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blatherskiteEvery so often, it's worth reminding editors of the difference between substantive editing and copyediting. Though definitions vary among editors and between editors and their clients, and tend to overlap so that the distinctions blur, the difference boils down to this: a copyeditor ensures that everything is readable, but a substantive editor also ensures that it's right.
For example, have you ever wondered why NORAD tracks Santa Clause's visits from the pole each year? Short summary: The editor responsible for checking the Sears-Roebuck advert that presented Santa's phone number examined the telephone number and confirmed that it had 7 digits, and did nothing more than this basic copyediting step. A substantive editor would have phoned the number to confirm that it was correct, just as nowadays we try to load all Web addresses presented in a manuscript to ensure that they point to the correct site.
Note that this is not a covert dig at copyeditors. What we do (what we're allowed to do) depends on what the client lets us do, and sometimes they only let us copyedit. But wherever possible, we should strive to expand our responsibility to include substantive editing. We can spare our clients considerable embarrassment and expense by doing so.
If you want to monitor Santa's progress, visit NORAD's tracking site.
For example, have you ever wondered why NORAD tracks Santa Clause's visits from the pole each year? Short summary: The editor responsible for checking the Sears-Roebuck advert that presented Santa's phone number examined the telephone number and confirmed that it had 7 digits, and did nothing more than this basic copyediting step. A substantive editor would have phoned the number to confirm that it was correct, just as nowadays we try to load all Web addresses presented in a manuscript to ensure that they point to the correct site.
Note that this is not a covert dig at copyeditors. What we do (what we're allowed to do) depends on what the client lets us do, and sometimes they only let us copyedit. But wherever possible, we should strive to expand our responsibility to include substantive editing. We can spare our clients considerable embarrassment and expense by doing so.
If you want to monitor Santa's progress, visit NORAD's tracking site.