees were startled to read in the Nicene Creed that Jesus was born of the Blessed Virgin Agnes.
Sent in by Helen Topor from AWADmail Issue 58, 25 November 2001, and reproduced with permission.
PROSECUTION: Mr Quickly. You are accused of splitting an infinitive. How do you plead? Guilty or not guilty??
ACCUSED: Not Guilty. Not Guilty.
P: A double negative! How then would you explain your past imperfect?
A: I was going through an awkward phrase. There's no substantive proof! Just now and then I colon friends for a quick imperative before lunch.
P: And is that all??
A: Well no, there is a rather pretty feminine gender in the case: a Miss Pronunciation who lives in Suffix with her Gramma and Grandpa.
P: When was your first stative?
A: I met her at a participle. There she was supine and in a passive mood. She was superlative! Absolutely perfect!
P: Mr Quickly, would I be correct in this preposition: That you were aiming for an unlawful conjugation with this feminine gender?? Answer the interrogative!! How far did you get??
A: I made a parse at her, but she declined. She said that her parenthesis would object! And anyway she's about to become a noun!
P: Was this news neuter you??
A: Affirmative.
P: Thank you! And what nationality is she?
A: Italic.
P: Mr Quickly, you are in quite a predicate I can tell you!!
P: Officer - Put him in brackets.
P: You are also accused of immoral earnings from prose! And even verse evasion of syntax!
JUDGE: The sentence: Off With His Prefix!!
Contributed by Greg Baker. Original source unknown.
'Will you please send someone to mend the garden path. My wife tripped and fell on it yesterday and now she is pregnant. We are getting married in September and would like it in the garden before we move into the house.'
'50% of the walls are damp, 50% have crumbling plaster and the rest are plain filthy.'
'Our lavatory seat is broken in half and is now in 3 pieces.'
'Our kitchen floor is damp. We have two children and would like a third so please send someone round to do something about it.'
'This is to let you know that our lavatory seat is broken and we can't get BBC2.'
'I wish to complain that my father hurt his ankle very badly when he put his foot in the hole in his back passage.'
These extracts from actual letters sent to various councils and housing associations throughout the UK were contributed by Ara Nalbandian, via Peter Judge.
What do you think of this description of a university logo? Gobbledygook? It was among the Plain English Campaign's Golden Bull winners for 2001.
The geometric foundation of the design is based upon a circular form, which makes reference to the Institution's global perspective and international reputation in teaching and research. The typographic elements demonstrate a hierarchy which promotes the importance of the location within the nomenclature. The group of circles represents the incremental growth of knowledge and experience and the progressive development of the University as an educational leader. This thematic device continues through to the linear band on the right of the Shield of Arms and describes the cyclical movement of time, indicating progression and new directions.
Conversely, this legal opinion on a financial firm was not tortuous enough for a Golden Bull:
If it is a breach of the rules not to reveal that there have been many breaches of the rules then presumably there must be a further breach of the rules not to reveal the breach of the rules in not revealing the mass breach of the rules, and so on. The concept of a duty with the capacity for infinite regression is most unattractive.
Plain English Campaign is an independent pressure group fighting for public information to be written in plain English. It gives awards for documents it judges to be the year's best, and Golden Bulls for the worst cases of gobbledygook it encounters.
The group's informative web site, <www.plainenglish.co.uk>, also offers free plain-English guides to legal phrases, medical information, web sites, letters, reports, financial terms, design and layout, pensions and alternative words.
Thanks to Pamela Hewitt for the Golden Bulls for 2001, and to Plain English Campaign for permission to quote from its web site.
'Would you give me a quote for editing this, please?'
We've been down this path before, but it is a perennial problem, so perhaps another look at quoting won't go amiss at the start of a new editing year.
If we all worked in offices and employed staff and were members of a union, perhaps our hourly rates would be pretty much determined for us. But we don't, and we aren't. Some of us have high overheads to consider, families and homes to maintain, staff including graphic artists, office workers, other editors and so on to think of and budget for. The vast majority of us, however, work at home, alone, often in a corner of the living room, sometimes sharing the family computer with children doing homework - maybe the house is paid off, maybe there's another breadwinner, maybe this is more of a hobby than a career, occasional rather than full-time.
None of that is anyone's business but our own. Whatever our situation, we are all expected to have professional standards and maintain a professional image in the eyes of our clients - in Canberra that means very largely the public service.
So how do we arrive at a reasonable fee for the work we are about to do? In my early editing days, I used to phone around a group of editors working on documents similar to those I was editing, and chat with them about fees. I would get a rough idea of where fees were at the start of that particular year. As time has gone on, and I have gained experience and a clientele, I have pushed my basic fee up to a point that seems fair for the job and doesn't seriously undercut people who have much bigger overheads than I have.
But there should be a formula for arriving at a fee for any job. Can we devise one by trying to answer these, and probably many other, questions?
The lead article by Helena Bond in the October 2001 edition of Offpress, newsletter of the Society of Editors (Queensland), Inc., raises a number of issues related to quoting, and ends with the experienced quoter's solution:
'I've trimmed my quoting time down enormously. I kept detailed statistics until I could see patterns emerging, then I analysed those figures to understand how many words I do an hour for each service.'So when I'm asked to quote, I get a word count, then check my rate and speed for the service required. After that it's just simple mathematics to get the hours for my schedule and the dollars for my quote. Add any standard extras, like a loading for jobs with extra-tight timelines, allowances for meetings, etc., quick reality check on a sample of the document, and hey presto, the quote's ready.'
I can relate to that approach - I use it myself. But is it as simple as that for the new editor? I don't think so. New editors worry over whether something is really just a proofread, or rather a proofread with a bit of copy-editing thrown in, and if so, should they charge at the copy-editing rate or what? And anyway, what's the copy-editing rate this week for people with not much experience yet, and heck, what's 'substantive editing' anyway? If you have to turn a sentence upside down for it to make sense, is that substantive editing? Or only when you have to rewrite whole slabs? And how many meetings can you charge for? And who pays for the depreciation on your computer and other equipment, not to mention the horrendous insurance you have to carry these days?
And let us not forget a formal letter that sets out what has been agreed to (in public service editing, this will be a contract that you can have amended if need be). And at any time during the assignment, there must be more formal letters setting out any variations that have occurred and confirming phone conversations etc.
The questions are seemingly endless, but as a group I suggest we ought to be able to come up with a formula to help us all when it comes to dealing with that most difficult part of editing - quoting.
Elizabeth Murphy
Jacqueline Kent (2001). A Certain Style: Beatrice Davis, A Literary Life. Viking Press. 301 pages. RRP $45.00. ISBN: 0 670 91131 3.
Beatrice Davis's life (1909-1992) and work as a book editor (1937 to the late 1980s) spanned much of the twentieth century. Her biography was published this year, written by another editor, Jacqueline Kent, who has lived and worked mostly after Beatrice's time. Jacqueline has assessed massive amounts of correspondence and other writing and interviewed many of Beatrice's contemporaries, or those who knew them, to produce a comprehensive coverage of much of twentieth-century Australian publishing, and especially the writing and editing. She also gives us a fascinating account of a talented woman breaching a male publishing world.
I have been looking forward to this book since Jacqueline introduced me to structural editing at a Society of Authors' workshop. She was working on the book at the time and talked to us about it. My appetite was further whetted by her discussion at a Canberra Society of Editors meeting. The anticipation was well rewarded.
Beatrice was the pioneering book editor at Angus and Robertson for decades. Jacqueline describes her thorough and supportive editing of much of Australia's literature of the twentieth century. There are especially vibrant pictures of the lives of and Beatrice's dealings with Kylie Tennant, Ernestine Hill, Eve Langley, Miles Franklin, Ruth Park and D'Arcy Niland, Hal Porter, Xavier Herbert and Douglas Stewart. Jacqueline also brings to life Beatrice's strong character: elegant and lady-like but given to smoking, drinking, flirting and an active sex life.
The biography shows that Beatrice was committed to supporting and enabling Australian authors; it was her life. I was surprised, however, to read of the sometimes contradictory and misleading messages she wrote to her authors, often over-stating or under-stating the opinions reflected in other sources. Perhaps these contradictions convey her complexity or show that she could have been perplexing and dissembling.
Beatrice made many of her authors her close friends. To them she was generous and loyal, even if betrayed. Some of her advances and other assistance were in response to authors' pressing needs, far beyond the call of her duty to them.
There is also an emphasis in the book on Beatrice's commitment to good writing, especially grammar and style. She worked with dedication and without the crushing deadlines of today, and trained a generation of editors. There are many descriptions of her approach to editing sprinkled through the text of this book, to give insight to editor-readers without boring non-practitioners. 'What Beatrice would have done' is described as a standard for editors beyond her time - an enduring legacy.
Beyond her editing, Beatrice contributed to Australian writing by networking and participating in journals and writing associations and judging literature awards, including the Miles Franklin.
Beatrice worked well into her old age in an era when many did not, not only from love of her craft but also from lack of superannuation.
Jacqueline gives us word pictures of the places in Beatrice's life, describing the Sydney suburbs and country towns by their locations and faces in the times. There are detailed stories of the authors and books Beatrice worked with, many of which will be familiar as childhood favourites, literature studies or adult reading, as well as many Australian movie and TV adaptations. Canberra's Alec Bolton and Rosemary Dobson figure from time to time.
Especially for those who have worked in or around the publishing industry, or indeed other long-lived industries, the histories of the people and events of Angus and Robertson and other publishers in Australia are detailed and enlightening. It is heartening to hear of their commitment to publishing excellence but hard to understand how they could ever have been as disinterested in costs, profitability and timeliness as Jacqueline describes.
Jacqueline's writing unobtrusively keeps the story moving compellingly - a good read. The design and hardback presentation are solid and convey quality. The only off-putting thing is that the spacing after colons and semi-colons is narrow.
Beatrice's working life was a golden age of letters rather than phone calls. Since she was a wordsmith, there was copious correspondence and much of it has been preserved (especially the letters with her authors). The tough task for this biographer was that the correspondence was contradictory about her attitudes and experience and that Beatrice mostly chose not to disclose or discuss much of her personal life. The biography is strong on events and facts and identifies many written or verbal sources. However, much of the analysis may be guesswork; it was not attributed to sources. In this situation, I would love to have known Beatrice to be able to guess for myself.
Much of my pleasure in reading biography can come from recognising personal connections, people or events we know or know of. It can also come from new insights into our work, our history, our humanness. Jacqueline Kent's biography of Beatrice Davis, A Certain Style, gives Canberra readers all this in abundance.
Alexa McLaughlin
For those considering sitting the qualifying examination for accreditation by the Board of Editors in the Life Sciences (see November newsletter), it will be on Saturday 30 March, from 9.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. at the Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts, 280 Pitt St, Sydney.
A project management course, to be run by Karen Deighton-Smith on Saturday 23 March, will give members and others a great opportunity to improve or update their project management skills at an exceptionally good price. Karen has worked for a number of publishers, overseeing the production of 'hundreds' of books. She is currently managing projects for the National Archives of Australia.
The course, from 9.30 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. at the Canberra Business Centre, Bradfield St, Downer, will accommodate about 10 people. Therefore, please print, fill out and post the form promptly if you want to attend.
I wish to attend this course.
Name
Phone Email
Address
Fee enclosed: Member of the Canberra Society of Editors: $50; nonmember $90
Make cheques payable to: The Canberra Society of Editors
Mail this form and your cheque to: Ms Cathy Nicoll (Training), Canberra Society of Editors, PO Box 3222, Manuka ACT 2603.
The society's last meeting for 2001 was a barbecue at Telopea Park, on 28 November, attended by 30-40 members and their families. Food and drink were arranged by members of the committee. Here is one comment received later:
I thought it was great! I enjoyed being able to catch up with lots of people I hadn't seen for a while, and meeting others I only knew as names in the newsletter. I found it much more conducive to conversation and meeting people than being seated at a table in a noisy restaurant. The food was great too. I'd certainly throw my support behind doing it again for this year's end-of-year do.
Gregg Berry
When overworked, we find ourselves in a stuck situation in
which it's impossible to do anything at all!
We are donkeys to be editors, are we not? Andrew
Bell
20 February: Society's February meeting
23 March: Project Management course
30 March: BELS examination
The Canberra Editor is published by the Canberra Society of Editors, PO Box 3222, Manuka ACT 2603. © Canberra Society of Editors 2001. ISSN 1039-3358
The deadline for the next regular issue is
28 January.
Mail contributions on a 3.5 inch disk, using Word for Windows
(essential) or email (preferable) to:
Ann Milligan
Science Text Processors Canberra
PO Box 3161, Belconnen MDC, ACT 2617
phone/fax: (02) 6259 3080
email: scientex@actonline.com.au
If mailing, always provide a printout as well.
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