Editing is a precise and difficult task that involves a close collaboration between the editor and the author. The editor is required to show creative ability, communication skills, accuracy and people management abilities in his work. There are editors in every world and it is common for there to be different types of editors in one field. So what are the different types of editing?
The print media cannot function without editors. There are various editorial positions in this world starting with the editorial assistants who subsequently report to the senior editors. The top editor in many of these organizations is frequently given the title of executive editor or editor in chief. One of the most common forms of editing in the publishing world is copy editing. They correct grammar and check the document for spelling mistakes. They make sure that the written material conforms to the house style. In some newspapers and print organizations it is common for copy editors to work on the headlines and take part in other content development work. While some organizations give the tag of copy editing to these people, others refer to them as sub editors. There are also many freelance editors who work for publishing companies and quite a bit of the work is also outsourced to them. There are also editors who specialize in organizing anthologies and compilations. They are responsible for making a collection of the definitive editions of the greatest works of an author. This is known as scholarly editing. There are also other types of editors who are known as a symposium editor or a volume editor who handles all the contributions made to a book written by various authors.
One of the specialized areas in this field is technical editing. It involves reviewing text written on a particular technical topic. While it involves all the standard aspects like checking for grammatical mistakes and misspellings, it differs from standard editing in the sense that it requires the reviewer to possess a high level of technical knowledge in the subject. The person editing the text would probably be required to have greater knowledge on the topic than the writer so that he can check for incorrect scientific terms and technical inconsistencies. This kind of editing is commonly found in the IT industry where manuals and documents are written describing how certain kinds of software and hardware are to be used by professionals as well as by the layman.