Why the End of Editors in Digital Publishing is a Mistake - Publishing Perspectives

Some people (sadly including many senior managers) think that editors just fiddle with the commas and run a spell-check. And, let's face it, those tasks are pretty routine these days. After all, Microsoft Word has spell-check and even grammar covered. The role of the editor is actually to find and improve books, ready for publication. "Finding" can mean anything from literally stumbling across a manuscript to months of work researching a market, selecting and briefing an author, and generally shaping a book to hit a particular niche. (Lisa Edwards wrote a great article about this recently). A skilled editor will turn a mediocre book into a good one, and a good book into a great one. Most authors value their editors highly as a result, because we make them look better.