In the world of print materials production, there are a wide range of roles and different production editor jobs. Some of the many different production editor jobs include proofreaders, junior editors, and copy editors. For online publishing, some production editors work as desktop publishing editors, and technical editors. With academic work, production editors serve as scholarly editors, symposium or volume editors, manuscript editors, sponsoring editors, acquisitions editors, commissioning editors. In management ranks there are editors-in-chief and executive editors, while some work as freelance editors.
These roles are important for the efficient production of print publications and books.While the titles vary by the type of duties performed and the works checked, the work that is performed by different production editor jobs is very similar and produces books and publications that are proofread and thoroughly checked for content, grammar, spelling, form, and copy rights.
Production editors with various jobs are responsible for work flow at publishing houses. For example, when a manuscript for a new book is first received, the work is thoroughly evaluated by a team of junior copy editors for a period of time before it passes to higher level production editors. Once the work passes through this process, it is once again edited for content and form and more changes are made by more senior production editors. As the work gets updated, the author is consulted often to make sure that the content of the manuscript retains its integrity and that the overall meaning or artistic appeal of the written work is not lost during this process.
Since the early 1980s, many publishing houses have chosen to keep only executive level editors on staff and to outsource a great deal of the production editing and book proofreading to cut down on the need for in-house junior editors or copy editors. This has led to the increase in the availability of different production editor jobs and projects that can be managed independently and supervised on a freelance basis. Freelance production editors, proofreaders, and copy editors are often called upon to “ghost write” sections of the work in order to speed up the process so that books, magazines, and novels can be published sooner. This increases the amount of print publications that can be produced which in turn increases revenues.