Panelists and Portfolios, PowerPoint, and Podcasts
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January’s panel featured a discussion of how to showcase your work as an editor. The question-and-answer session also included a PowerPoint presentation and CWIP’s first-ever Podcast, sponsored by the Portfolio Center at Columbia College. Presenters and panelists used microphones to ask and answer questions so that the Podcast team (Larry Kapson of Progressive Art Laboratory and Richard Neumann of Abracadabra Productions) could make the audio of the program available on the Internet. The panelists included Gerilee Hundt, managing editor at Chicago Review Press; Gladys Rosa-Mendoza, a principal of the book development firm rosa+wesley, inc.; and Anne Zender, vice president of communications for the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA). CWIP president lisa scacco led the question-and-answer session, and programs chair Dorothy Ryan gave a PowerPoint presentation, which included project lists, samples of editing work, style sheets, and Web sites that an editor could use to highlight his or her work. The panelists discussed what kinds of things they expect to see when hiring freelance editors, gave some examples of successful techniques editors have used to show the work they do and the value they add, and commented on samples from the PowerPoint presentation. In addition to perfect resumes and perfect cover letters, the panelists said that they look for well-rounded candidates who are eloquent, experienced, versatile in their knowledge, comfortable with technical language or medical terminology, and able to pick up what they need to know. Also of importance during the hiring process are preparing for the interview by researching the company and its publications, dressing to impress, and sending a card after the interview, even if it went poorly. Rosa-Mendoza stressed the importance of following through with a thank-you note and said that she has hired every person who has sent one to her. Each panelist recounted distinctive and particularly memorable techniques editors have used to show their work. Hundt recalled one freelancer who sent a manuscript marked up with red pencil accompanying the resume. She liked this clever way of demonstrating the editor’s skills. Zender said that while medical editing can be dry, she’ll never forget the submission she received from a freelancer who worked on a dental book, replete with vivid photos of dental work. She still remembers the images five years later. Rosa-Mendoza mentioned two examples that stood out in her mind. One was a press release touting the award-winning book of which the freelancer was editor, and the second was a piece of paper fashioned to look like a clipping about the candidate torn from a newspaper. It included a photo of the editor and blurb about an award the candidate’s project had received. Project lists, sample manuscript pages showing tracked changes, and style sheets were the examples from the PowerPoint presentation favored by the panelists. The project lists were impressive and showed a nicely organized variety of publishers. Rosa-Mendoza said she’d also like to see the freelancer’s title or role in the projects included in the list. The manuscripts with tracked changes were a popular concept because they showed the editors’ process and ability to go beyond the copyedit to clean up the language and make it sparkle. Panelists were pleased with the sample style sheet, which not only displayed style choices the copyeditor made in the process of editing a manuscript but also showed that the editor knows how to navigate Word and understands the basic rules of page layout. Impressive pieces such as these demonstrated how freelancers can make their client’s work much easier. The panelists agreed that time would best be spent preparing samples like these, rather than compiling testimonials, which were considered a bit cheesy; creating PDFs with electronic “sticky notes,” which should only be included if the editor knows how to use the technology; or designing Web sites, which the panelists found interesting, but too time consuming to read. When preparing your editing portfolio, consider these tips in addition to your letter-perfect resume and flawless cover letter: include creative and memorable samples of your work, such as a marked-up manuscript or one showing tracked changes; a list of projects on which you’ve worked; and style sheets you’ve designed and used. Be eloquent in your correspondence, be persistent when following up, and show how you can make your potential client’s work better and easier with your superior editing skills. Heather McLane is a volunteer writer for Clips and is currently an Editorial Assistant at Anthology, Inc. in Arlington Heights, IL. She can be reached at heatherjmclane@hotmail.com. |
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