Editage attends the 24th Annual Congress of the Society for Editors and Proofreaders

CACTUS/Editage participated in the 24^th Annual Congress of the Society for Editors and Proofreaders (SfEP) held at the University of Exeter from August 31^stto September 2^nd, 2013. In attendance were about 120 professionals, and in keeping with this year’s theme, Editing at the Crossroads, many of the workshops and seminars addressed the evolving nature of the publishing landscape and how copyeditors can stay up-to-date.

In his workshop on Rewriting and Substantive Editing, writing and editorial consultant Andrew Steeds advocated that copyeditors should refrain from over-editing, an approach that can save the editor time; and the author, frustration. Martin Delahunty, Associate Director from Nature Publishing Group’s, presented a fascinating, tightly-paced seminar titled Open Science and Future Trends in Digital Journals wherein he took the audience through the latest trends in STM publishing, concluding with what copyeditors can anticipate from the evolving publishing landscape.

There were many sessions aimed at those new to the industry as well as those which taught new skills (How to succeed as a freelancer, Finance for freelancers,Setting up an office for £250 from scratch, and Medical Writing: A practical Introduction). Another memorable workshop was Social Media for Copyeditors by Julia Sandford-Cooke, who shared tips on how freelance copyeditors and writers can use social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, as a business development tool.

One highlight of the conference was the eagerly anticipated Whitcombe Lecture by Carol Fisher Saller, author of The Subversive Copyeditor and editor of the Chicago Manual of Style Online’s Q&A. Ms. Saller had a motivating message to copyeditors on how to deal with changing publishing technologies: learn, adapt, and grow.

An engaging and memorable meeting!