News, events, tips and updates from Editors Canada
In this issue:
- TRAINING: Don’t miss our final webinars of 2024!
- NEW PUBLICATION: Edit Like a Pro: Structural Editing is coming soon
- MEMBER DISCOUNTS: Save 60% on the Literary Review of Canada
- ACADEMIC EDITORS: Coming soon: Communities of practice
- STUDENT RELATIONS: Upcoming social
- MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS: Visual metaphor campaign
- BOOST YOUR RESUMÉ: Get involved
- MEMBER NEWS: A round of applause!
- NEC: Notes from your national executive council
1. TRAINING: Don’t miss our final webinars of 2024!
The fall season is coming to a close, and so is our fall webinar season. You still have a chance to catch a live webinar with us this year if you check out our December sessions:
- Wednesday, December 4: Harness the Power of Neurodiversity to Maximize Your Potential as an Editor (Rhonda Kronyk)
- Tuesday, December 10: Editing Tables and Graphs (Kristen Hines)
Don’t miss out—use your 40% off member discount before the year ends! Register now on our webinars page, where you can also find past recorded webinars on topics like AI, networking, self-care strategies and much more.
Plus, January info sessions at SFU
Plan your professional development for the new year. Our friends at Simon Fraser University Continuing Studies will offer free online info sessions for all their communication programs in January. RSVP now to save your spot:
- Wednesday, January 8: Editing Certificate
- Thursday, January 9: Public Relations Certificate
- Tuesday, January 14: Technical Communication Certificate
- Wednesday, January 15: Plain Language Certificate
2. NEW PUBLICATION: Edit Like a Pro: Structural Editing is coming soon
The next volume in the Edit Like a Pro training series is nearly here! In early December 2024, Editors Canada will publish Edit Like a Pro: Structural Editing, which includes six exercises, each with a unique and realistic scenario, to improve your structural editing skills. It will be available for purchase through the association website.
Edit Like a Pro is a series of workbooks published by Editors Canada to help editors assess and improve their skills through hands-on editing practice. Edit Like a Pro: Proofreading is available now.
3. MEMBER DISCOUNTS: Save 60% on the Literary Review of Canada
With over 250 reviews per year, the Literary Review of Canada covers everything from history, fiction, science and politics to health, economics, poetry, culture, philosophy and biography. Plus, in every issue you’ll enjoy poetry from seasoned and emerging writers.
Subscribe now for one year—that’s 10 issues—for only $35!
Visit the member services section of the website to get this special offer for Editors Canada members and student affiliates.
Looking for other benefits of membership? Check out the Editors Canada member resources and member services pages.
Need help logging into the website?
Visit the member portal and click the “Click here if you forgot your password” link.
4. ACADEMIC EDITORS: Coming soon: Communities of practice
There are many ways to be an academic editor and to do academic editing: working in-house, freelancing or side hustling; supporting faculty, students, publishers, postsecondary institutions and journals; working on books, articles, dissertations, grant applications, patient materials or marketing—the list goes on and on.
To help all different kinds of academic editors to excel in—and to enjoy—your work, your Editors Canada / Editorial Freelancers Association Academic Editing Special Interest Group (SIG) is announcing a new initiative: communities of practice. Communities of practice bring together people with specific interests and niches within the broad field of academic editing, enabling us to discuss areas of common concern, engage in collective learning, and improve our skills, knowledge and editing practice.
The idea is that these communities of practice will enable people with specific interests, disciplines, clients or regional foci to interact regularly, share experiences, solve problems and maybe even perform advocacy work. Each community of practice will be able to decide for itself what it wants to be and do; as a SIG, we’ll provide the space for you to connect synchronously and asynchronously.
The first community of practice (CoP) to get up and running will be the Research Grants and Awards CoP, which will be led by Letitia Henville.
A Humanities CoP is also in the works and details will be announced soon.
For clarity: at this time, the Academic Editing SIG has not allocated a budget to these CoPs, so we’re not offering to pay y’all to host your own in-person retreat among the sequoias, to bring in paid speakers, or to attend niche conferences to represent the SIG. In the future, the SIG may be able to allocate some small budget line to CoP work, but in the short term, please anticipate that you will not be allocated any funding for your work.
Is there a topic or theme around which you’d love to connect with fellow editors? Are you interested in leading a CoP around this topic or theme? Please contact education committee chair Shifra Diamond to share your ideas and wishes.
Academic Editing SIG book club
Next meeting: Friday, February 21, 2024
10 a.m., PST / 1 p.m., EST
This meeting will not be recorded
We look forward to hosting a Q&A with Dr. Stephanie Evans to discuss her book Black Feminist Writing. Our host will be Dana Johnson of yourwordsonlybetter.com.
RSVP here.
Book club meetings are free for anyone to attend, but are focused on supporting editors of academic writing.
Upcoming books and meetings for 2025
- Friday, April 4: Elements of Indigenous Style, 2nd Edition
- Friday, June 6: Getting It Published: A Guide for Scholars and Anyone Else Serious about Serious Books
- Friday, September 19: The Chicago Guide for Freelance Editors
- Friday, November 21: Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words
RSVP information and meeting dates and times will be announced in the coming months; we’re letting you know our planned books now so you can get on the waitlist at your local library or order a used copy (when possible) through the mail. Discount codes for direct orders from publishers will be shared if/when they are made available. Stay tuned!
Watch the September 2024 Academic Editing SIG Book Club Q&A with Karen Yin of Conscious Style Guide on YouTube.
5. STUDENT RELATIONS: Upcoming social
The student relations committee will host a virtual student social on Sunday, December 8, at 4 p.m., EST. The theme of the social is mentorship, so join us to meet other student editors and chat about the Editors Canada mentorship program. Visit the student affiliates Facebook group for event details, or email the committee chair.
6. MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS: Visual metaphor campaign
Editors Canada plans to launch a “visual metaphor” campaign that brings visuals to the forefront in the organization’s communications approach. The overall purpose of this campaign will be to raise awareness of what editing is, what professional editors do, and how they can help to improve writing.
The campaign will be led by Editors Canada’s marketing and communications committee. The visuals created will be aligned with the association’s brand guidelines and will roll out on Editors Canada’s social media channels. Images of various sizes will be created for the different channels.
There will be potential to expand the visual metaphors or reword them, based on the campaign’s performance.
We need your input!
We’re seeking your help in two ways.
1. Do you know how to work with images? We’re looking for a volunteer to design these with us! Please send an email to communications-marketing@editors.ca if you’re interested.
and/or
2. Do you have any visual metaphor images that you feel could provide a good starting point for our work? If so, please send them to communications-marketing@editors.ca.
For reference, here’s an example of the style of image that we could consider. The image of a key and a book would help to convey the message that “Editing is the key to a good book.”
We look forward to hearing from you and thank you in advance for your collaboration!
Sincerely,
Sarah Higgins
Chair, Marketing and Communications Committee
Editors Canada
7. BOOST YOUR RESUMÉ: Get involved
Director of volunteer relations
As a volunteer-run organization, Editors Canada relies on the active involvement of its members. At any given time, hundreds of volunteers are working to keep our organization running and to support editors across the country. Our members serve on national and branch executives, organize our conferences and webinars, serve on committees and task forces, develop publications and maintain our professional certification program. In short, volunteers are essential for Editors Canada to function.
The director of volunteer relations position is vital in our association. The bulk of the director’s work revolves around overseeing the volunteer management committee, which helps to support the association’s many volunteers, and the member services committee, which maintains and arranges valuable benefits for Editors Canada members. According to a former director of volunteer relations, “an outgoing people person” would do well in this position!
If you’re driven to create rewarding volunteer experiences while gaining valuable professional development experience and growing your network with other editors across the country, and at different levels of the association, please contact Suzanne Aubin for more information.
2026 conference committee members
Want to help deliver a weekend of learning, networking and fun at Canada’s premiere conference for editors? We’ve started planning Editors Canada’s 2026 national conference and we’re inviting you to join the team! Volunteering on the conference committee is a great opportunity to network with fellow editors, gain experience in an evolving event-planning landscape, and help create the kind of conference you would love to attend!
The conference committee usually meets online once per month. The level of commitment varies depending on the position, but is generally about 5–10 hours, at most, per month. We’re looking for volunteers in the following areas:
- Communications
- Social media
- Speakers
- Sponsorship
- Local experience
- Vendor fair
- Volunteer coordinator
- Website
If you’re interested in helping to organize the next Editors Canada conference, fill out our conference committee volunteer application form. Email info@editors.ca if you have any questions.
John Eerkes-Medrano Mentorship Program
Are you a mid- to late-career editor interested in sharing your industry insights with a student or emerging editor? Become a mentor! We offer honorariums of up to $200 per mentorship to mentors in our national program. Please fill out this brief form if you are interested in becoming a mentor in the John Eerkes-Medrano Mentorship Program.
Looking for more volunteer opportunities?
If you want to volunteer for Editors Canada, check out VolunteerConnect, our resource for matching volunteers to tasks. You can use this searchable tool to
- find opportunities of interest to you
- list yourself as a potential volunteer
Volunteering lets you give back to your organization, but you also receive so much in return: experience, skills, contacts, friendships and a wonderful sense of accomplishment. Volunteer today!
8. MEMBER NEWS: A round of applause!
Stephanie Watterson (Editors British Columbia) has published a children’s book, Septopus. The book is available for purchase online through Amazon and Indigo.
Three Editors Canada members were recently profiled in a 30th anniversary brochure from PLAIN (the Plain Language Association International). Those members are Iva Cheung (Editors British Columbia), Greg Ioannou (Editors Toronto) and Gael Spivak (Editors Ottawa–Gatineau). The brochure, called “Celebrating 30 Years with 30 Members,” highlights the work of 30 plain language practitioners from around the world.
PLAIN was started by two Canadians: Cheryl Stephens and Kate Harrison Whiteside. While it started as a Canadian organization, it grew into an international group that strongly advocates for plain language writing and editing. Editors Canada has had a long relationship with PLAIN and supports its work. And two Editors Canada members are on PLAIN’s current board of directors: Nicole Watkins Campbell (Editors Atlantic) and Michelle Waitzman (Editors Toronto).
Editors Canada Member News is where we share information about members and affiliates who win awards, publish books and make their mark in other important ways.
Do you have an achievement you’d like to share? Are you excited about a new project or opportunity that has come your way? Let us tell the world all about it! Please send your stories to the member news coordinator.
9. NEC: Notes from your national executive council
The national executive council (NEC) met on Sunday, October 20, 2024. Topics of discussion included the following:
- The 2025 conference. The NEC has voted to not hold a conference in 2025. The discussion focused on timing, expenses and attendance. This will allow for more resources to be devoted to the 2026 conference.
- Edit Like a Pro: Structural Editing is in the final stages of production and is expected to be available for purchase in early December.
- Work on the strategic plan continues. The working group met in early October to review the work of the consultant and offer feedback.
- Other committees, like the training and development, certification steering and publications committees, are moving ahead with projects and offerings, such as webinars, certification exams and upcoming publications.
- We are looking for a volunteer to join us as the director of volunteer relations. If you are interested in joining our dynamic team and making a difference, please reach out!
The December e-news update will include a summary of the Sunday, November 10, 2024, NEC meeting.
Kaitlin Littlechild
President
The national e-news update is produced on behalf of the national executive council by the national office.