In this video, Mandy Brett takes to Lunchbox/Soapbox to consider the future for those whom we notice least when they’re most effective: editors.
Holding a Kindle, an iPad and a smartphone, Brett opens by acknowledging that “big changes are coming in how we read, not necessarily in what we read.” She points to the rudimentary functioning of new reading technologies and the familiar writing format they cater to: “one page after another of long form narrative, or short form if that’s what you put on it.”
Continuing, Brett assures us that the future of reading is not under immediate threat. However, the future of good writing may be less assured. Pointing to Fairfax Media’s recent outsourcing of subediting to Pagemasters, she argues that if saving money is “not at the expense of quality, then that’s just a happy accident”.
She goes on to assert that to undermine editorial value in publishing is to send the message that the work of an editor is neither “crucially important nor particularly skilled, and it’s a move that fails to understand the importance for any writer of having somebody look at your work.”
However, Brett is clear in distinguishing newspapers from the world of books. As she goes on, she admits that some regard editors with contempt, and understand their position purely in terms of acquisition and gatekeeping. She underlines the fact that writing a good book is a difficult thing to do, and that few understand the important role played by editors, whose job is essentially “invisible”. In other words, that many fall toward the mistaken assumption that a book’s quality comes solely from its author.
The key is quality, which Brett suggests we take for granted: but once it’s gone, it’s too late. “It’s a really fine thing to have solid values and high aspirations,” she says. “It’s great, but we all feel disappointment when we know that we’re falling short.”
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This was a good presentation, I thought - well argued and nicely structured in a way you'd perhaps expect from an editor!
As a humorous aside, I spotted Mandy at a book launch the week after her Lunchbox/Soapbox. I swore I recognise her and perhaps even smiled or waved to her, assuming she was someone I'd met before. Unfortunately for me I soon realised it was simply because I'd watched this video.
Jon
25 May at 11:42AM
Around the 1.30 minute mark Mandy mentioned that anyone over the age of 35 or 40 would find reading long form narrative on anything other than paper difficult. I would argue that *anyone* who is used to reading off paper will face an adjustment period.
I've had a 2nd generation Kindle for over a year and only recently have come to rely on it as my main method of reading. In my case it was because I was seeking a particular type of book at a minimal price in order to gain an appreciation of a holiday destination.
Once the reader is used to the different aesthetic the minimal price charged by various e-book retailers and wide variety quickly become overwhelming advantages.
As for the point about this time being a time of change and editors should engage with the public debate around an appropriate publishing model, I would suggest that examples (both humorous and non-humorous) of the role editors play should be placed on a central website as an educative point. Perhaps that ought to be buttressed by editors making themselves available in other public fora to draw attention to their functions and start the transition to building personal 'brands' because the institutions that currently employ them may not be economically viable in the long term.
N B Shifrin
03 June at 10:34AM