Put Your Money Where Your Mou- err Editing Skillz Is!

[Festivus]

This is one job I can say for certain that I would not want to have. It's thankless. People only notice your work when it's bad. Nobody says "Wow, amazing editing job on that last Forgotten Realms novel".

I catch errors all the time in game books from WotC, mostly from when they rely on spell check and don't actually stop to think if it makes grammatical sense, or worse yet, when it reads "See page xx"... the latter being inexcusable. You could GREP those sorts of things or standardize on the phrase (xx) so you can globally search for those things that need attention. But really, products of late I have to stop and wonder if anyone is even reading this stuff.

Yep, I have zero interest in that thankless job.

 

[MrMyth]

There is no reason that cannot still be done. Design them together, let the editors make sure they are both ready for print, send the starter product off to the printer and hold the finished follow up product for later printing.

The problem is that this means if, while you are hoding the follow up product for printing, you discover imbalances within it that need to be fixed, your options are:

1) Just give up, and let it be released with problems, or
2) Fix those problems, thus resulting in differences between it and the starter set.

Obvious neither of those is a good solution. The ideal would be for all products to be perfect all the time, but that isn't especially viable either. You could say that each product should just be held back for another few months to really make sure all possible issues are caught - but I imagine many errors will slip through even then, and there will be various costs to adding that extra time and work to the production cycle.

Now, I do think WotC could do a better job than they do now (and hope this new position helps!) But I'll still find it silly to see 'backseat-editing' comments like these where customers without any real knowledge of the production process are convinced by how easy it would be for WotC to fix all their editing problems, if they would only do it 'right'.

 

[pedr]

Why is everyone assuming editor=proof reader?

I get the impression this job is going to be about some form of management of fiction authors' projects. Perhaps this person will be spotting typographical errors in the writing received, but I don't think that's the main job. It doesn't even seem to be a 'make sure that the game products are cross-referenced/don't have rules missing/sections are in order' kind of job either.

 

[ExploderWizard]

Now, I do think WotC could do a better job than they do now (and hope this new position helps!) But I'll still find it silly to see 'backseat-editing' comments like these where customers without any real knowledge of the production process are convinced by how easy it would be for WotC to fix all their editing problems, if they would only do it 'right'.

When something has been done correctly in the past and is no longer being done in a satisfactory manner there are two possible explanations:

1) The creators/designers/developers just suck, or outright don't care about what they are producing.

2) The creators/designers/ developers care very much about their projects but another force beyond their control holds the power to make decisions that sink their best efforts into the black hole of low quality.


Since getting anywhere in the industry in the first place takes talent, ambition, and passion my guess is # 2.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

If you follow the search link you find that Wizards are hiring some other positions, including interesting enough a Software Develipement Manager and a Senoior Architect with a strong specification that the latter has games development experience. Specifically multiplayer games.

So I wonder what this means. Now i know there is an online version of magic but I know nothing about it as I have no interest.
So is this guy likely to be working on Magic Online or something new for D&D?

 

[mneme]

Why is everyone assuming editor=proof reader?

Because most people don't know the different between an editor and a copyeditor.

Copyeditors edit for grammer, spelling, consistency, and continuity (and for game products, making sure that rules constructs actually follow the rules).

Editors set direction, manage most aspects of publishing beyond the author (including interacting with the author) and edit for content and publishability.

Copyeditors are frequently contractors.

Editors are usually management.

 

[MrMyth]

When something has been done correctly in the past and is no longer being done in a satisfactory manner there are two possible explanations:

1) The creators/designers/developers just suck, or outright don't care about what they are producing.

2) The creators/designers/ developers care very much about their projects but another force beyond their control holds the power to make decisions that sink their best efforts into the black hole of low quality.

Or option 3 - things were just as bad in the past, and things were no different than they are now. Admittedly, I'm basing that on my own experience, which is largely with the last 10-15 years of products, so there may have been an earlier time frame free from footnotes like "See ToEE page xx" lingering in the text, or various small issues with math and spelling, let alone balance issues with mechanics.

Of course, I do recall the classic tale of "dawizard" from older books, so... I'm still not sold that there has been some sudden recent drop in quality, or that there is any simple mechanic that is readily available to prevent this sort of mistakes from being made.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Why is everyone assuming editor=proof reader?

Because most people don't know the different between an editor and a copyeditor.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the job description included some copyediting.

A Book Editor working on books is responsible for the story editing, developmental editing, and copyediting of a book product, and for its preparation for publication.

And

A Book Editor is responsible for recruiting new authors, working closely with new and existing authors to suggest revisions for drafts, line edit manuscripts, maintain and develop series, proofread galleys, and otherwise prepare text for publication.

(BTW...notice how the verb tense varies in the second quoted sentence? All the missing "ings?" They need help!)

 

[ExploderWizard]

Or option 3 - things were just as bad in the past, and things were no different than they are now. Admittedly, I'm basing that on my own experience, which is largely with the last 10-15 years of products, so there may have been an earlier time frame free from footnotes like "See ToEE page xx" lingering in the text, or various small issues with math and spelling, let alone balance issues with mechanics.

Of course, I do recall the classic tale of "dawizard" from older books, so... I'm still not sold that there has been some sudden recent drop in quality, or that there is any simple mechanic that is readily available to prevent this sort of mistakes from being made.

If you are not too familliar with somewhat early product (pre 2E certainly) then you can't really compare product quality with any accuracy.

Were there editing errors in early products? Yes of course there were but the major issue I was speaking about here really wasn't specifically an editing one. Overall quality control has gotten worse by far even by the standards of a mere 10-15 years ago. In 1983 TSR did not in fact produce a starter product that was rendered incompatible with the rest of the material which followed it so I have to call BS on any claim of things being "just as bad in the past". I have been buying products since 1981 and the further back I go the more satisfying and enduringly useful these products seem to be (IMHO on average-there are some exceptions).

 

[MerricB]

There is a problem with the thread's title: I don't want to put my money down, instead I want them to give me money for my editing skills!

It's very nice to see Wizards of the Coast hiring.

Cheers!