Launch of The Australian Editing Handbook
Report by Jennifer Wright

If someone asks you what editors do, refer them to Flann & Hill. This was Sharon Nevile's advice when she described the origins of this valuable book at its Queensland launch at the March meeting. When the fourth edition of the Style manual came out, the new section on non-discriminatory language made headlines and this brought the manual to the attention of a much wider audience. One consequence of this was that AGPS Press, its publishers, received plenty of feedback on what readers would like the manual to include—basically more of everything except the mechanics of printing. Hence the ‘Style manual companion' series of publications on such subjects as writing in plain English, grammar, non-discriminatory language … and editing. The Australian Editing Handbook became one of this series when it was published in 1994.

In the late 1980s, when publishers were downsizing and trainee editor positions were being demolished, there was little formal training for would-be editors. Enter Elizabeth Flann and Beryl Hill, who were running a very successful series of introductory editing courses for the Society of Editors Victoria. So successful, in fact, that they were encouraged to write a book based on the substance of these courses. The rest, as they say, is history.

Sharon described the beautifully presented manuscript of what was then the ‘Copy editing handbook' and how impressed she was by its no-nonsense explanation of who did what and when in publishing houses, and how they did it, and why. The beautifully marked-up examples of the editor's craft and the sense of humour evident in the text were just what was needed for those starry-eyed book lovers trying to work out if editing was for them. The ‘finished' presentation, combined with the realisation that the authors had more years of editing experience than she had years of life, prompted her to question whether she was to edit the manuscript or simply pass it through for typesetting. But ‘edit' it was and, over the following months, they developed a harmonious working relationship and have been friends ever since. At the time, none of them realised that the next edition would be so long in the making.

Over a decade later the second edition, published by John Wiley & Sons Australia as a companion to the sixth edition of the Style manual , has retained all that was good about the previous edition as well as looking to the future of editing. The new Part 3, ‘Editing in the electronic age', explains the tools of the new technology—tracking changes and applying styles—and discusses website development and the various types of electronic publishing. The exciting possibilities of repurposing are canvassed and ‘the way of the future' is laid out for editors old and new. Sharon assured us that this new edition is destined to become an important training tool for the next generation of editors—a cornerstone of editing courses to come—and she commended it to us.

The second edition was sold at a discounted price thanks to the marketing manager at John Wiley & Sons Australia, Damien Robinson.