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IPEd National Conference Papers

Challenor, K & Flick, L 2017, ‘Editing for education in a digital world: A view from the publisher perspective’, Proceedings of the 8th IPEd National Editors Conference: Advancing Our Profession. 13–15 September, Brisbane. Institute of Professional Editors, pp. 78–91, http://iped-editors.org/Professional_development/IPEdConferences.aspx.

http://iped-editors.org/Professional_development/IPEdConferences.aspx

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Challenor and Flick

8th IPEd National Editors Conference 78 13–15 September 2017, Brisbane

Editing for education in a digital world: A view from the publisher perspective

Kylie Challenor and Lian Flick AE Kylie Challenor

Wiley [email protected]

Lian Flick AE Wiley

[email protected]

In recent years, the educational publishing space has changed significantly. Publishers in both the school and higher education sectors are focusing less on the traditional print textbook model in favour of online courses and interactive ePubs. This transition to a predominantly digital model has required editors (both in-house and freelance) to rapidly acquire new skills in order to adapt to this new environment. In some cases, this means that freelancers must be willing to undertake self-directed training in order to continue to provide editorial services or, at the very least, be willing to adapt to new workflows.

The Australian publishing industry has undergone an enormous amount of change over the past decade. In particular, the educational publishing industry is in the process of transitioning from producing traditional print formats (like textbooks) to producing engaging online content (like ePubs and online courses). As technology has evolved, we at Wiley have embraced digital innovation in the publishing industry. We find it exciting, and we believe that as editors we will play a key role in the future of digital publishing.

Before launching straight into the ‘how and why’ of educational digital publishing, we thought it would be useful to provide a run-down of our own career histories to demonstrate how we’ve transitioned ourselves from print editors to digital editors.

Kylie’s career background: from print to digital

Although I was offered university placements, I wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted to do with my life — I was, after all, only 17, and like many school leavers had opted for a Bachelor of Arts without knowing where it might (or might not) get me. I decided to defer my offer for a year and work while considering my options. When it was almost time to make a decision, I stumbled across the Diploma of Editing (Publishing) that was offered at Southbank Institute of TAFE (at the old Morningside campus). Having grown up with a curious distaste for incorrect spelling and grammar, it seemed like a great fit for me. Some people questioned my decision to go to TAFE over university, but there were no undergraduate editing and publishing degrees available in Queensland. Unfortunately, the TAFE course no longer exists either.

Perhaps understandably, the teachers didn’t really expect me to survive the two-year course. In the end, only six of us completed the qualification (out of the 20 or so that started). However, one year into the course I started a volunteer placement with a pet magazine. Only a few months after that, I landed a one-year traineeship in the Publications department at the Queensland Art Gallery (which also gave me a Certificate III in Business Administration). I ended up working as a Publications Assistant at the Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art for nine years, editing and proofreading everything from wall labels to art books, as well as dealing with copyright requests. During that time, I also

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

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commenced a Bachelor of Arts (majoring in Literary and Cultural Studies, Film Studies and Australian History), which I completed externally over eight years.

I applied for a Content Editor job with Wiley’s Higher Education division to further my career, which was quite a risky step to take — by that time, I had a permanent state government job, and editing textbooks wouldn’t be anywhere near as interesting as editing art books. I was wrong about that last part — not once did I edit a textbook that I didn’t enjoy (I particularly enjoy the ones on psychology and anatomy and physiology). I stayed in that role for two years before becoming a Senior Content Editor, and six months after that I was the Managing Editor for Higher Education. These days, I am the Managing Editor for Knowledge and Learning, which includes both the Higher Education and Professional Development divisions (based across both Brisbane and Melbourne). This includes an in-house team of seven people (including myself), many more at our vendor partners, as well as several dozen freelance editors and proofreaders.

I feel very fortunate to have had almost sixteen years of in-house experience — particularly the career progression I’ve experienced during my six years at Wiley. Rather than being ambitious for the sake of career progression alone, the main thing I strive for is to do a great job in my current role each and every day, and to keep developing new skills. These days, my role is extremely busy — most of the time, my day doesn’t pan out the way I’ve planned it! I am also extremely proud of (and lucky to have) the team that I work with in Higher Education and Professional Development — the great job they do enables me the freedom to concentrate on the ‘management stuff’ (such as exploring new digital workflows). Although this presentation does not relate so much to our Professional Development business, it is worth noting that this team was responsible for the production of the outstanding success that is The Barefoot Investor — which, as of this week, still sits at #2 in Australia’s top 10 book sales (having spent several months at #1).

Lian’s career background: from print to digital

English was my favourite subject at school. I wrote stories and poems in my spare time. The thing about me, though, is I’m a realist. When I began planning what I would study at university, I knew I didn’t want to try for a career as a writer, but I also didn’t know how else I could use my love of words in a career. So I decided to become a psychologist. That’s another thing about me. When I decide to go after something, I go after it! I studied straight maths and science in order to get into the university course I wanted, and at university studied neuropsychology and statistics in order to specialise in clinical psychology.

However, this meant my creative side, my writing and reading, took a back seat. Writing a research report and clinical notes is definitely not the same as writing a short story! After working as a psychologist for two years, I was itching to use my creative side again. Where 10 years prior I couldn’t find a career that included creative writing, this time around I discovered the world of publishing. Remember, when I decide to go after something, I go after it. Breaking into this industry can be extremely difficult, but as it turned out, my psychology background was the thing that gave me my edge. The publisher who gave me my big break was a psychologist who started his own publishing company.

I began my career in this industry in the publishing space, so my training originated in signing new manuscripts, commissioning authors and the business side of publishing. My boss also taught me basics in printing, layout and copyright. After a couple of years I asked to work as

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an editor, and was promoted to Managing Editor. Because I worked for a small, independent publisher, I worked on both books and journals. My first boss was at the forefront of advances in online information management, and all copyediting was completed on-screen in Word using styles and macros.

After a few more years with this academic publisher, I wanted to grow as an editor by working in a different area of publishing. Another thing about me is I don’t mind taking calculated risks. There are limited opportunities in Brisbane, so I took a job as Project Editor for a maths education publishing company. There I gained hands-on copyediting experience in a different subject area and was also a member of the project teams involved in both the creation of the company’s first interactive whiteboard products and the revamp of their website. This is where I first learned about testing new platforms, working with developers and authoring tools, and writing and editing for a digital environment.

I was promoted to Senior Editor, but it was soon time to grow again. Another calculated risk and I left my in-house role to become a freelance editor. My stint as a freelancer gave me invaluable insight into the freelance world, how to build my own business and client list and how to maintain steady work.

A year into freelancing, a former colleague let me know about a Project Editor opening with Wiley’s School division. In the early years, working for Wiley enabled me to polish my copyediting skills and exposed me to specialist areas like hand art and cartography. In late 2013, I became editorial lead for Jacaranda’s first suite of online interactive courses. As the platform was being built, I worked with the developers and content teams to create workflows for getting our content into the platform and publishing it. In 2016, I was promoted to Managing Editor, School, and in 2017 to Associate Director, School Content Management, now leading the School Editorial, Design, Media Production and Copyright & Image Research teams, and our vendor partners in these areas.

Digital publishing has enabled my career to flourish. It has presented opportunities for me to expand my editing role. I encourage both my in-house team and our freelance copyeditors to become experts in editing digital products. For me, digital innovation in the publishing industry is exciting, and I am a firm believer that as editors we will play a key role in the future of digital publishing.

Evolution of editing at Wiley

At one point in time in the Higher Education division at Wiley, editorial duties were split between in-house developmental editors and copyeditors. Later, these duties were consolidated into the Content Editor role, and the focus at that time was still on printed material. Eventually, it became unsustainable to edit manuscripts in-house, due to the inability to scale up or down quickly (since it would mean quickly hiring additional staff during busy times or discontinuing staff if the work decreased). Therefore, the decision was made to outsource editing to freelancers and retain Production Editor roles in-house. Similarly, the model for School Editorial has changed from a large in-house team that managed the editorial stages of the production process to a small in-house team that manages the production process from end to end (with copyediting outsourced to freelancers).

Production Editors are responsible for overseeing the development of the manuscript from its original format in Word, right through all the processes to the finished product, whether

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it be a print book, ePub or online course — or all three. They also liaise directly with typesetting vendors on the layout of the content, and they commission and review media developed for our digital products (such as ‘choose-your-own-adventure’ branching animations or animated case studies).

Even though developmental or copyediting is not a huge part of their jobs, all of the Production Editors are excellent editors and do, on occasion, step in to edit or even ghostwrite material on a case-by-case basis. The in-house Production Editors work closely with the Publishers (who are responsible for delivering complete manuscript chapters) to ensure all content is in place. They then send the chapters to the freelance copyeditors, who will edit all chapters for a title as well as note permissions clearances. The freelance editors will also review the first pass pages (in consultation with the authors, proofreader and Production Editor); they sometimes check revised pages if required as well.

The usual tasks performed by Production Editors include, but are not limited to, the following:

• manage or help manage the title’s copyediting budget

• manage or help manage the title’s schedule

• brief the copyeditor about the scope of work for the entire title (including digital components as required)

• brief the image researcher and artist about requirements, specifications and schedule

• brief the typesetter and/or digital vendor about the scope of work, specifications and schedule

• coordinate the delivery of first page proofs and revised page proofs (or, for digital work, alpha and beta stages)

• coordinate the author, publisher, proofreader and freelance copyeditor review of page proofs (or, for digital work, alpha and beta stages)

• coordinate the reviews of new videos and HTML5 interactives, from brief to sign-off (including reviewing the media themselves as required)

• sign off the cover art

• ensure the title is ready for release to the printer or ready to be sent live

• troubleshoot at all stages of the project to ensure the title is available to the sales reps and market on time.

This means our team of copyeditors can focus on their specialist areas — copyediting content and reviewing page proofs (or alpha and beta stages).

Crucially, we have transitioned the entire editing and production process to completely on-screen, regardless of whether a title is going to end up as print or digital. This means that our Production Editors and freelance editors must be comfortable with using Word — not just track changes, but also implementing styles and using automatic endnotes (among other features). When we receive page proofs, they are no longer printed and reviewed in hard copy — corrections from the editors and proofreaders are made entirely using PDF mark-up tools. Not only does this create less paper waste, but it also allows us to compress schedules and move through some parts of the production process quicker, since we no longer need to scan or transcribe hard-copy corrections. It also enables us to provide much clearer instructions to the typesetter, since they don’t have to decipher handwriting from multiple people. Working digitally also has other advantages for our freelance editors — they can

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(and do!) work from anywhere in the world! As an example, one of our freelance editors used to work in-house at another publisher before transitioning to freelance. After spending a couple of years freelancing in Australia, she has now moved to Europe and still completes work for us.

Introduction of ePubs, digital-only products and online courses in School

Both the Higher Education and School Editorial teams’ involvement in digital publishing has evolved over the years, as we have transitioned from Content Editors or Project Editors looking after the editorial stages of the production process, to Production Editors with responsibility for the end-to-end production of our titles. Our increased involvement was also triggered by the introduction of digital-only content and by compressed schedules. We are being asked to deliver more content in shorter turnaround times, while still maintaining the highest quality, which means streamlining processes and eliminating inefficiencies.

Traditionally, ePub conversion commenced when the paged content in the InDesign files was signed off. Once the ePub is created, it is uploaded into the platform to create our eBook. For Higher Education textbooks, this is still the process (even in a ‘digital only’ world).

For School’s very first eBooks, our dedicated Digital Production team managed the conversion and ensured the flow of content was still correct when converted from the typeset multiple-column or double-page-spread design to the single-column ePub design.

Then we began producing online-only content, converting edited Word manuscripts to ePubs and bypassing the typesetting stage. This meant there were no page proofs of this online-only content, and, unless we reviewed the ePub, the complete content (with images and art in place) wouldn’t be reviewed by authors or editors at all. In the early years, we reviewed our ePubs in an e-reader, like Calibre or Sigil. However, our customers weren’t seeing the published content in an e-reader, so there was a gap between what we checked and what the end user saw. We now review the content directly in our platform, which means we are seeing it as the customer would see it. Although we still produce more typeset than online-only content, which means we do see the complete content during the proofing stages, we still ask our freelance copyeditors to review our ePubs. Think of this ePub review as the equivalent of a ‘first pages review’ of the ePub, as you would have in a print paging process.

To consolidate our move to digital publishing, this year School signed off on its first standard design. While the secondary school market is transitioning to digital-only classrooms, a printed textbook is still important for our customers. Our standard single-column design closely resembles the single-column ePub design and was created to aid the customer’s understanding of the relationship between digital and print. In addition to the benefits to the customer, it also has production benefits. As the InDesign content looks the same as it does in the ePub, the conversion and review process is less complex.

School also produces complete online interactive courses that include reading material, questions that the student completes online and accompanying resources, like worksheets (Figure 1). During production of these courses, we are not just reviewing the content, we are also reviewing the user’s experience – how the student sees the content, when and how they are directed to accompanying resources, at what point they are given the answer and whether the platform is correctly marking the student’s answer and providing the correct automatic feedback. It quickly became obvious that it would be best for content reviews of

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these courses to be conducted in the platform. We ask our freelance copyeditors to complete these reviews, as they have the ideal skillset for this – an editor’s role is to ensure the message is conveyed clearly and effectively, regardless of the format it is presented in.

Figure 1a: School learnON course: reading material with embedded video (left) and HTML5 interactivity resource (right)

Figure 1b: School learnON course: automatically marked question

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Introduction of ePubs and courses in Higher Education

In the past, Higher Education ePub files and supplementary digital resources were produced by a separate digital team. As we moved more towards online courses and ePubs instead of print textbooks, it made sense to move digital production into the editorial workflow. This means that the job of the in-house Production Editor does not end once content has been signed off as it did in the past (as this was the point at which the textbook was released to the printer). Now, the process continues with the production of ePubs and online courses, as well as animated case studies, interactive question pools and interactive graphs.

The important thing to remember with all of this is that Wiley’s Editorial teams do not consist of programmers or coders, and we do not build these digital products ourselves. In the same way that we work closely with freelance copyeditors, we simply work closely with external experts to manage the production of our digital resources. We, alongside our freelance editors, review this material using the same editorial eye, regardless of the format.

When we decided to move to digital-only textbooks, we also needed to simplify our typesetting process. Our ePubs and courses use a streamlined single-column format, so it would be pointless to continue using complex layouts with major and minor columns if that isn’t what the customer ends up seeing (Figure 2a).

You may wonder why we still undertake a paging process at all. We still need a ‘container’ for edited text and images, because this allows us to still print hard copies for lecturers and also create custom print titles to meet market requirements (such as open-book exam copies for law titles). We still use fonts that are suited to print texts (such as serif fonts for body text), but using a simpler single-column approach that results in no superfluous content in the minor columns (Figure 2b).

Figure 2a: Double-page spread from Marketing 3e (major and minor column layout)

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Figure 2b: Double-page spread from Marketing 4e (single-column layout)

This process also makes reviewing the content quick and easy, as we can approve it in a PDF rather than asking editors and proofreaders to review content in the platform. Once the text is signed off in the PDF format, the approved content is then picked up and dropped into our ePub or course layout. This means that we don’t need to edit and proofread the content in the platform — we do, however, have our vendor partners do quality assurance checks against the approved PDFs to ensure that the correct content appears where it is supposed to. The layout is almost identical to the simple print design, but with fonts and other features that are more suitable for online consumption of content (Figures 3a–c).

The simpler layout also means less checking for our freelance editors and proofreaders. There are no margin elements to crosscheck, and glossary terms and references are consolidated at the chapter level (rather than in large lists at the end of the book). This also means that pages can be checked off progressively in batches, rather than requiring the entire book.

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Figure 3a: Single-column layout of print

Figure 3b: Single-column layout of ePub

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Figure 3c: Single-column layout of online course

Videos and interactive media

As previously stated, we at Wiley find digital innovation exciting for the publishing industry. Evolving technological developments present us with new ways to both create and edit content as well as to publish it in formats that are engaging for our customers and clients. Content does not need to be presented as text and an image on a page. Instead, with videos, audio files and interactives, we bring the concepts to life and present them to the student in a format that aids learning.

Both the School and Higher Education Editorial teams are centrally involved in the production of our videos and interactives — but we are not media developers, and we do not build the media ourselves. What we do is edit the briefs and review the built video or interactive. So, instead of reviewing a marketing text on a printed page, we might be reviewing the same content chunked into bite-sized pieces for online consumption. Instead of editing a 200-word practical nursing case study, we might be editing a script for a choose-your-own adventure animation that asks students to make real-world clinical decisions.

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When editing a media brief, editors need to look at more than just the text as they would for a printed book. Important questions need to be considered, such as the following.

• Are the instructions clear for the media developer to follow?

• Is it clear what elements of the script are descriptions and instructions for the media developer and what elements are character dialogue or voice-over?

• Is there superfluous information that can be deleted?

• If I was a student viewing this animation, would the content and questions make sense? Would I know what to do?

• Does the voice-over script sound natural?

We then review each animation, video or interactive after it has been produced. This involves comparing the brief to the animated elements, keeping an eye out for anything that may have been misinterpreted, proofreading the subtitles and other on-screen text and listening to the voice-over to ensure that the artist has correctly pronounced technical terms.

If we haven’t yet convinced you that these are exciting times for editors, consider this still from one of our Higher Education branching animation sequences. In these animations, the student is presented with a scenario they are likely to encounter in real life (Figure 4a). They can then choose between two options (Figure 4b), and each choice (branch) leads to a new animation scenario with two further choices and outcomes (Figure 4c). They will then receive detailed feedback on the path they have chosen — not just whether the answer is right or wrong (Figure 4d).

Figure 4a: Still from a Higher Education branching animation problem (Midwifery 1e)

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Figure 4b: Option 1 screen from a Higher Education branching animation (Midwifery 1e)

Figure 4c: Option 2 screen from a Higher Education branching animation (Midwifery 1e)

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Figure 4d: Result screen from a Higher Education branching animation (Midwifery 1e)

Skills for freelancers

In a rapidly changing digital world, a willingness to have a go at working on digital products will put freelancers ahead of the pack. In particular, as educational publishers we highly value the following skills in freelancers.

The ability to format styles in Word. With the move to a simpler design, we no longer provide a sample chapter to our typesetters — this means that Word files must be styled correctly to ensure that the typesetter completes the layout correctly and with minimal instruction. Our Production Editors can certainly help with checking over styles when the edited manuscript is submitted, but they don’t have time to style the whole thing in-house — we rely on freelancers to do this as part of the editing process. We find that some freelancers need to develop their skills and confidence in this area.

A basic understanding of spreadsheets. We don’t need freelancers to understand complicated spreadsheet formulas. However, we do need them to understand how to complete a basic spreadsheet in the same way they would a table in Word. We ask freelancers to use ‘fill in the blanks’ spreadsheets to complete permissions logs, as well as sometimes helping us to map digital assets for our courses.

The ability to use simple PDF mark-up. With the move to digital, we’ve stopped printing out pages for authors, editors and proofreaders. We now mark corrections exclusively on PDF and need all corrections to pages to be submitted in this format by freelancers. PDF mark-up is very easy to do (much easier than using styles or track changes in Word!), but we understand that this is new for some freelancers. For this reason, we are happy to provide step-by-step instructions for PDF annotation to anyone willing to give it a go.

An understanding of the digital environment. Even when the content is edited and proofread in traditional formats like Word and PDF, we still ask freelancers to have a

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basic understanding of how the content will be delivered. This could mean understanding the platform (such as course and ePub), or the format (such as video or interactive). Content should always be reviewed with this at the forefront of all editorial decisions.

The willingness to work in digital platforms. In Higher Education we don’t currently ask freelancers to check our ePubs and courses created from our textbook content, as the content has already been signed off in the paged format. We instead ask external vendors to conduct QA checks. However, the School team creates native digital content that needs to be edited and/or proofread in the digital platform, and the Higher Education team may also have a requirement for this work soon as well. The willingness to learn about and undertake such work, with guidance from us, increases the likelihood of getting the job.

The willingness to review interactive media scripts. Sometimes we need to outsource overflow work like editing scripts for media (such as branching animations); currently, these jobs are going to freelance editors who may have been in the industry only a couple of years but are flexible in the types of work they are willing to take on. Freelancers don’t need any technical skills for this work, as scripts are edited in Word — they just need to have an understanding of how they should be structured for a digital environment.

The willingness to undertake self-directed learning. As we’ve already said, we don’t expect freelancers to know all the technical aspects of digital publishing. However, we recommend freelancers familiarise themselves with instructional design, ePub workflows or course platforms like Canvas. These are lots of great online training resources for minimal cost, such as Lynda.com (which we use in-house at Wiley).

Conclusion

Hopefully we haven’t made the move to digital publishing sound too scary — after all, just like our freelance editors, in-house staff have had to learn new skills and move with the times as well!

Acknowledgements

We extend our sincere thanks to Simon Gauldie, Director, Australian Content Management, for always encouraging us to explore new ideas and workflows. We also acknowledge the valuable contribution of our teams in the Higher Education, School and Professional Development divisions.

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