The Editor's Toolbox: A Reference Guide for Beginners and Professionals

With The Editor's Toolbox in hand, no novice or professional newspaper editor--or any other editor, for that matter--need muddle his way through the workday. "We have written this book," say authors Buck Ryan and Michael O'Donnell, "to be a lifeboat for anyone on the high seas of publishing." Hop aboard for an intense voyage. The book launches with a detailed, inside look at a daily newspaper (the Lexington, Kentucky Herald-Leader) covering a top story (Clinton's impeachment trial). From there it moves on to news values, quotations, language skills, line and big-picture editing, libel avoidance, statistics handling, headline writing, and Ryan's "Maestro Concept." The Maestro Concept involves thinking like readers and bringing all the participants in a story (reporter, assigning editor, managing editor, photo editor or designer, etc.) together from the start. Worksheets throughout allow you to practice each element of the editing process. --Jane Steinberg