Speaking from Experience: Anne Waddingham

Anne Waddingham trades as WordMedic (‘Making words better’) and has worked in STM publishing for more than 30 years. She specialises in tutoring, on-screen editing and project management. She authored the on-screen editing chapter in the fourth edition of Butcher’s Copy-editing (CUP, 2006) and contributed to New Hart’s Rules (OUP, 2005). Anne has a Licentiateship in Editorial Skills from the City & Guilds Institute.

Anne teaches on a number of PTC courses, including Editing Scientific, Technical and Medical Texts, Editing in Word, Digital Proofreading and Managing Editorial Freelancers.

How did you get started in publishing?

I answered a job advert in the New Scientist for an editorial assistant on a tertiary (abstracts) genetics journal, as that was the subject I majored in my biology degree. It was published by Information Retrieval Ltd, a company based in London in which many people got their first toe-hold in STM publishing.

What is the biggest lesson you have learnt?

You can never stop learning in this business. There’s always something new happening and you need to keep informed, through colleagues, the industry media and particularly through training from people who are working at the coal face, such as PTC tutors.

What project are you most proud of?

I’m working on it now – it’s still hush-hush!

Why do you think tutoring for the PTC is important?

For me, the advantage of tutoring is that it is the complete opposite of editing and writing, which can be quite solitary. I get to meet lots of lively, interesting people on courses (and PTC staff too of course!)

Your biggest prediction for the industry this year:

I’m keeping a weather eye on the developments in open access publishing, following the Finch report last year. I think the inexorable rise of OA will have far-reaching effects on academic publishers worldwide and, although a small cog in the wheel, I feel editors will have a key role in the new regime. Freelancers will see their client base shift, just as it is doing in fiction, with the explosion of self-publishing.