A thankless job
Today I job shadowed an editor of a local publishing company. As a relatively new editor — having only gotten the job five or six months prior — he already had a great insight to the ways of the editing world.
We got to talking about how relatively unappreciated editors are for their work. If you print a completely flawless piece of journalism, there’s absolutely no recognition. It’s only until you make a mistake, or misspell someone’s name or get a quote wrong that readers are outraged as they type e-mails and flood the office with phone calls. Essentially, editors want to strive for perfection, but is anyone really thanking them for their attention to detail and willingness to read copy over and over again until they can’t even stand it anymore? Not really.
So, I say to you: Be kind to your editors! Maybe even give them a pat on the back or a genuine ‘thanks’ to brighten their day. I’m sure they’ll remember next time when they sit down to edit your copy and breath a sigh of relief knowing someone out there really does appreciate them.
