Today, we’re talking about editing. Both of us have been involved in editing a book, one a couple of years back (and currently in the middle of another editing job), the other just about finishing the first book editing job. So we’re both quite fresh to the role. And entertained, and exhausted. It wasn’t quite what we thought it would be, but we were determined to explore how an edited book – typically, a ‘handbook’ to be targeted at university libraries – can work better, or worse. Reading handbooks, before jumping into the editors’ pool, I noticed that some were overedited – the editors had such control of the contributing authors, that they seemed to have been made to submit, and the editor might as well have written the whole book themselves, and it would probably have been more interesting. At the other end of the spectrum, some edited handbooks are so loosely edited, that they are merely a collection of different (possibly really interesting) chapters with no connection to each other and no additional value in being in a book. What I liked most was one that retained the original voices of each of the contributing authors, but then added a book-level narrative (by the editor) that made the collection more than just the sum of its chapters. This was a matter of curation of the chapters, their ordering, the introduction to and if possible conclusion to the book (written by the editor), along with the index, a clear title, and so on. The gift of references, too, and a narrative flow across the book that doesn’t deny the distinctiveness of each contributor.

All of that means a lot of fluidity (not always liked by contributors, editors, or publishers, but absolutely necessary), a lot of friendly negotiation (keeping talking to people is crucial), and a lot of imagination and creativity. As a contributor, the process is not quite the same as writing an article for a journal – as you are one actor amongst a set of actors in a play, rather than being a solo performer amongst other soloists. As an editor, the process can be unexpected, and you don’t get as much credit for the work as you might have hoped, but it is a joy to see an edited book published – a collective joy, and all the more joyful for that communality.

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