CSE General Meeting: Editing Digital Texts with Pamela Hewitt

Wednesday 29 March 2023

5.45 pm (on site for drinks and nibbles) 6.30 pm (talk and webinar)

Digital publishing is a moving target. Not only does the technology change but content on websites and apps is constantly updated, corrected, expanded or completely revamped, sometimes rapidly. Content may be accessed across multiple platforms, formats and devices, incorporating images, audio and video. It’s important for editors to develop the skills to navigate the evolving writing techniques and business models of the digital space.  

About the presentation

In this presentation, Pamela takes a critical look at what the gurus say, showcasing some landmark examples of digital presentation and suggesting practical means for editors to collaborate with clients, including publishers, organisations and writers. The focus of this presentation is editing for onscreen delivery but not technical aspects like tagging, markup languages or coding.  The presentation will cover:

• What the digital revolution means for publishing – blurred boundaries between processes, shorter chains of production and a device-agnostic approach
• Editing for digital audiences – how to handle the transition from print to screen, the rules and when to break them, chunking and linking, parallel content, rich assets and interactive texts
• Evolving business models – advances and royalties, self-publishing, digital rights management, partnership payments and crowd funding
• Brave new world – while acknowledging transferable skills, we'll consider new approaches to reading and marketing text, and emerging collaborative publishing models.

Pamela will also talk about innovations in interactivity from fiction, websites, blogs, vlogs, apps and enhanced eBooks, including video, audio and other media.Please join us for what promises to be an informative and interesting presentation. Bring your questions!
 

About Pamela

Pamela Hewitt is an accredited editor who has worked in publishing for over 30 years. After an in-house career in educational and academic editing, she established Emend Editing, a freelance practice specialising in fiction, memoir and narrative non-fiction. Many titles she has edited have won literary awards.