Sub-editors: how can I avoid killing them?

I have this on my clipboard:
A sub-editor's job is to check spellings, facts and libels, and sometimes polish up house style or cut something carefully to length.
But I see Grimly's already taken you to task for exactly the same things I was going to. Apart from the fact that it's "spelling" you want.

You're wrong about the role of subs, and you're very wrong about their motivations. Harold Evans says it better than me:
" Journalists who choose editing as their craft will have less obvious excitement than the reporter: not for them the thrill of detection or the fast plane to Beirut. Their satisfaction lies in the skills of the crafty, in communicating. And there are some excitements which reporting cannot match. There are nights of big news, the late-night flash in the Gulf War crisis, when text editors feel they are standing at the very centre of events. There is nothing to touch the fascination of seeing the news develop second by second and projecting a piece of history."

They're not failed reporters either: Evans goes on to talk about a Sir William Haley, who was "painfully shy" for reporting, but after switching to subbing became editor of the Times.

Spell checkers, hmph. Why do they hate you? Because you appear to believe that they're automatons who stand between your precious words and the public, a hindrance to be worked around; if you tried working with them you'd probably find them hugely pleased about it, and far less likely to fuck with your copy without asking you. Best advice though: email Grimly, go on.

xposts: Alba, what you should do is what I did: just lop the last par off her drivel. If you tell Grimly, he goes this funny colour and does all these comedy hand gestures. Or he did that time.

There is a lot of shitty writing out there, someone has to clean it up! It can be kind of fun esp. if you appreciate clarity and precision in language. (Often I read articles & just want to ask.. what do you mean! Be clear! I don't know, maybe it was that analytic philosophy course that got to me..)

hahaha STET

that was me trying to stop myself ripping your head off.

and subby mcsub: respect ;)

x-post: gypsy mothra, even more respect. beautifully put.

anyway, i need to get on with the goddamn fucking fashion pages, or my drinking time will be severely curtailed.

Oh god, if I ever had to work with Grimly again ...

I've worked on both sides of the desk, and now that I write more than I edit I find it terrifying to send in work without a proper review process in place; it's like wirewalking without a net.

The only really annoying editor I've worked with was the one who inserted lewd jokes into the copy, ostensibly for my amusement. Even that might've been okay if they'd been funny.

Mad props for tomorrow's actually-sexy-for-once fashion spread, by the way. I told the girls it was your job to touch up the nipples in Photoshop.

Actually, that might improve the pages :)

and alba, i've never touched up a nipple in my life :p

*bangs head on brick wall for ever*

oh, and i've given up on the fashion until monday, when i can maybe - just maybe - effect some form of fucking communication between the fashion stylist and the picture editor.

the original poster was right? who would aspire to this? apart from a pedant with a god complex.

oh, hang on.

1) i hate how brits call copy editors "sub-editors." copy editors do a very different job than story editors, department editors, editors-in-chief. we're not sub-anything. we have our own job to do. (i say "we" because i've paid the bills this way for much of my adult life.)

2) everyone who said "if you don't want your piece butchered, brush up on whatever style or reference guides the publication uses, be aware of how long your piece should be and exceed that so that with the dead wood being cut out your best stuff is likelier to stay in, and no matter how much it pains you, get used to writing the kind of writing that editors like to publish, and if that bothers you go home and start a blog" OTM OTM OTM.

3) i've never butchered a strong piece. i've never had to. yes, you absolutely should take it personally. sorry.

Also, the most brilliant person I've ever known, the most brilliant person on ILX in my view, and its most dazzlingly good writer (all one person) is a sub-editor.

Ailsa, does anyone generally copy-edit job ads?

Ailsa: it has no subs! All those sections make me weep (I'm on the daily, btw)
xposts ahoy

that's the thing! if your writing truly does show originality and flair, that'll shine through no matter what the red pen does to it. trust me, a couple of word substitutions and deleted repetitions are not going to scratch the gleam off the hope diamond.

The job -- and the term -- comes from being literally the substitute for the editor

gotcha. don't understand why an editor would need a substitute, but i'm satisfied with your answer.

OTM re: flair. I find the ones who sound off the most about having it removed had hardly any to begin with, just high-school gimmery.

xpost: yeh? come and compete nationally with six quality papers and five tabloids for a market of five million readers in a landmass smaller than Oregon. You people don't know you're born!

I have no idea. You'd think, somewhere along the line, someone would, especially if it's in a national publication. The Her4ld is joyous compared to the horror that is the jobc3ntre website. Today I saw an advert for a job that required the applicant to work in a "fast paste environment". OK, "paced" *sounds* like "paste", but still, GET ONE COMMON SENSE!

That was supposed to be Jennifer Aniston in Office Space, wearing "flair" buttons.

"editors as allies" is very true. most editors want to have good working relationships with their writers. they want a stable of talented, reliable, open-minded people to draw from (and then all those fledgling jelus mofos can call it nepotism). you can't do that if you're a bridge-burning asshole.

The ad I answered to get my current job was riddled with mistakes, quite big ones too - a pretty good indicator of how crap our personnel section is, as it turns out - but I think it worked in my favour because I was one of very few people who went for it after realising that the length of the contract was 18 months and not 18 days as stated.

wtf does it mean when it says that, please?

stevie i got no joy from the subs_uk yahoogroup -- can you tell if it's currently active from the inside?

(i applied for membership and the application failed 14 days later, i'm assuming bcz the person who makes the decisions didn't spot it -- i will re-apply anyway)

hey! am on hols this week but will reply properly when i get back home x

the blessed return of #theabsolutegrudge :D

(ps and v unrelated: nudging stevie? i never no response from them second time of enquiring either?)

Apologies, Mark - just fired off a message to the list to find out who the admin is

cheers :)

The UK company I work for may have some freelance subbing work going in October, working on a number of different contract-client magazines. It would be short notice when pages are available to work on, and a quick turnaround would be required. You would be subbing for facts, grammar and internal consistency, rather than wholesale rewriting etc (unless the text is particularly disastrous). There might also be client changes/amends to action.

You would need to have InDesign 2020 and might be required to make minor design tweaks to layouts; there could also be subbing work on e-newsletters too, so familiarity with MailChimp and Umbraco would be a plus. The company has offices in London and Glasgow; this would all be for the Glasgow office, although obviously you can be based anywhere in the UK.

The long-term goal is to increase our pool of subbing freelancers, who at present all get fairly frequent work from us. I don't know what daily rates will be on offer - I would guess around £150 a day would be the absolute max.

If anyone is interested, please send me an email, with a very brief resume of your previous subbing work, to Axx✧✧✧.littlefi✧✧✧@thinkpublish✧✧✧.c✧.u✧ (that's 'Andrew' at the start of my email address obv).

Thanks!

LOL ILX seems to automatically censor email addresses (very wise!)

so that's

Andrew.littlefield

at 'think publishing.co.uk'

Ach, I'm booked until the end of October, and then without assignment from thereon in, but if I can be of any use in the future...

Thanks stevie, please feel free to send me over your contact details etc. We're looking at a big deadline crunch in October, and I'm sure there will be similar mad rushes in the future.