Changing Roles Editors Play

As I've previously mentioned, the initial image of an editor for most people includes a person editing copy text or articles, red pen in hand. Yet, as society evolves, so does the mundane definition of an editor. Currently, we live in an age where technology rules everything we do. Most people get their news, media, and information from an online source, using their phone for the information. Computers and cell phones now come equipped with spell check and grammar notifications. There are even websites and apps devoted to giving corrections in real time, my favorite being Grammarly. With all of this smart, editorial technology, who really needs a human copy editor to scrutinize punctuation and sentence structure? Instead, most writers can rely on their tech to catch the big stuff. 

When I think about technology taking over for a grammatical editor, it actually makes me excited for the future of editorial jobs because editors get to blossom into something bigger. They can stop fussing over sentence structure and focus on the big ideas, the template of the page, or the visual and emotional appeal of the piece. Taking away the need to check for simple typing mistakes allows for the editorial role to evolve into a writers paradise where the delivery is at the forefront, not the actual writing (by writing I mean the grammar and spelling nuances, obviously if any of those are glaringly wrong the editor should step in, but hopefully that writer is using editing software to solve those concerns.) The editor can push the writer to deliver a clear message and in essence, build the writers brand. 

Coming back to technology's role, as a writer, you have to do more than just write to be relevant nowadays. Simply put, you must create a brand. You must be present on social media- twitter, instagram, facebook; you must create a website; you must travel and meet fans; you must respond to fans on social media; you must do tours and readings and..... I think you get the point. You have to be more than just your writing. Your writing will need to be good enough to get you to that level, but once you get there, you will need an editor to help you keep building your brand to remain relevant. While an editor's role has changed from copy text editing to helping individual authors create a brand, the skill of brand building can also do the same thing for a website, a company, a store, a news source, an artist, or a social media platform. Technology has changed editing from looking at the text to looking at web functionality and usability. Editors have become the architects of textual design. 

Even though the editor's role is changing, I will always hear "editor" and picture a writer with a stack of papers and a red pen in their hand. Maybe that will still be the staple of their work, but with the rush of technology and the discard of paper, editors have evolved to not only design textual works but to help build them.