Editing Copy editing (section)

== History ==
The biggest difference between monastic copyists and copy editors is that copy editors leave edits as suggestions that can be rejected by the writer. These printing houses established procedures for editing, preparing the text, and proofreading the first typeset [[galley proof]]s. Specialist correctors ensured that texts followed the standards of the time.<ref>Hellinga, Lotte (2009). ''The Gutenberg Revolutions A Companion to the History of the Book'', p. 211. Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford. {{ISBN|9781405192781}}.</ref>

After the globalization of the [[book]] from 1800 to 1970 came the rise of American writers and editors. One editor in particular, [[Maxwell Perkins]], was sought out by writers such as Fitzgerald, Hemingway, and Wolfe because he greatly improved the work of these prominent authors with his editorial eye. Perkins was known for editing, guiding, and befriending his writers – but the times were changing.<ref name="Luey, Beth 2009 p. 369">Luey, Beth (2009). ''Modernity and Print III: The United States 1890–1970, A Companion to the History of the Book'', p. 369. Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford. {{ISBN|9781405192781}}.</ref>

In the late 19th century, the role of an editor was to decide if a manuscript was good enough to be published. As time passed, the role of an editor and [[publisher]] became more distant. Although there was a newfound relationship between editors and authors, thoughtful editing did not end.<ref name="Luey, Beth 2009 p. 369"/>

Copy editors were employed at various publishing houses, magazines, journals, and by private authors seeking revisions to their work. Some copy editors were even employed by [[public relations]] and [[advertising]] firms who valued strong editing practices in their business.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Harrigan|first1=Jane R.|last2=Dunlap|first2=Karen Brown|title=The Editorial Eye|date=2003|publisher=Bedford/St. Martin's|isbn=9780312152703|page=387|edition= 2nd}}</ref>

The symbols used by copy editors today are based on those that have been used by proofreaders since the beginnings of publishing, though they have undergone some changes over time. However, the exact beginnings of the copyediting language used today are unclear. Despite its long history, copyediting as a practice has not experienced any extreme upheaval other than the desktop publishing revolution of the 1980s. This phenomenon began as the result of a series of inventions that were released during the middle of this decade, and refers to the growth of technology usage in the field of copyediting.<ref name="History Design.">{{cite web |url=http://www.designtalkboard.com/design-articles/desktoppublishing.php |title=History of Desktop Publishing |publisher=DesignTalk |access-date= March 19, 2016}}</ref><ref name="Book Publishing.">
{{cite web |url=http://www.bookediting.ca/timeline.html |title=Book Editing Looks at Developments in the History of Book Printing and Publishing |publisher=The Authors Guild |access-date=March 19, 2016}}</ref> Namely, the development of the [[Xerox Star]] computer, with its [[Viewpoint desktop environment]] and the [[Xerox Character Code Standard|Xerox multilingual character code]] (the precursor of [[Unicode]]); as well as others, such as the [[Mac (computer)|Macintosh]] computer, the [[HP LaserJet|desktop laser printer]] by Hewlett-Packard, and software for desktop publishing called [[PageMaker]] allowed the revolution to begin.<ref name="History Design." /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3401200365.html |title=Desktop Publishing |author= Allen Renear |publisher= The Gale Group Inc. |year=2002 |access-date= March 19, 2016}}</ref> By allowing both individuals and publishing agencies alike to cheaply and effectively begin to edit compositions entirely on-screen rather than by hand, desktop publishing revolution morphed copyediting into the practice it is today. Most copy editors today rely on more modern [[WYSIWYG]] (what you see is what you get) text processors such as Microsoft Word that are based on the original PageMaker to do their work.

There were a few events that led to changes within copyediting as a career. One of these, the successful strike of the editorial department of the ''Newark Ledger'' from November 17, 1934, to March 28, 1935, was "the first major action of its kind by any local guild ... [it] both confirmed the irreversibility of the guilds' movement away from the professional association idea and greatly accelerated that process".<ref name="Toward Unionization: The American Newspaper Guild and the Newark Ledger Strike of 1934–35.">{{cite journal |title=Toward Unionization: The American Newspaper Guild and the Newark Ledger Strike of 1934–35 |journal = Labor History|volume = 11|pages = 3–22|author=Daniel J. Leab |publisher=Tamiment Institute |doi = 10.1080/00236567008584104|year = 1970}}</ref> Paired with another string of strikes led by The New York Newspaper Guild against a number of smaller newspapers in the summer of 1934, these actions served to shift the image of the editorial worker as a "professional" to one as an average citizen.<ref name="Toward Unionization: The American Newspaper Guild and the Newark Ledger Strike of 1934–35." /> Another strike from the year 1934 was the strike at the Macaulay Company, reportedly the first-ever strike to occur at a publishing firm. At the conclusion of the second Macaulay strike, which occurred three months after the first, the nationwide drive towards unionization had entered the publishing industry and was "sweeping through all the major publishing houses".<ref name="Women Writers in the United States: A Timeline of Literary, Cultural, and Social History">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yqi0x7BEvCoC&q=macaulay+newspaper+strike+1934&pg=PA251 |title=Women Writers in the United States: A Timeline of Literary, Cultural, and Social History |author=Cynthia J. Davis, Kathryn West |publisher=Oxford UP |year= 2006 |access-date=March 19, 2016|isbn=9780195358124 }}</ref> As these events seemed to have the secondary result of lowering the status of editors across the various publishing fields, it could be said{{Weasel inline|date=June 2023}} that they sparked the decline of copy editors, which can be seen across the publishing fields today.
 
Owing to the rise of the [[Digital Age]], the roles and responsibilities of a copy editor have changed. For instance, beginning in 1990, copy editors learned pagination electronically.<ref name="digital age">{{cite thesis |last=Avery-Ahlijian|first=Angela Anne. |date=2011|title=Copy Editing in the Digital Age: How Technology Has Changed Copy Editing |publisher=Eastern Michigan University |url=http://commons.emich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1252&context=honors |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230908075907/https://commons.emich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1252&context=honors |archive-date= Sep 8, 2023 }}</ref>{{Page needed|date=April 2016}} They could now look at multiple pages of a text on multiple screens and easily make their edits in that environment, as opposed to pasting physical paper cut-outs onto a board by hand. This technological advance also required that copy editors learn new software such as [[Adobe InDesign]], [[QuarkXPress]], [[Affinity Publisher]] or [[Scribus]].

Modern copy editors are often required to edit for digital as well as print versions of the text. Digital copyediting requires copy editors to understand [[RSS feed]]s, [[social media]] (such as Twitter and Facebook), and [[HyperText Markup Language|HTML]].<ref name="digital age" /> What should be accounted for is that, in this digital age, information is constantly being released, which has led to a decline in the editing of the online versions. Editors of the website [[BuzzFeed]] commented that sometimes they "simply can't get [to] every post before it's published".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ajr.org/2014/05/13/copy-editors-digital-media/ |title=Copy Editors Carve Niche in Digital Media Landscape |author= Dan Appenfeller |date= May 13, 2014}}</ref>
While copy editors still do traditional tasks such as checking facts, grammar, style, and writing headlines, some of their duties have been pushed aside to make way for technology. Some copy editors now have to design page layouts and some even edit video content. Copy editors are now sometimes referred to as "copy/layout editors" or "producers/designers".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.copydesk.org/blog/2013/06/01/editing-job-losses/ |title=A look at the numbers: Editing job losses in the newsroom |author=Fred Vultee |date=June 1, 2013 |access-date=April 19, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160809022924/http://www.copydesk.org/blog/2013/06/01/editing-job-losses/ |archive-date=August 9, 2016 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref>