We’re pleased to announce that John Yip-Chuck will join the Editors’ Association of Canada (Editors Canada) as executive director, effective October 17. John is a senior business administrator with over 20 years’ experience in the publishing industry in Canada as a writer, editor, program manager, managing editor and publisher. He was also a member of the association in the 1990s to early 2000s.
Please join us in welcoming John back to Editors Canada next week. In the meantime, please see below for a message from our incoming executive director.
“I owe everything I am to my parents, the Queen and Pierre Elliott Trudeau.”
Most of you have probably seen some variation of the statement above. When I interviewed for the position of executive director for Editors Canada, the hiring committee asked me why I thought I would be a good candidate for the position. My first response was that I am one of you—an editor at heart. (Of course what I mean to say in that phrase above is that the people who made the greatest impact in shaping the person that I am were my parents, the Queen, and Pierre Elliott Trudeau—somewhat, not really, and quite a bit, actually.)
You know that extra space between two words that you marked for correction in first pages, but still appeared in final pages about to be sent to the printer? You wonder if you should point out the offending space for the sixth time, knowing it could take up the whole afternoon to go through all the channels to get it fixed and might throw off the already late deadline another day. You also know that if you ignore it and let it go, you will have cold sweats about that extra space for the rest of the day and you will be tossing in bed all night thinking about it. I feel your pain.
But truth be told, I was never much more than a mediocre copy editor. I was more interested in the broader strokes of the information I dealt with. At the beginning of my career in publishing I was lucky to have landed a rare entry-level, in-house position as an editor at a legal publishing house, where I wrote for and edited three monthly newsletters and their complementary subscription guidebooks. During my first half-dozen years in the industry, I honed my editorial skills, taking every workshop offered by Editors Canada, while also pursuing a certificate in publishing at Ryerson University.
My publishing career eventually brought me to educational publishing at Pearson Education, where I was a math and science editor, and then Nelson Education, where I was a science developmental editor and project manager. The latter half of my in-house corporate publishing career saw me take on more business roles as the science publisher of grades 3 to 12 science resources for Canadian schools. And for the past six years or so, I have worked off and on as a freelance editor and project manager, so I am now familiar with the joys and frustrations of being both an in-house and a freelance editor.
But thankfully your national executive council (NEC) did not hire me for my editorial prowess, but more so for my senior management and administrative skills. In addition to helping your NEC implement the association’s strategic plan, it is my objective as your new executive director to help you acquire more work, to help you get paid more, and to have your clients and employers appreciate your efforts even more than they currently do. And I hope that all members will continue to find great value in being part of your family of editorial colleagues in Editors Canada. I look forward to serving you.
Sincerely,
John Yip-Chuck
Incoming Executive Director
Editors Canada