Editorial Services: Tricks of the Trade

Writing about writing is difficult because most of the time a writer is too busy writing something else. As a writer providing editorial services, my priority is to serve my customers in helping them with their writing needs. These needs include providing content for websites, conceptualizing and creating marketing collaterals, rebranding corporate profiles, copywriting, technical writing, corporate and marketing communication, among many other areas.

Over the years, I have received many assignments and requests to write different kinds of writings. I have written articles on technology and digital lifestyle which are areas of my expertise, and topics such as health, career, and entrepreneurship, which are areas I am not entirely familiar with. Once in a while, I also receive requests to write on topics I have no idea about or beyond my ability to get involved, such as beauty products and services, wine and dining, real estate, and others.

No doubt, as an editorial services provider and freelance writer, I should make every attempt to learn the tricks of the trade to write whatever is needed by the customers, but sometimes there are simply topics that are beyond my ability. The important thing is never to turn away customers empty-handed. Recommend them to another writer or editorial services provider.

If like me your wish is to run an editorial services business, the first thing you need to think about and act on is to get to know as many writers as possible and to stay in contact with them. If you can find business associates in the same trade, all the better, build close ties with them. When you are unable to take on an assignment request by customers, always recommend the lead to your associates.

All About Writing

Some of you may find it difficult to search through my blog for specific topics on writing experiences and tips in the archives, so I have created this entry to help you navigate:

• A Writer's Nightmare
• Editorial Style Guide
• Fee or Free?
• Writers' Block
• Live to Write
• Ghostwriting
• Copywriting
• Content Writing
• Feature Writing
• News Reporting: The Inverted Pyramid
• Contemporary Fiction: Genres and Beyond
• International Journalism: Freedom of Press
• International Journalism - A Book Review
• Online Journalism
• Photo Journalism
• Reaching the Readers
• Writing News Feature Story
• Writing Beyond Cultures
• Writing on Unfamiliar Topics
• Writing Dialogues
• Writing Press Releases
• Writing Simple
• Writing Techniques

Feel free to share your views on writing at this blog!

Editorial Style Guide

When writing for corporate communication, it is usual for writers to follow a certain style of writing as prescribed by the corporation. This style is commonly termed as house style or editorial style guide.

Not too long ago, I was tasked by a corporation in the technology industry to come out with an Editorial Style Guide for its marketing communication team and internal technical writers. As documentation in the corporation involves various genres of writings, I decided upon using the standards or guidelines set by two of the world's most accepted editorial styles: Modern Language Association (MLA) and Associated Press (AP).

Documentation with content primarily consisting of story writing style will follow the guidelines by MLA, while documentation associated with news or media will follow the guidelines by AP. This essentially means documentation using MLA editorial style will include technical paper, white paper, solution brief, solution guide, user guide, sales guide, product data sheet, magazine, newsletter, presentation, proposal, release note, report, training material and web content. Documentation using AP style, on the other hand, will include press/media/news release, media kit, news wire and other related stuff.

One of the key differences between the two style guides is in the way a heading or title is written. While MLA style guide recommends de-capitalizing all conjunctions, prepositions, and articles in headings or titles with the exception of the first and last word, AP style guide recommends capitalizing all principal words including verbs, prepositions and conjunctions with more than three letters.

Editorial style guides are essential tools for writers looking into writing for corporations and businesses. If you are planning to look into writing for the commercial world, you will need to understand some of the standards required in writing practices for the industry, including the usage of capitalization, abbreviation, punctuation, quotation and numbers.

More information on Editorial Style Guide available: MLA / AP

Writing and Editing

A writer should not be an editor at the same time, but at a different time, that may be fine.

I am not saying a writer cannot be an editor, or vice versa. The key emphasis here is time, or the proximity of time between the two roles being played. If you are writer for a piece of work, you cannot be an editor for the same piece of work immediately after writing the piece because the same blind spot you as a writer faces during writing will also be unseen and unrecognized by you as the editor.

A writer can edit his own work, but it is best to have someone else does it, especially when there is a constraint of time. If a writer has to be the editor for the same piece of work, then a break or an interval is imperative between the time of completing the writing and the starting of the editing. The writer must, within the interval, free his mind from the pressures, prejudices, and the intensity inherent in a writing environment or during writing, and prepare himself at heart and mind for editing.

One of the best ways of freeing one's mind between the two roles is to go away to a place where nature is visible, where noisy sounds are far away. However, this is not always possible, so an alternative is to get oneself away from the previous piece of work and do something else, preferably less stressful, and then return with a refreshed or renewed mind. Whether you are a writer or an editor, or both, it is always good to have a break between writing and editing.

However, if taking a break is not possible, the best way to perform the two roles consecutively is to write one piece and edit a different piece. Usually, the different piece is written by someone else, and that helps to clear one's mind off from one's own work. There is no conflict in this case between playing the role of a writer and an editor at the same time, since both the pieces are written by different people, and to edit and spot the mistakes in the writings of another is usually relatively easier. However, if this again is not possible, editing a different piece written by oneself is still better than editing one's own piece of work immediately upon completion.

Following the above arguments, a writer can therefore be an editor, and vice versa.