Power Plays, Collaboration, And Copy Editing:
Interdependence And Conflict Interaction In The
Copy Editing Process
Erin Stegman
Fall 2013 Senior Capstone Project Presentation
Project Mentor: Dr. Amy Rupiper Taggart
Special Thanks To:
DR. AMY RUPIPER TAGGART
DR. SUZZANNE KELLEY
AND
NEW RIVERS PRESS BOOK TEAMS AND AUTHORS
How the Copy Editing Process Works
• At traditional publishing houses, an acquisitions editor will solicit or receive and
unsolicited manuscript and decide that the subject area or storyline is worth
spending a large amount of time and money on.
• Senior editor will take over the project and first do substantive edits to the
manuscript
• Then sends it to the copy editor who will
• Fact check
• Read for inconsistencies
• Keep a style sheet
• Edit according to the Chicago Manual of Style or house style guide (or both)
• Copy editor and author send MS back and forth with approved or disapproved edits
until the MS is (virtually) error-free
• This is where the conflicts emerge…
Presentation Outline
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The conversation surrounding the idea of authorship
Research questions
Methods
Conflict categories
Author conflict example
How can this relationship be improved?
A Few Views on Collaborative Writing
• Traditional Views:
• Lunsford and Ede: Modern authorship is a “cultural construct”
(Singular Texts/Plural Authors, pg. 77)
• Hierarchal perspective of collaboration (Singular Texts/Plural Authors,
pg. 133)
• George Herbert Mead’s Collaborative Perspective on Rhetorical
Invention
• However, several theorists believe:
• Editors function as collaborators in the writing process of a text, as
they contribute largely to the overall meaning (M. Thomas Inge)
• Can also be viewed as co-authors
Research Questions
1. What are the most common conflicts occurring in the copy
editing process?
2. Which power plays or conflict strategies are being
implemented within these interdependent interactions?
3. Can collaboration theories be used to reduce or improve the
frictions in these relationships?
Why is this Important to English Studies?
• Chances are good that each of you will collaborate with other writers to
co-author a document
• Conflicts are inevitable
• You encounter the products of copy editing and co-authorship each and
every day
New Rivers Press and My Research Project
•
Publishing practicum course through MSUM
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Allows student copy editors to work with a
small literary press called New Rivers Press.
•
I am part of a book team that worked through
the semester to copy edit a novel manuscript.
•
Dr. Suzzanne Kelley approved my request to
contact book team members and authors to
use e-mail correspondence
•
Obtained permission through the use of
informed consent forms
•
Several of these e-mails serve as examples of
conflict interaction or successful collaboration
in the copy editing process
Initiated by Third Party
Initiated by Author
Initiated by Copy Editor
Conflict Category Chart
Inattention to voice
Unauthorized
changes
Disagreements over
the style /grammar
Ignorance
Poor communication
from one party
1. make changes
against the author’s
wishes
2. changing author’s
voice to match the
copy editor’s wishes
3. Sending the
manuscript back
1. Silent changes in
the track changes
function
2. Sending the
manuscript to the
typesetter without
speaking with the
author about
making certain edits
1. Copy editor does
not do adequate
research into the
manuscript’s subject
area
2. C.E. goofs and has
to start editing
process over
1. Freelance editors
are sometimes
unable to
communicate with
the author directly
2 Being ambiguous
about author’s tasks
1. Difficult and want
no stylistic changes
made
2. Go over the copy
editor’s head and
make a complaint
3. Exploding in
anger and make
threats
1. Wants to continue
making changes,
adding things while
the manuscript is in
the copyediting
stage
2. Change the e-file
once the manuscript
has begun edits
1. impose
consistency rules
against the author’s
wishes
2. Know a rule and
painstakingly apply it
3. Flouting the rules
of grammar to make
the author feel
incompetent
1. Formats the
manuscript in a way
that is
unconventional and
will not budge on it
2. Being difficult
because they’ve
been burned by bad
editing before
1. Ignorant of house
rules/Chicago
manual of style rules
2. ignorant of how
to prepare the
manuscript to be
published
3. May ask to skip
the copy editing
process/hired a
freelance editor out
of pocket
1. Author is unwilling
to listen or
negotiate
2. Not respectful of
the calendar or
production schedule
House rules trumping
author’s wishes
unless exceptions are
made
The senior editors do
not give adequate
feedback to the copy
editors
Other
1. Disagreements
over contracts,
rights, royalties, or
marketing tactics
2. Hiring of
Freelancers
3. Schedules of the
publisher and
author do not
match
Inattention to the Copy Editor’s and Publishing House’s
Wishes or Style Guides
BT: We only have a few questions for you, so rather than send you a manuscript
back labeled with them, I'm just going to ask them here because they are rather
small and few.
BT: This one does refer to the style overall. There are consistently double spaces
after periods throughout the collection, is this deliberate? I do know this is how
typing used to be taught (I even remember learning that,) so I wanted to know if
it was deliberate, or just an accidental habit and we should fix it.
AU: Yes, in the olden-times we did put two spaces after periods, so that's the way
all the poems are formatted. I think the convention--going from one space after a
period to two spaces after a period--is in flux right now, with some writers
(probably older) using the two spaces and some writers (probably younger) using
the one space. So I think it's fine to keep it with two spaces.
What’s going on here?
• Book team knows that Chicago Manual of Style mandates one
space between sentences
• Author believes that she is entitled to keep two spaces
because she is an “older writer.”
• The two interdependent parties must go through
differentiation stage to reach conflict resolution.
How can the author/copy editor relationship
improve?
Normative Model of Conflict Management
• Differentiation
• Preliminary understanding of
others’ point of view
• Acknowledge legitimacy of
other’s issues/must work
together
• Motivation to work through
conflicts
• Integration
• Search for common
ground/improve understanding
• Move toward possible solutions
• Implement resolution
How can the author/copy editor relationship
improve?
• Joanna Wolfe’s strategies
• Clarifying roles and
responsibilities up front in a task
schedule
• Including revision in the task
schedule and allow for plenty of
time to implement revisions
• Laying some ground rules for
conversation
• Putting aside time for revision
• Deciding in advance how
impasses (stalemates) will be
handled
• Establishing team priorities
Project Works Cited List
•
Folger, Joseph P., Marshall Scott Poole, and Randall K. Stutman. Working Through Conflict: Strategies for
Relationships, Groups, and Organizations. 6th Ed. Boston: Pearson, 2009. Print.
•
Fontaine, Sheryl L. and Susan M. Hunter. Collaborative Writing in Composition Studies. Boston: Cengage,
2005. Print.
•
Inge, Thomas M. “Collaboration and Concepts of Authorship.” Modern Language Association. 116.3 (2001):
623-630. Print. 28 October 2013.
•
Jacques, Kelly Chrisman. From Conflict to Concord: Copyeditors, Composition, and Technology. Diss.
University of Kansas, 2010. Lawrence, 2010. Print.
•
LeFevre, Karen Burke. Invention as a Social Act. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1986. Print.
•
Lunsford, Andrea and Lisa Ede. Singular Texts/Plural Authors: Perspectives on Collaborative Writing.
Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1992. Print.
•
----. “The Concept of Authorship.” Singular Texts/Plural Authors: Perspectives on Collaborative Writing.
Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1992. Print.
•
Saller, Carol Fisher. The Subversive Copy Editor. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009. Nook file.
•
Wolfe, Joanna. Team Writing: A Guide to Working in Groups. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2010. Print.
Works Cited for Images Included
Red pen: http://elspethcooper.com/blog/wpcontent/uploads/2010/12/red_editing_pen.jpg
Tracked Changes Example: http://www.google.com/search?q=track+changes&client
New Rivers Press: https://twitter.com/NewRiversPress
Team Writing: A Guide to Working in Groups:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=Team+Writing+A+Guide+to+Working+in+Grou
ps+by+Joanna+Wolfe+2009+Paperback&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=