Editorial Services Guide
By The Bay Area Editors' Forum

Editors and Publishing Today: Introduction

Publishing is the process of developing and illustrating a manuscript or script and producing a finished product. During the last few years, computer technology has transformed the process of producing every kind of printed communication; it has also opened the way for the invention of entirely new publishing media such as CD-ROMs and the Web. As a result, new opportunities abound in the publishing industry. On the other hand, so do challenges for editors and publishers seeking to maintain standards of quality.

Whatever the type or scope of a project, the guiding principle of publishing is to verify that each step has been executed accurately before the next step begins. The recent changes in publishing technology, however, can radically affect the techniques and stages by which that verification takes place. We will consider the advantages and pitfalls that those changes put in the way of editors and publishers.