Editing is a tricky business. It requires analytical flair and creative panache, the patience of a saint and the vision of a writer. Transforming a manuscript into a book that edifies, inspires, and sells? That’s the job of the developmental editor, whose desk is the first stop for many manuscripts on the road to bookdom—a route ably mapped out in the pages of Developmental Editing. Author Scott Norton has worked with a diverse range of authors, editors, and publishers, and his handbook provides an approach to developmental editing that is logical, collaborative, humorous, and realistic. He starts with the core tasks of shaping the proposal, finding the hook, and building the narrative or argument, and then turns to the hard work of executing the plan and establishing a style. Developmental Editing includes detailed case studies featuring a variety of nonfiction books—election-year polemic, popular science, memoir, travel guide—and authors ranging from first-timer to veteran, journalist to scholar. Handy sidebars offer advice on how to become a developmental editor, create effective illustration programs, and adapt sophisticated fiction techniques (such as point of view, suspense, plotting, character, and setting) to nonfiction writing. Norton’s book also provides freelance copyeditors with a way to earn higher fees while introducing more creativity into their work lives. It gives acquisitions, marketing, and production staff a vocabulary for diagnosing a manuscript’s flaws and techniques for transforming it into a bestseller. And perhaps most importantly, Developmental Editing equips authors with the concrete tools they need to reach their audiences. (20080821) |
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 A Unique Book on Editing |
| Review Date: June 4, 2009 |
| Reviewer: C. J. Singh, Berkeley, California, USA |
In teaching courses in the professional editing sequence at UC Berkeley continuing education, I assigned various books on editing that focused on grammar, usage, proofreading, copyediting, and publishing. This book is unique in its coverage of developmental editing, which "The Chicago Manual of Style, fifteenth edition,"The Chicago Manual of Style merely mentions.
Scott Norton defines developmental editing as "a significant structuring or restructuring of a manuscript's discourse" and observes that unlike copyediting it cannot be "demonstrated with brief examples. So I've adopted the strategy of creating extended narrative examples. Although fictitious and intentionally exaggerated, these 'case studies' reflect the range of authors, clients, and developmental assignments."
The artfully constructed case studies Norton presents engage the reader throughout the book -- from the first chapter, "Concept: Shaping the Proposal" to the final chapter, "Display: Dressing Up the Text." Two examples of his creative case-study approach follow.
"Thesis: Finding the Hook" (pp. 48-67) begins with the developmental editor (DE) taking a first look at the book proposal and noting that the two coauthors, an anthropologist and a sociologist, both second generation Mexican Americans "had too much to say on their subject, and many of their theses contradicted each other" (p. 51).
The assigned DE, Bud Zallis, a freelancer, made preliminary lists of topics and the eight theses he found in the manuscript. Two theses appeared strong: "'La casa chica,' the ultimate ambivalence: man wants to have cake and eat it too" and "'Machismo,' the attitude 'problem' most Mexicans name first" (p. 54). The DE's thorough analysis yielded the working thesis "The tradition of 'la casa chica,' which gives 'illegitimate' families a prescribed role in Mexican society even as it affirms their second class citizenship, predisposes undocumented workers to accept uncomplainingly their role as 'illegal' workers in American society" (p. 62).
Next, the DE brainstormed on the working title of the book, finally coming up with "Mexican Values, American Dreams." As a nifty touch, Norton adds: "On National Public Radio, Maria [the anthropologist coauthor] was asked, 'When the madre of la casa chica has been finally welcomed into the big house, will there be peace?' She answered, 'Oh yes, she'll take her place quietly at the table. But she and her children will never forget.'" (p. 67). The creative freedom of fictitious case studies!
The second example focuses on "Display: Dressing Up the Text" (pp. 187-219). The manuscript on the Indian Diaspora came from a new author, Jagreet Raj Kaur, a long-time Indian-American contributor of short articles to the Famous Footsteps Travel Guides. The travel-guide publishers chose the Indian diaspora as the inaugural title in their new series because its median income was substantially above that of their host countries -- more book sales likely. And they were pleased with her ten-year record of delivering sharp articles.
The assigned DE, Hedda Miller, also a freelancer, noted that the manuscript needed work on chapter sequences, tables, choice of epigraphs, and art. Evidently, her success in writing short articles is one thing, writing a book-length manuscript is another. Scott Norton lucidly explains the changes and enhancements Hedda Miller suggested in each of these categories.
I highly recommend this book to all nonfiction writers, editors, and publishers.
-- C J Singh |
Now I know what I want to be when I grow up...
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| Review Date: June 6, 2009 |
| Reviewer: D. Chatham, San Antonio, TX USA |
I heard about Scott Norton's Developmental Editing from a classmate--a colleague of the author--in Berkeley's Professional Sequence in Editing. I had never before heard the term "developmental editing," but immediately ordered the book, which I rarely do without the benefit of supporting reviews (since the book was just coming out, there were none at the time). My first response: This is an extraordinary book, and should be added to any short list of essential resources for editing, publishing, and writing.
As defined by Scott Norton, developmental editing is distinct from copyediting and substantive editing. The copyeditor deals with the nuts and bolts of clarity, cohesion, consistency, and correctness (the "4 Cs" according to Amy Einsohn's The Copyeditor's Handbook), while the substantive editor has license to revise at the word, sentence, and paragraph levels.
The developmental editor (DE) operates at the nexus of art, craft, and the market realities of today's hyper-competitive publishing industry. The DE simultaneously serves three constituencies: as first advocate for the reader; as protector of message and voice for the author; as field operative for the publisher, enhancing its reputation while maximizing the book's market prospects. Ideally the DE is brought on board very early on. More often, the DE will be tasked with improving or even rescuing an existing manuscript by applying Scott's developmental blueprint, which also forms the structure of his book: Assuming the author has provided a manuscript with "good bones," the DE first discovers and draws out the most compelling concept. That concept is then narrowed to a sharp thesis, and supporting content is restructured into a rhythmic balance of engaging narrative in service to a cogent argument. Stylistic intervention ensures the author's voice is expressed with clarity and an appropriate tone, while running text is supported with complementary display elements.
In practice, the boundaries between discrete editing tasks are leaky, and don't lend themselves well to tightly prescribed divisions of labor. Still, I like Scott's definition, which he tempers with the acknowledgment that the DE will frequently dip into the inkwells of copyeditor or substantive editor--or even at times the ghostwriter.
The first book-length treatment devoted exclusively to its eponymous subject, Developmental Editing is close to perfect in accomplishing its stated goals: defining the DE's role, prescribing the DE's methodologies, and making a case for the DE's value proposition in publishing's economic equation. Scott accomplishes these goals by spiking the book with the DNA of its own principles, which are prescriptive without being formulaic. Developmental Editing features a clear concept, a sharp thesis, a logical structure, comprehensive yet balanced content, elegant expression, and inventive storytelling (the book's expository framework is punctuated with supporting fictional narratives). And while the book focuses on developing nonfiction books, its methodologies could be applied in some measure to just about any type of writing.
Scott Norton's Developmental Editing should have a broad audience, since it would profit anyone in the publishing industry. For those hoping to enter the industry or move up its food chain, the book is a best-practices manual. Writers can apply its principles to bring sharper focus to the start of any new writing project, or--when a publisher's developmental budget is strained--to self-diagnose problems in an existing manuscript, pushing the work past the tipping point that favors publication. |
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Written by Thomas
Topics: Business Books, Other Books