I am very pleased to bring you the point of view of one of Australian’s fantastic small press editors. Small press editors and publishers usually have other full time jobs as well as operating a press. Also, the tend to do everything involved with publishing, unless they have help from partners, relatives, interns and friends who cannot escape fast enough. In my opinion, they do it more for love than the money. I thank Keith Stevenson for his time in answering the editing questions.
Keith Stevenson is the publisher with award-winning Australian independent press coeur de lion publishing (www.coeurdelion.com.au). Here Keith edited Aurealis Magazine, Australia’s longest running science fiction and fantasy magazine, from 2001 to 2004. He’s been a convenvor and judge in the Aurealis awards more times than even he remembers. He was also the producer and presenter of the Terra Incognita Speculative Fiction podcast (www.tisf.com.au), featuring the best Australian speculative fiction read by the authors who created it. He lives in Wollongong, where all the coolest Australian spec fic editors live. He edits speculative fiction and nothing else.
Why did you become an editor?
KS: I really got into grammar when I was doing the professional writing and editing course at TAFE. The grammar class ran for the whole year and the guy who taught it was this huge white ex-pro basketball player who had a really dry wit and actually made grammar intriguing and fun. As a writer I understood the importance of self-editing to make your work as presentable as possible for publication. Then I got involved in slush pile reading for Aurealis Magazine and when the editing gig came up I jumped at it.
What is the most important aspect of your editing role?
KS: Helping the author to make their work sing – and pointing out the obvious errors in the work which the author can’t see because they’re too close.
Which areas of editing to you find the most enjoyable?
KS: The structural edit phase because your partnering with the author in the creative process. My best experiences have been when I and the author have just been sparking ideas off each other both working to make the story better.
In your view can editing be taught?
KS: The nuts and bolts of editing can be taught, for sure. But I think there’s a talent in seeing beneath the story to the underlying structure and dramatic thrust and being able to suggest improvements that bring that into sharper focus.
How do you define the editing role?
KS: Well there’s the structural author partnering element I talked about before. Then there’s the fact checking and typo fixing that come during copyedit and final proofing to make sure no errors have been introduced during the final layout.
What do you look for when employing an editor or working with an editor?
KS: Working in genre it’s important that there is a degree of familiarity with the subject matter, the tropes etc. It’s also good to feel that the editor is interested in your work, can see the potential and can also – politely but candidly – point out its faults.
What areas of editing do you find most challenging?
- · project management,
- · copy editing,
- · proofing, promotion,
- · marketing,
- · dealing with authors,
- · dealing with acquisitions?
KS: As a one man show I don’t have much trouble with any of those, except marketing. It’s hard to get the message out there strongly enough to cut through.
What do you find rewarding about editing?
KS: Making good fiction.
Do you have any advice to aspiring editors?
KS: Read lots and don’t think you know it all. And remember, the work belongs to the author. It’s not yours to do with as you will.
For new entrants to the market, where is a good place to start in the editing field?
KS: Volunteering for magazines or journals is great.
And while we are at it, we should plug Keith’s latest anthology, Anywhere But Here. After three attempts I managed to get a story in there.
Donna Maree Hanson, Author, Phd in Creative Writing 
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