Follow these best practices to keep your Editor account in good standing
- Don’t lean solely on tools. Make sure the content reads well: Read it out loud from the start. While tools are excellent at catching grammatical mistakes, the technology isn’t perfect when it comes to structural flow and readability.
- Remember that you are the final line of defense on all jobs: What you’re delivering to the client is not a first draft. It should be publishable. This doesn’t mean that we expect you to predict any specific creative conflicts that might occur, but rather that the piece is grammatically and structurally sound, and free of filler. If the work were published today, would you consider it acceptable?
- Know when to send content back for revisions: As a best practice, if you need to edit more than 20% of the document, you should return it to the writer with detailed revision requests. Your revisions should include specific, helpful, actionable instructions. “The Grammarly integration shows 32 corrections, please fix them” is not helpful and does not constitute editorial action.
Refresh yourself on the responsibilities of a Scripted Editor: Remember: You are a proofreader, a copyeditor, a line editor, and a fact-checker.
A proofreader ensures the content is free of punctuation, spelling, and grammatical errors.
A copyeditor checks that the work adheres to the content brief/style guide and that all sources are properly cited and formatted.
A line editor guarantees the content is readable, engaging, natural-sounding, and free of any awkward phrasing.
A fact checker ensures that all facts and data listed in the content are from trusted sources and properly cited.
Scripted Editors are all expected to be all these things.
For Writers: editorial instructions are not optional. If you disagree with an edit, you’re welcome to ask for clarification in the job’s Messages. If the editor still insists on said edit, follow the instructions. If the customer says it’s wrong, it’s not on you! Keep jobs moving forward.
Remember, the above are not just suggestions. They’re requirements for every job you take on Scripted. Keep your account in good standing by incorporating these items into your workflow.
As usual, please reach out to support@scripted.com if you have any questions or concerns.