interview

Kristine Hunt of Crystal Clear Copy Editing has been a freelance editor since 2001 and is also the chapter development chair for the Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA). 

How did you get into editing?

Julie Wildhaber has been an editor for 20 years. Currently she's with the Yahoo! Storytellers, part of Yahoo!’s corporate communications group. Previously, she was professional development program manager for Yahoo!'s central editorial team and was one of the creators of the Yahoo! Style Guide. Julie will be our instructor for next week’s audio conference, “Copyediting the Web, Part 1: Using the Yahoo!

Pam Nelson has been a journalist for 35 years. She is currently an editor at the McClatchy Publishing Center in Charlotte, N.C., and a blogger at The Grammar Guide on the American Copy Editors Society’s website. 

Tell us how you got into editing and a little about your current editing and blogging gigs. 

Katharine O’Moore-Klopf of KOK Edit has worked in publishing since 1984, spending the last 17 years as a freelance copyeditor. She is a board-certified editor in the life sciences who specializes in English as a second language (ESL) medical editing.

Jill Sulam has been a proofreader and editor for ten years. For the last three and a half, she has been a full-time freelancer and the owner of Transformations Editing.

How did you get into editing? What was your first editing job and what is your current position?

John McIntyre has been a working copyeditor for more than thirty years. He is currently night content production manager (night editor) at The Baltimore Sun, where he previously has been a copyeditor, slot editor, and copy desk deputy chief, chief, and director.

Maria Boyer has been editing professionally since 1984 and freelancing for the past 15 years (including for one longtime client for the last 10 years). She is a member-at-large on the board of the Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA). 

What do you find satisfying about your current freelance work? 

Mark Allen is a freelance editor and writer who has been editing for 30 years—since his high school newspaper days. Until 2009, all his experience was in newspapers, including ten years on the copy desk at the Grand Rapids Press and three at the Columbus Dispatch. 

What's your current editing gig and how long have you had it? 

Stacy Christiansen began editing right out of college and has been in medical editing for 15 years. She is a coauthor of the 10th edition of the AMA Manual of Style and has taught medical editing for the University of Chicago since 1999.

Jaime Sperling got into copyediting “by happy accident” while working at the American Museum of Natural History. She is currently a contract copyeditor for the College Board, a nonprofit organization that helps students and colleges connect, where she edits communications to students, parents, teachers, and other education professionals. 

Tell us about this happy accident that led to your copyediting career.