Embedded in all editorial work, whether freelance or in-house, technical or translation, specialized skills will boost your editorial work to the top of your niche. Learn about many of these skills here.
Book Coaching
Confident Coaching: How to Share Your Skills and Help Learners Level Up
This seminar will provide ideas on how to develop a supportive relationship with a learner, assess their needs, and plan a roadmap for their editing progress that will help them level up their skills so they will become better revisors of their own work and maybe even ready for editing tasks themselves.
How to Set a Realistic Production Schedule
Knowing the publishing process and setting and maintaining realistic schedules are fundamentals all professional editors need, regardless of which stage they are working. This webinar focuses on scheduling the full publication production process, potentially helpful for book coaches looking to better understand the industry to best guide their clients.
Book Coaching is a relatively new profession that has sprung up in recent years to replace the support publishing houses no longer provide to writers. But how does book coaching differ from the services editors provide?
Book coaching is relatively new in the field of editing, though many editors may see some overlap with their existing editorial practice. To better understand this emerging offering, Yuxuan Francis Liu and Holly Vestad interviewed four book coaching experts: Anne Bokma, Tanya Gold, Dinah Laprairie, and Suzie Vadori. First up: what is book coaching, and who benefits from it?
In this post, Yuxuan Francis Liu and Holly Vestad talk with book coaches about how they package their offerings and the difficulties of entering into this field.
In this final post, book coaches Anne Bokma, Tanya Gold, Dinah Laprairie, and Suzie Vadori offer candid advice.
Writing Coaches and Writers—“A Beautiful Synergy”: An Interview with Tanya Gold
Tracey Anderson interviews Tanya Gold, book editor, writing coach, translator and literary omnivore, about coaching writers.
Design, Formatting and Typesetting
Book Formatting Using Word Styles
Are you interested in learning how to create a professional print book interior using a standard program? In this webinar, publisher Meghan Behse teaches you how to create a fully customizable print book layout using Microsoft Word.
Document Prep Tips from a Book Designer
Production artist and publishing consultant Melinda Martin talks about how to collaborate with a book designer and shares practical tips on how to avoid common mistakes during the design process.
Adobe InDesign is the standard for print and PDF layout. In this two-part webinar, James Harbeck, a seasoned InDesign user, teaches you how to use InDesign effectively, efficiently and elegantly for most purposes you are likely to encounter.
Editors often find themselves performing different functions, especially in smaller organizations. One of these functions may involve reviewing user experience (UX) design. In this blog post, Aaron Dalton, editor and plain language specialist, shares basic principles of UX design that editors can refer to if they find themselves editing text in different IT systems.
Web editor and trained linguist James Harbeck discusses how different platforms are different performances of a text and how these performances affect the amount of pleasure a reader has while reading.
Indexing
Curious about indexing and how it impacts you as an editor? This webinar will introduce you to the basics of the indexing process, explain how editors fit into the scheme, provide resources for helping clients find an indexer, and show how an index is an asset for your client’s book.
Instructional Design
Sharing Your Editing Knowledge: How to Teach and Train Students and Clients
Sharing your editing skills with other adult learners can be rewarding, but it can also be intimidating. In this webinar, Suzanne Bowness shares insights from her formal adult learning training plus her 15+ years of teaching experience in writing courses in college and university settings.
Readability and Accessibility
Accessibility measures work best when they are embedded in content from the start. In this series of four webinars, Suzanne Schaan, managing editor at AME Learning, examines the accessibility considerations that editors are most likely to come across in their work.
Editors are often responsible for creating final documents for users. In this webinar, managing editor Suzanne Schaan explores how editors can make Microsoft Office documents more accessible. She discusses how to use the accessibility checker, create heading structures, work with tables, remediate colour contrast, and set the reading order in PowerPoint.
Descriptive Transcripts for Accessibility and More
With all the media available today, descriptive transcripts are more important than ever to make accessibility possible. In this one-hour webinar, Julie Kay-Wallace applies her experience as a freelance editor to explain how to use descriptive transcripts and make the most of your media.
In this webinar, Lisa Orchard and Christa Bedwin share their decades of experience with how visual and infographic components can energize a text to make it more compelling and easier to understand.
Visit our section on plain language to learn more about this essential skill.
From marketing to safety documentation and reports, the science of readability can help deliver messages directly to readers more effectively. In this webinar, Christa Bedwin, international science editor and writer, discusses ways to make English easier to read, including which font types to use, how to form sentences, how to format words on the page and more.
Readers, the New Readability, Writeability Techniques
Research shows the less work audiences need to put into reading, the more they will find sources credible, and the better they will connect with the message. In this webinar, Cheryl Stephens, leader in the international plain language field, shares the most common characteristics of readers, what they find readable subjectively and how to write to meet both the reader’s needs and their expectations.
Technical Editing
Introduction to Technical Editing for Craft Patterns
Are you an editor with an interest in craft or a crafter with an interest in editing? In this webinar, managing technical editor and seasoned designer Kate Atherley talks about editing craft patterns, including the details of this particular editing niche, the skills and experience required and how to get started.
How to Edit Winning STEM Proposals
In this webinar, Julie Stauffer discusses the essentials of editing funding proposal for STEM-focused organizations.
Reflections of a Technical Editor
Are you curious about in-house technical editing? Editor, translator and information designer Alana Chalmers discusses the skills that technical editors need to be successful in the field.
So You Want to Be an In-House Technical Editor?
In this webinar, participants will hear tips from an experienced in-house technical editor and have a chance to practice and discuss how to approach editing technical writing by authors from disciplines that you may not have past knowledge of.
Translating
Copy Editing Tips for Translators
In this webinar, participants learn about copy editing translations for clients.
French
Editing a Translation: Finding the Balance
In this blog post, Beau Brock discusses his role as a revisor of French to English translations, and how revising differs from traditional editing.
English Editing in Quebec: Linguistic Interference During COVID-19
During the pandemic, the government delivered information about the latest developments in both English and French to Quebec residents, but in the process, linguistic interference crept in. In this blog post, freelance editor, translator and writer Dwain Richardson discusses some of the challenges English editors and translators encounter when working with French texts, such as bilingual official documents.
Spanish
Clear Spanish Text in a Foreign Land: Is It Possible?
How does a Spanish editor or translator approach working on text for a Spanish-speaking audience in a country like the United States, where Spanish is not the dominant language? In this webinar, Helen Eby presents her book on this topic.
Software
Beginner’s Guide to Editing in LaTeX
LaTeX is the “de facto standard for the communication and publication of scientific documents.” This webinar provides a basic understanding of LaTeX and teaches you how to edit effectively within LaTeX.
Editors are often responsible for creating final documents for users. In this webinar, managing editor Suzanne Schaan explores how editors can make Microsoft Office documents more accessible. She discusses how to use the accessibility checker, create heading structures, work with tables, remediate colour contrast, and set the reading order in PowerPoint.
Free (or Cheap) Tools for Freelance Editors: Part 1
Free (or Cheap) Tools for Freelance Editors: Part 2
Free (or Cheap) Tools for Freelance Editors: Part 3
Looking to optimize your processes? These three blog posts share some helpful tools, including software, to keep your planning, goal setting and editing sharp.
Microsoft Word
Becoming a Microsoft Word Power User: Customizations, Shortcuts, Wildcards and Macros
If you’re ready to up your Microsoft Word game, then this session is for you.
Introducing The Chicago Manual of Style for PerfectIt
This webinar, delivered by the original developer of PerfectIt, Daniel Heuman, will explore how you can use The Chicago Manual of Style for PerfectIt to save time in your editing work.
Save Time and Your Sanity: Increase Your Efficiency with Microsoft Word for Windows
Many of us use Microsoft Word on a regular basis, but could we be using it more efficiently and effectively? In this 90-minute webinar, technical editor Rhonda Bracey shares useful tips and techniques that will help you become more efficient with Microsoft Word for Windows 2016.
Using Autocorrects and Text Expanders for Efficient Editing
Freelance editor and proofreader Karen Horler shares a collection of best practices and tips for using Word’s AutoCorrect feature and then introduces two applications that enable the use of autocorrection outside of Word: TextExpander and AutoHotkey.
Wildcards and Regular Expressions
Are you familiar with Microsoft Word’s Advanced Find and Replace feature? Learning functions such as the “wildcards” can help you become more efficient and effective when using Word. In this blog post, editor and plain language specialist Aaron Dalton shares his tips and tricks to using Find and Replace and briefly discusses Word’s limitations when it comes to the language known as “regular expressions.”
Macros
Macros for Editors: Beginners’ Basics
If you’ve heard about the benefits of using macros from other editors but haven’t been sure where to start, this introductory webinar is for you! Paul Beverley, an editor who has been creating macros for use by editors and proofreaders for over fourteen years, introduces macros and discusses their benefits.
Macros for Editors: Building on the Foundations
This is part 2 of a two-part introductory webinar series on macros. Paul Beverley, an editor who has been creating macros for use by editors and proofreaders for over 14 years, discusses how macros enable you to make global changes before reading a document, which allows you to focus on the meaning and flow of the sentences.
Macros for Editors: Expanding Horizons
Have you already started using macros but want to know what aspects of your work can be done more efficiently and effectively? In this webinar, Paul Beverley discusses the wide range of ready-made macros that are available for editors to use.
Paul Beverly has generously created an extensive list of macros. If you are ready to dive in, this is the main resource you will need. Some of the more complex macros come with “how to” guides.
If you are looking for a place to start with macros and find the Macro Menu too daunting, Alex Benarzi has created a condensed list of common macros, with descriptions and instructions on how to use some of the more complicated ones.
Artificial Intelligence
AI Editing: Tools to Improve Every Workflow
This webinar examines the current state of AI tools as they apply to editors.
AI Editing Uncertainty: Navigating Ethics, Copyright and Privacy
AI tools have already proven themselves useful, yet to many they present a moral morass of ethical issues, privacy concerns and copyright violations. In this webinar, Perrin Lindelauf examines these important topics.
Part of using AI responsibly is knowing its limitations. In this blog post, Don Maihot explores the power and limitations of AI and asks the reader to consider the cost of productivity.
Editing with Chat GPT: A Practical Standpoint
This webinar introduces ChatGPT as it applies to editors, examining how we can put this tool to work in our industry.
Draftsmith: A Purpose-Built AI Tool That Respects the Editor
An introduction to Draftsmith, an AI-powered editing assistant and positions itself as a more conscientious and purpose-built alternative to traditional large language model (LLM) tools.
Draftsmith: An Editor’s Review
Some useful tips and demonstrations of how to work with Draftsmith.
Dragonfly’s Policy on Ethical AI Use
Are you looking for a template to develop your own ethical guide for using AI in your practice or company? Dragonfly Editorial has spent a lot of time developing an intentional, useful guide.
A lighthearted rumination on AI’s editing capabilities and what it means to edit with heart.
Generative AI: Friend, foe or funky?
It’s increasingly clear that generative AI can’t replace gifted human editors. But can it help us with our work? If so, how—and at what cost? Join academic editor Catie Phares as she endeavours to answer these questions.
The Future of Editing: Leaning into What AI Can’t Do
Many editors report that they have experienced a marked decrease in work since the introduction of generative artificial intelligence (AI), and particularly ChatGPT. In this webinar, seasoned academic editor Catie Phares will cover seven key areas of limitation for generative AI—areas that represent promising opportunities for editors to thrive in the post-AI world.
Using AI Tools Without Letting Them Use You
This webinar will explore how generative AI intersects with global systems of extraction, inequality and power consolidation—and what editors must consider in response. Emily Faubert, editor and founder of M.L.E. Style Editing, discusses generative AI’s full ethical footprint, including the unauthorized use of copyrighted materials to the physical labour and land use that sustain the AI infrastructure.
Visual Design and Picture Editing
Beyond Once Upon a Time: Intro to Editing Picture Books
Laura Bontje shares tips and examples to help new and aspiring picture book editors gain confidence.
Editing the Art of Comic Book Lettering: An Introduction
Beyond proofreading and copy editing the text in comics, editing the art and design of the lettering is an integral responsibility of comic book editors. By understanding the art of lettering and its place as the last stage of production, participants will develop an appreciation for how what comes before – in the writing, the art, and the colouring – all play a role in the success the lettering will play in the final product.
This webinar teaches you how to help data tell their stories through effective tables and graphs.
Picture books, manga, graphic novels — what does an editor do when text is only part of the story? In this webinar, freelance editor Julie Kay-Wallace teaches you how to tackle the art portion of an art-based story with confidence.
Introducing Maps: Developing Requirements and Proofreading Maps
In this webinar, freelance editor and writer Laura Edlund introduces how to critically examine maps as an editor, develop and edit requirements for maps in text publications and review the results.