February 2016

Editing and proofing - not the same

By Doug Wagner

“Doug missed fourteen errors. Is that normal?”

“That’s awesome. Your proofer only had to catch fourteen things? Sounds like Doug did most of her work for her.”

That exchange was between a Windword client and Toni Robino, my partner at Windword, who was managing the project. It reflects a common misperception about the role of an editor, a misperception that might be summed up this way: An editor fixes everything, right?

Almost. Editors fix what you hire them to fix.