Editing and writing resources

Help with hiring a freelance editor

Resources from Editors Canada:

• Definitions of editorial skills: find out what kind of editing you need.
• What do editors charge?
• Professional Editorial Standards: a detailed description of what an editor can be expected to do at each level of editing.
• Search the Editors Canada Online Directory of Editors for editors with specific skills or experience.

For more listings of editors, including listings for Indigenous editors, LGBTQIA+ editors, and editors of colour, see the editors’ organizations listed below.

Editors’ organizations

These editors’ associations offer support for both freelance and in-house editors, including advocacy, networking, job postings, conferences, accreditation, learning resources, and professional development.

• Editors Canada has branches throughout Canada. Members can advertise through the Online Directory of Editors.
• Professional Editors Association of Vancouver Island (PEAVI)
• Northwest Independent Editors Guild: an organization of editors in the Pacific Northwest. Their Red Pencil conference is excellent.
• Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading: based in the UK.
• The ACES: The Society for Editing offers news and information, a conference, training, an editing certificate in partnership with Poynter News University, and a job bank.
• The Indigenous Editors Association is formed by Indigenous editors and publishing professionals in lands claimed by Canada.
• Association of Canadian Publishers Book Publishing Freelancers from Diverse Communities Database lists publishing professionals who self-identify with BIPOC communities, LGBTQIA+ communities, those with a disability/disabilities, and others.
• People of Color in Publishing is a group of book publishing professionals of colour. Their programs include mentoring, networking, and job listings. Their recent Workplace Racism Survey provides a thorough discussion of their findings from a 2018 survey on workplace racism in the publishing industry with detailed recommendations and resources.
• The Editors of Color Database is in the Conscious Style Guide’s collection of databases featuring talent from underrepresented groups in fields including writing and editing, design, and photography.

Dictionaries

• Dictionaries: Oxford Dictionaries; Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition.
• The Canadian Oxford, 2nd ed., is often used as the spelling reference for Canadian English projects. If you need to look up word breaks, make sure you get the hardcover edition.
• The Vancouver Public Library provides cardholders with free online access to the full Oxford English Dictionary, as well as a number of other amazing resources.

General style guides and editing references

• Editing Canadian English, 3rd ed., published by Editors Canada, is a short, readable overview of what a Canadian editor needs to know. The tables comparing US, UK, and Canadian spellings are worth buying the book for in themselves.
• Chicago Manual of Style is the bible of North American editing. Access to the online version costs a very reasonable $41 a year, and there is a 30-day free trial available.
• Proofreaders’ marks: a short guide to the standard set of symbols used to proofread on paper.
• The Government of Canada’s Writing Tips Plus is an online guide produced by the Bureau of Translation.
• Subtleties of Scientific Style by Matthew Stevens. This is a great guide to the special considerations for editing science writing.

Guidance on inclusive language

• The Diversity Style Guide has a comprehensive list of entries on race/ethnicity, ability status, gender and sexual identity, drugs, and geography.
• The Conscious Style Guide collects many articles to help writers and editors think critically about language: “We study words so that they can become tools instead of unwitting weapons.”
• The AP Stylebook offers good style advice on respectful language and has recently updated its entries on race and gender identity, including non-gendered pronouns.
• GLAAD Media Institute monitors media to promote acceptance, understanding, and equality for LGBTQIA+ people. The GLAAD Media Reference Guide provides guidance on writing about LGBTQIA+ people.
• The Trans Journalists Association Style Guide is a very comprehensive guide for writing about trans people.
• Elements of Indigenous Style by Greg Younging is a short, approachable, clear overview of the issues to keep in mind when publishing or editing work by Indigenous authors. Includes specific terminology notes.
• Inclusive language is plain language. The Province of BC has an introduction to plain language as a short, self-directed course.
• Editors Canada has a list of resources for inclusivity in language.

Writing outside your own cultural experience

• “Working with Authenticity Readers” from the Penguin Random House News for Authors blog.
• A good explanation of what sensitivity readers do for an author: “How I—a Jewish Writer—Approach Sensitivity Reads for Authors Who Write Jewish Characters” by Jamie Beth Cohen. “Because no matter how much research you do on a culture, you can’t find answers to questions you don’t know to ask.”

Learning to edit or improving your skills

• The Copyeditor’s Handbook by Amy Einsohn and Marilyn Schwartz comes with an associated workbook of exercises.
• Meeting Professional Editorial Standards produced by Editors Canada. A set of exercises with sample solutions and discussion. Available in four modules: proofreading, copy editing, stylistic editing, and structural editing.
• Developmental Editing: A Handbook for Freelancers, Authors, and Publishers by Scott Norton

Grammar and writing

• Peck’s English Pointers: A collection of clear and entertaining articles on English grammar, punctuation, usage, and clarity. Most sections include a short quiz.
• Diagnostic Grammar Test used by Toronto Metropolitan University in their publishing certificate program. Marking sheet.
• The Writer’s Toolbox from Geist magazine
• George Orwell’s essay “Politics and the English Language”