Next meeting: Wednesday 28 July

6.00 pm in the Ferguson Room, National Library of Australia

All welcome

Former 666 and WIN TV journalist Andrea Close will be speaking at this meeting.

Following the meeting we will go out for dinner. If you can make some extra time after our general meeting, then please join our guest speaker and your fellow members.

Are you a dedicated, independent, caring and experienced editor?

We’re a growing national health and communications consultancy based in the inner west of Sydney. We work with governments, NGOs and academic institutions, and only with clients who have the public good at heart.

We’re looking for some to work 4 or 5 days a week in our office as our editorial services manager. Which is really an editor with client responsibilities. Obviously, you’d need to be a good writer and editor, capable of writing for both professional and consumer audiences, and be experienced in the publishing process. And obviously, you’d want some background in health or experience in the health sector.

But beyond that? You’d want to have enough maturity to work independently, but enjoy people enough to want to be part of a team. You’d want variety – you might be editing training programs for doctors one day, writing an article for the newspaper next day and updating our website the third. You’d have to be good at detail, but more importantly, you’d have to be able to see the big picture and be able to think about why we communicate the way we do. You could, if you wanted, get involved in our advocacy to reduce inequity. And you’d need to be efficient – there’s plenty to do.

Why would you want to work with us? The pay is reasonable – $70,000 plus super pro rata – but it won’t be about the money. You’ll like working with us if you like an employer that:

is clear and honest in communicating
treats all team members with respect while maintaining individual accountability and responsibility
shares the decision making process with you
is relaxed and provides family-friendly flexibility
believes integrity is one of the most important things in a business
will take feedback constructively and provide constructive criticism
works to contribute to an improvement in health and equality in Australia and our region
provides excellent results.

Please check us out at www.raggahmed.com, and contact us at recruitment@raggahmed.com if you’re interested.

Editor wanted at DAFF

The Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry is seeking tenders to form a panel of writing and editing service suppliers, and a panel of indexing service suppliers, as part of the department's communication services panel. Successful tenderers will be engaged under Deed of Standing Offer arrangements. The Deeds will have an initial term of two years with the possibility of further extensions of up to 24 months. Tenders must be lodged electronically, via AusTender at http://tenders.gov.au/.

See https://www.tenders.gov.au/?event=public.atm.show&ATMUUID=8B70C39D-0C6C-50D4-DE88E112C869F1C2 for further information.

Membership renewals 2010–11

It is time to renew – you can find a copy of the form at renewal form. Even if you are paying by electronic funds transfer, it is important that you complete and return this form. This is our confirmation of your method of payment, and your returned forms are used to update the register of members, which is also the basis for the monthly newsletter mailing list. If you join or rejoin after 1 January you pay just half fees to the end of the financial year, 30 June.

CSE Training and development 2010

Training schedule

Four courses are planned for the remainder of the year:

1. Structural editing with Pamela Hewitt

2. Project management for publications with Jennifer Prosser

3. Back-to-basics editing #2 with Cathy Nicoll

4. Design for editors with David Whitbread

Dates are still being arranged. Contact Martin Holmes at martin.holmes-forte@bigpond.com to register your interest.

Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance

The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance is the union for people working in book publishing, website production, public relations and advertising, as well as journalists, photographers, musicians, actors and others in TV, radio, theatre and film. Membership rates vary depending on income.

Why should editors join a union?

Being part of a union is the most effective way to take control of your pay and conditions. Learn more by reading
'Good reasons to join the Alliance'.

The Alliance is offering a membership discount to members of all Australian societies of editors.
See the application form for details (PDF*, 32 KB).

Copyright

Gabrielle Mackey prepared this list of useful links to copyright-related sites

Insurance requirements for editors?

In 2004, societies of editors distributed a questionnaire about insurance for freelance editors. Robyn Colman of the Society of Editors (Tasmania) reported on the responses - responses that give very sensible and resourceful advice that is still relevant. Twenty-two people responded to the survey, three of whom had not been bothered about insurance. The report, based on information drawn from the eighteen respondents who had, is attached here. Most communicated strong feelings!

Do you want to be an editor?

You can find some notes on 'How do I become an editor' by clicking here.

canberraeditors@yahoogroups.com

A reminder that all members of the Canberra Society of Editors are invited to join this Canberra Editors discussion group, set up a couple of years ago exclusively for CSE members to facilitate on-line discussions and mutual assistance on editing matters.

To join, send a blank email (no need to include a subject line) to canberraeditors-subscribe@yahoogroups.com .

(But if your email address doesn't make it clear who you are, add your name so that you can be recognised as a member.)

To unsubscribe, send a blank e-mail to canberraeditors-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com .

Editing theses

We reported some time ago that CASE had written to the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee (AVCC) on the ethics of editing theses, a matter that has been of concern to many editors.

A policy was developed by the Deans and Directors of Graduate Studies collaboratively with the Council of Australian Societies of Editors (now IPEd). The document, The Editing of research theses by professional editors, is obtainable by clicking here. It provides guidance to professional editors, who need to be clear about the extent and nature of help they offer in the editing of research students’ theses and dissertations. It will also be of value to academic supervisors of research students in relation to their own editorial role as well as that of the professional editor.