Deborah Odumuyiwa
Copy EditorHow did you get into your role?
Right after finishing my post-grad course in International Journalism I worked as a copy editor on a 70 pages career guide for finance. The job was posted on my department’s website. I had edited before but it was my first experience with finance writing so I had to become familiar with it quickly. All articles were far too long. While deleting and rearranging words, I kept the author’s tone and vocabulary. When it came to the structure of the pieces I simultaneously took over the different perspectives of: the writer, the interviewees, the company I worked for and the readers, asking "how is the story told, and why, is it true, does it make sense, and is it balanced?" My journalistic education clearly helped me judging because I also know how stories are done in the first place.
What skills have you come to rely on the most in your job?
Copy editors are sceptical. They check the spelling, grammar, numbers, names of companies and people. Good research skills are essential. To arrange your words on pages, you should master programs such as InDesign or Quark Express.
If you had to pick one positive and one negative aspect of your job what would they be?
As a copy editor you deal with all the people involved in text creation. You have to communicate and negotiate with them. This can be difficult. Authors might not like the edited versions of their stories, interviewees can feel misquoted or the designers you work with demand you change a perfect headline to fit the layout. But at the same time this is also the nice side of the job: dealing with words and people and finally creating copy that readers understand and enjoy.
Is there any advice you would give students hoping to pursue a career in this field?
Copy editors need to adjust to all kinds of topics and styles. And they have to be attentive even when checking dull lists of telephone numbers for consistent style. Whatever the text, you always need to work fast to meet your deadlines.
