Communication Central owner Ruth E. Thaler-Carter welcomes participants to the 2012 Build Your Business conference in Baltimore.

• Both the English language and the world of editing are constantly changing. In addition to practicing the craft, some of our colleagues teach the skills; others observe and analyze the trends; still others write about craft and/or trends. The 2012 Communication Central conference brought together some of the best and brightest minds of our business for their perspectives on what we have to know and do to keep up with the editorial profession now and in the immediate future.

The Editing Summit featured Erin Brenner, editor of Copyediting newsletter; Janice Campbell, executive director of the National Association of Independent Writers and Editors; Laura Poole, owner of the Editorial Bootcamp; John McIntyre of the Baltimore Sun and American Copy Editors Society; Carol Fisher Saller of the University of Chicago Press and Chicago Manual of Style Online Q&A, and author of The Subversive Copy Editor; Barbara Hart, owner of Publications Professionals LLC; and April Michelle Davis, owner of Editorial Inspirations.

• In “Launching Your Freelance Business,” Communication Central owner and long-time successful freelance writer/editor Ruth E. Thaler-Carter, who has had a successful freelance editorial business for more than 25 years, provided tips on how to put a new business on a strong footing — or help an established one improve and grow.

• In “Word: The Writer’s Friend,” author Maggie Secara shared a number of ways that make Word work for her that are of value to other writers, as well to editors, proofreaders and other freelancers who use Word. Many colleagues already know about Secara’s renowned “maggie-ing” technique for fixing uncooperative files. She had yet more to offer in this rare conference appearance. And, yes – that topic comes with a wink!

• Bevi Chagnon provided invaluable tips on “InDesign for Editing and Proofreading,” reflecting an aspect of the changing world of expectations for editors, proofreaders and even writers where employers and clients are now asking us to work in InDesign as well as Word and Acrobat. InDesign may be intended as a publication design and layout program, but it’s becoming a program that freelance (and in-house) writers, editors and proofreaders increasingly have to know something about.

• Every business today needs a website that presents its best face to the world and brings in new customers and business. That includes freelance writers, editors, proofreaders, indexers and others. Communication Central owner Ruth E. Thaler-Carter shared lively insights on and examples of “Websites that Benefit Your Business” – what does and doesn’t work to make sure that the website for your business is as effective as possible.

• It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by document disorganization and e-mail overload. Paul Lagasse of Active Voice Writing & Editorial Services (www.avwrites.com), a former records manager who knows how to manage files, even though he admits that he hates doing it, addressed “Don’t Let Your Electronic Files Manage You,” providing tips on how to organize electronic documents and e-mail, set up a simple purge schedule to prevent file overload, and other aspects of effective file management for freelancers.

• The Portable Document Format (PDF) was created to make it easy for colleagues to review almost-final projects when designers and clients had different computer systems, programs and document elements – artwork, fonts, etc. – and was intended to function as the digital equivalent of a blueline: for last-ditch proofreading. However, more and more clients are asking freelancers (and employees) to edit and proofread PDFs in Adobe Acrobat. In this hands-on session on “Adapting to Acrobat,” Bevi Chagnon of PubCom walked participants through what it takes to get the hang of this increasingly important way of doing editorial work.

• Editorial freelancers are always looking for ways to make the most out of every hour by working more efficiently and effectively. In “Go Wild with Wildcards for Greater Productivity,” April Michelle Davis, owner of Editorial Inspirations, stepped in for Jack Lyon of the Editorium – the master of macros and other time-saving, productivity-enhancing resources for editors, proofreaders and writers – to demonstrate how wildcards can help freelancers do just that.

• There comes a point in almost every editorial professional’s life when it seems appealing to hand off the hands-on writing, editing, proofreading, indexing and related work to someone else and manage the process instead. In “Profiting from Project Management,” Elaine Smith of EWS Associates discussed how to set up on the management side of the editorial desk – skills, processes, people, projects and more – from who has moved successfully into finding, organizing and managing projects involving skills of colleagues and subcontractors. Barbara Hart of Publications Professionals LLP and Communication Central owner Ruth E. Thaler-Carter added their perspectives on this business model as well.

• Editing fiction seems like the most fun work there could be in our editorial world. The core differences between editing fiction and nonfiction were the focus of a session on “A Dual Look at Editing Fiction,” as well as the particular types of clients and tasks a fiction editor encounters, form a long-time copyeditor for traditional print houses and a “mixed-type” editor for independents and small presses. Carolyn Haley and Amy Schneider discussed tools, techniques and philosophy; charted the paths each traveled to find their niches; and showed what colleagues need to know to determine whether fiction editing is for them.

• Many of us prefer to focus on what we do and finding clients to let us do it at great rates, but social media in a variety of forms and technology beyond Word, e-mail, Acrobat, etc., are more and more important to the world of editorial work, especially for freelancers. The options – and their demands on your time – can be confusing and intimidating. In “Social Media, Blogs, Teleseminars and Webinars – Tech to Promote Your Business,” Janice Campbell, founder of the National Association of Independent Writers and Editors (NAIWE) provided practical, detailed insights into how current social media options and technology can work to your advantage and help you build your business.

2012 C-C Conf Registration Form

• Bevi Chagnon, founder of PubCom, has worked in digital media since the early 1980s, when the first primitive desktop publishing applications were developed. Half geek, half award-winning designer and half teacher (sometimes the sum of the parts really do add up to more than the whole), she’s in pig heaven every time she teaches a class that demystifies fancy publishing technologies and helps people put them to work.

Chagnon is an Adobe Certified Expert in InDesign and a contributing writer and adviser on several e-mail lists and forums for publishing, web development and digital media; consultant and trainer for local nonprofits, commercial publishers and government agencies; professional photographer; computer programmer and technician; and consultant and trainer for Section 508 accessibility, XML and multi-channel publishing technologies.

• Carol Fisher Saller is a senior manuscript editor at the University of Chicago Press, editor of the Chicago Manual of Style Online Q&A, and author of The Subversive Copy Editor (Or, How to Negotiate Good Relationships with Your Writers, Your Colleagues, and Yourself), published by the University of Chicago Press. Until recently, she blogged at Lingua Franca, but now focuses on her own blog, the Subversive Editor.

• Carolyn Haley (www.documania.us ) is a “word nerd” who loves working with text, from concept to publication, and has been doing it professionally since 1977 and as DocuMania since 2006. This passion applies to books and articles as well as business materials. She has handled subjects ranging from horse breeding to aircraft engines, and fiction categories from sword-and-sorcery to romance. As an editor, Haley specializes in the consistency hobgoblins that spring up in manuscripts anywhere between first draft and last check before press. As a writer, she specializes in focused content oriented toward the appropriate readership. Because she both writes and edits, she respects an author’s voice, so she does not over-edit.

• David Hazard (http://www.itsyourlifebethere.com) has worked as an author, publishing consultant, and writing and creativity coach since 1979, developing bestselling lines of books for numerous publishers and writing more than 30 books of his own, including several award-winning and internationally bestselling titles. His 1984 book, Blood Brothers, led to a Nobel Peace Prize nomination for its subject, Dr. Elias Chacour.

Hazard has helped to launch and develop the careers of more than 200 writers during his 34 years in the publishing field. In 2007, he founded Ascent, an organization that develops and hosts creative-growth training schools and workshops from coast to coast, to help people “live their fire.” His method of training engages the whole person, mind and body.

• Paul Lagasse (Active Voice Writing & Editorial Services, www.avwrites.com) has been self-employed as a writer and editor since 2001. His current niches are writing marketing communications for nonprofits and editing instructional materials for the construction trades. Before becoming a writer/editor, he worked as an archivist, records manager and historian for History Associates, Inc., the International Monetary Fund archives, and the National Archives. He has an MA in History and an MLS in Archival Studies.

• Jack M. Lyon is a book editor who got tired of working the hard way and started creating programs to automate editing tasks in Microsoft Word. He has been editing for more than 25 years and started working on the computer in 1985. He is the author of Macro Cookbook for Microsoft Word and Microsoft Word for Publishing Professionals: Power-Packed Tips for Editors, Typesetters, Proofreaders, and Indexers, and the coauthor of a business book, Managing the Obvious.

Lyon founded the Editorium in 1996. The Editorium focuses on creating and maintaining the programs that colleagues need—specialized programs that a large company wouldn’t touch. Editorium tools include program add-ins – collections of macros that make Word do things it couldn’t ordinarily handle, such as finding and replacing multiple items, cleaning up common editorial problems, and extracting embedded footnotes. All Editorium programs include batch processing, letting you do in minutes what used to take hours. The Editorium’s most popular products include Editor’s ToolKit Plus, Editor’s ToolKit, FileCleaner and NoteStripper.

Formerly the managing editor of a publishing house in Salt Lake City, UT, Lyon also owns and operates Waking Lion Press.

• John Early McIntyre is the night content production manager at the Baltimore Sun, where he started work as a copy editor in 1986 after having been a copy editor at the Cincinnati Enquirer. He earned an undergraduate degree in English from Michigan State University, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and a master’s degree in English from Syracuse University, where he was a university fellow. He has taught copy editing at Loyola University Maryland since 1995.

McIntyre was a charter member of the American Copy Editors Society (ACES) and served two terms as its president. He has presented sessions on writing and editing at national ACES conferences, National Writers’ Workshops, American Press Institute, Poynter Institute, and more than two dozen newspapers and news organizations in the United States and Canada. His book reviews and articles have appeared in the Sun,  Christian Science Monitor and American Editor and at Poynter.org. His blog on writing and editing, You Don’t Say, is available at baltimoresun.com.

• Amy J. Schneider (www.linkedin.com/in/featherschneider), founder of Featherschneider Editorial Services, earned her degree in graphic art and worked in the film prep department of a printing company before jumping directly into freelance copyediting in 1995. In addition to working on college textbooks, she has been copyediting fiction in several genres, including romance, westerns, mysteries, cozies, paranormal and urban fantasy, and counts several New York Times best-selling authors among the many who request her for their books. Her focus in copyediting fiction is on the nuts and bolts of continuity, balancing house style against the author’s voice while paying rigorous attention to detail and keeping extensive style sheets.

• A technical writer by trade, Maggie Secara (https://sites.google.com/a/elizabethan.org/maggie-secara/) is an independent writing and editing professional at Popinjay Editorial, as well as a working poet, with poems published in “little magazines no one ever heard of.” While she says her principal claim to fame is as the author and editor of A Compendium of Common Knowledge 1558–1603; Elizabethan Commonplaces for Writers, Actors and Re-enactors (11th edition, spring 2011; http://elizabethan.org), editing colleagues know her best for her invaluable “maggie-ing” tip for using Word when documents go awry.

Secara has been a senior technical writer and editor for software documentation, online help, user manuals, tutorials, policies & procedures, etc., for a wide variety of industries, including enterprise and B2B environments, and a copy editor and proofreader for academic and other areas. She is a specialist in literature and social sciences, with experience in other disciplines as well. Her first novel, Molly September (http://litunderground.com/MollySeptember.html), debuted on Amazon.com and elsewhere in the spring of 2011. Her newest book just came out and will be available for purchase and signing at the conference.

• Elaine W. Smith is founder and managing director of EWS and Associates, LLC, a full-service communications firm serving nonprofits and small businesses in the mid-Atlantic region with editorial and graphic services, Web development, proposal writing and event planning, among other services.

Before establishing her business, Smith served in key positions of national trade associations where her career accomplishments had world impact. She  is a past president of the Washington, DC, chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC/DC). She received her bachelor’s degree in journalism from Howard University.

and more – additional bios will be posted shortly!

The Editing Summit at the 2012 Communication Central conference will feature a unique opportunity to learn from some of the profession’s leading lights in editorial work: Erin Brenner, editor of Copyediting newsletter; Janice Campbell, executive director of the National Association of Independent Writers and Editors; Laura Poole, owner of the Editorial Bootcamp; John McIntyre of the Baltimore Sun and American Copy Editors Society; Carol Fisher Saller of the University of Chicago Press and Chicago Manual of Style Online Q&A, and author of The Subversive Copy Editor; Barbara Hart, owner of Publications Professionals LLC; and April Michelle Davis, owner of Editorial Inspirations.

As a writer, Maggie Secara has figured out a number of ways to make Word work for her that are of value to other writers as well to editors, proofreaders and other freelancers who use Word. Many colleagues already know about her renowned “maggie-ing” technique for fixing uncooperative files. She has yet more to offer in this rare conference appearance. And, yes, that session title comes with a wink!

InDesign may be intended as a publication design and layout program, but another aspect of the changing world of expectations for editors, proofreaders and even writers is that some employers and clients are now asking us to work in InDesign as well as Word and Acrobat. Use this session to find out if adding InDesign could enhance the scope of your freelance editorial business.

Every business today needs a website that presents its best face to the world and brings in new customers and business. That includes freelance writers, editors, proofreaders, indexers and others. See what does and doesn’t work to make sure that the website for your business is as effective as possible. Learn how to avoid classic mistakes, whether you have a site that could do more for you or are still thinking of creating one. If time allows and participants are willing, the session will include critiques of participants’ sites.