I must admit that until recently, I’ve not been a big listener to podcasts. People are often surprised by this, because in my life away from editing, in my capacity as an Argentine football expert, I’ve spent the last eight years producing a podcast which I’m rather proud of. My reasoning was always that after spending several hours on my own podcast each week, I didn’t want to listen to anyone else’s. In recent months, though, I’ve started to listen to more podcasts. I’m enjoying a couple of history ones in particular, but closer to the topic of this website, I’ve just been catching up with the first two episodes of The Editing Podcast. It’s presented by Denise Cowle and Louise Harnby (the links on their names lead to their Twitter profiles), and is aimed primarily at authors, but is also very informative for editors, particularly those who are just starting out on the editorial path.
The first episode discusses the different levels of editing – in short, the difference between development editing, line editing, copy-editing and proofreading (and what those terms might mean to different people!). The second – and most recent at the time of this blogpost – focusses on the lingo or jargon of the editing world, in particular the various terms for the different bits of a book (if you’re a new editor and are puzzled about what a ‘half-title page’ is, you’ll find out here). At the end of each episode, the ladies give a recommendation each for a resource they find particularly useful. I highly recommend checking the show out, and not least because the episodes are short enough to allow repeat listens without a massive time investment, should you feel like going back and checking something (not something I can say for my Argentine football podcast, I’m afraid!).
Louise is too modest to mention it, but her own website, and the blog attached to it, The Parlour, is also an invaluable resource for writers, editors and indeed freelance professionals of any stripe. As an example, it was this post on The Parlour, which I came across a couple of years ago, which prompted me to finally stop merely thinking about taking a proofreading qualification and dive into the Publishing Training Centre‘s Basic Proofreading course – and I’m certain I can’t be the only person who has been similarly inspired by her massively helpful output. Whichever part of the publishing (or independent writing, or freelance editing) world you occupy or want to occupy, you really should check out Louise’s site and The Editing Podcast.
Sam Kelly 