Editing for Business

Most organisations produce a wide range of documents – reports, web pages, brochures and many others. It is vital for your reputation that these documents meet the needs of your readership, say what you want them to say, are produced on time and budget, and are free from error.

This fast-paced two-day course will help you develop the skills necessary to edit and manage the production of various document types.

By the end of the course, you will:

  • understand the editing and publishing processes
  • be able to apply basic editing techniques
  • have the skills to produce documents that are fit for purpose
  • know how to identify and avoid common editing pitfalls
  • save time, money and mistakes.

The course is firmly grounded in the needs of businesses of all kinds – large corporations, SMEs, government organisations, charities and academic institutions and the content. The content and practical examples are taken from this environment.

Programme

Day One

  • The publishing process
    • Common aims, common principles
    • Who does what, when, and why
    • Planning the publication: allocating pages, establishing extent
    • Briefing and commissioning writers
  • Editing in the publishing process
    • Why texts need editing and what an editor does
    • Two main types of editing: structure and copy
    • Factors influencing the editor’s decisions
    • The need for accuracy, consistency, standardisation
    • House styles, for and against

Day Two

  • More intensive editorial intervention
    • The main problems posed by poorly written texts
    • Thinking visually: how the reader navigates text
    • Changing level: adapting material for different readerships
    • How to cut text
  • Design in the publishing process
    • The design function
    • What a designer needs to know
  • Proofreading in the publishing process
    • The proofing process: different types and stages, escalating costs
    • The proofreading function: different techniques and things to look out for
    • The final stages
  • Briefing and signing off
    • Briefing external writers
    • Briefing the internal team
    • The handover process and signing off.

Who will benefit from this course?

Staff with an editorial or publications role in SMEs, government departments, charities, and any other organisation that produces publications. Staff who work in book and journal publishing may find Copy-Editing Skills to be of more benefit.

Your Tutor

After a spell in teaching and education research, Andrew Steeds worked as a publisher in three of the major UK educational publishing companies before going freelance in 1992. He now runs Simply Put, a company that offers writing, project management and consultancy to organisations that want to communicate more effectively with the full range of their readers.

Read more

This course was previously called Editing Skills for Non-Publishers.

Note that most of our short courses can also be run as in-company events.

  • Dates: 25 October 2012
  • Duration: A two-day course
  • Price: £755+VAT
  • A number of discounts are available

Provisional Booking Form

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If you are entitled to one of our range of discounts, please select one of the following. To check your eligibility, visit our Discounts and Funding page.




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