From Green Line Account Manager Lindsey Graeber
Editing is often an overlooked, or even forgotten, aspect of the written world. While writing calls for creativity and marketing calls for strategic thinking, editing calls for time.
So, why not skip the proofreading, save a few minutes, and get back to the things that really matter? Because during those few minutes you save, you run the risk of devaluing your entire publication in an instant. And, more likely than not, even the most brilliant ideas cannot overshadow misspelled words. Readers will see typos and infer either laziness or lack of knowledge.
I agree with Merrill Perlman’s take below on the importance of copyediting. Although the process can be tedious and may at times seem pointless, if you have no glitches with your editing, it is probably because you take the time to do it. While forgoing editing might save time, the damage that can be done to your brand if you don’t is not worth the risk.
(Did you think we’d accidentally misspelled “America” in an article about copyediting? Read on to find out the whole story.)
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Why “Amercia” Needs Copyeditors
by Merrill Perlman via CNN
(CNN) – A Mitt Romney campaign app went viral because it urged people to stand “with Mitt” for “A Better Amercia.” An easy typo to make, but, you know, almost all typos are easy to make.
There might be some irony here, given the comment Romney made to the American Society of News Editors in April: “Frankly, in some of the new media, I find myself missing the presence of editors to exercise quality control.”
Romney, like so many others, needs a copy editor. And Romney, like so many others, is apparently working without one.
People reading newspapers and news sites can empathize. They’re seeing lots of typos, as well as errors of grammar, fact and logic — many more than they would have seen before news organizations decided that they did not need so many copy editors. No other job classification has suffered so many losses as the news business downsizes (except, perhaps, for classified ad takers, who have been craigsdelisted).
Click here to view the original article.
