Passionate People: Why Vivek Kumar Founded the Indian Copyeditors Forum

Passion is a big word. In my definition of passion, the innate, inherent desire is strong enough to push you forward with the initiative to work toward it. All of us want to do that one thing that’s special to us but we have several reasons (read excuses) why we don’t. Passionate people on the other hand are driven to move forward. They act on it despite those same several reasons that can be cited as a hindrance. They are a spark! One such person I came to know through LinkedIn is Vivek Kumar .

While LinkedIn may have suggested our connection based on the common field of expertise in copyediting, what stood out to me in his posts was his relentless and continuous effort to bring Indian copyeditors from across India and the world together in a forum for knowledge sharing under the umbrella of Indian Copyeditors Forum (ICF). For those who are not familiar with the group, this is a community for copyeditors in India for networking and sharing professional knowledge, expertise, and opportunities (https://linktr.ee/icf_2015). ICF has been growing in size and stature over the last few years.

Vivek’s efforts toward ICF are above and beyond his everyday work; it’s driven only by his desire to contribute and grow the professional community that he is part of. Such passion to share knowledge is inspiring!

To learn the “why” and “how” behind his efforts, and share information about ICF with my connections, I chatted with Vivek Kumar.

Q: Thank you, Vivek, for taking the time to chat with me. First of all, kudos to all your efforts in founding the Indian Copyeditors Forum! While networking and social media platforms are plenty these days, it still is a monumental task to bring people together for a good cause. Can you please tell us about what made you want to start this initiative? Where and how did it all start? How big is the group now?

A: I started Indian Copyeditors Forum (ICF) because I could not find any such community of editors in India. In June 2015, I attended Editing Goes Global, the first international conference for editors organized by Editors Canada in Toronto. I met several editors from around the world there and those three days were among the best days of my life. Once I was back, I was determined to start a group for editors in India. ?I started a Facebook group by the name Indian Copyeditors Forum on June 28, 2015.

ICF currently has 2930 members on Facebook, 1791 on WhatsApp, and 958 on LinkedIn and the number continues to grow.

Q: I started my career in the publishing industry as a copyeditor in Chennai, India, in 2001, and to my knowledge we did not have any such organization back then for copyeditors. The industry has grown steeply in the last 20 plus years with the expansion of business process and knowledge process outsourcing. Can you tell us about the copyediting talent pool in India and the maturity of the profession with time? When you suggested the idea of ICF to the copyeditors’ community in India, how was it received?

A: The editing talent pool in India is huge and quite matured. There is a large community of freelance editors in India. These are experienced editors who decided to chart out their own path once they had enough experience under their belt. Many freelance editors also manage teams of copyeditors working with them. They are serious about continuous professional development and are members of editing associations from across the world such as Editorial Freelancers Association, Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading, European Association of Science Editors, and Board of Editors in the Life Sciences.

Even experienced in-house editors are part of ICF, and we have had ICF meetings at companies that are into copyediting (Cactus in Mumbai and Paper True in Pune have always welcomed us to conduct joint workshops for their team members and ICF members).

Well, I did not suggest the idea of ICF to anyone. I just formed the group on Facebook, added those I knew, and they in turn added those they knew. We had a series of quick meetings, and everyone fell in love with ICF.

Q: I have had the privilege to be part of two great American professional associations that have the purpose of sharing technical knowledge in their respective fields, SPE and ISACA. They are the knowledge leaders in their fields and provide a thriving ground for professionals to grow in their career and share their expertise with the next generation of upcoming professionals. They carry the torch forward for the industry to grow. Looking at their history, they started small, with a handful of professionals from the industry coming together to capture, codify, and share the knowledge that they have for the greater good of the profession. That’s the excitement I feel when I watch ICF grow. What are the notable programs ICF has launched recently to support copyeditors, and can you share about the opportunities that it created for copyeditors to get involved?

The most notable ICF program is the 4-book series for editors that we launched in 2021. Discover the Editor in You: Copyediting as a Career, the first book in the series, was published this June and is doing great. We are working on the second book, A Beginner’s Guide to Copyediting, and are aiming to publish it in January 2024. This will be followed by All About Working as a Freelance Editor and Finding Your Editorial Niche.

We launched a Jobs Database in December 2022, and it has helped a lot of ICF members get freelance as well as full-time jobs. ICF holds a weekly coworking online session every Tuesday and monthly formal and informal online meetings on the first or last Wednesday of the month; there are also 131 videos of webinars on the ICF YouTube Channel related to editing and travel—there are plenty of ways for copyeditors to get involved with ICF. Check out this link to join our social media groups: https://linktr.ee/icf_2015

Q: I enjoyed reading ICF’s recently published book Discover the Editor in You: Copyediting as a Career over the weekend. Two things stood out for me: 1. How comprehensive it is in covering the many types of copyediting and the in-depth guidance on copyediting techniques and nuances. 2. The impressive amount of editorial experience behind the authors and the editorial committee, which is reflected in the rigor and high quality of the information contained in the book. Is this all through volunteer efforts? Can you tell us about the process ICF used to ensure the editorial quality of the book.

Yes, the entire project, both the authoring and the editorial committee work (except copyediting for which we paid), was done pro bono. And the funds generated by the sales of this book will be used to build the ICF website and brand.

After forming the Editorial Committee (Ed Com), we invited proposals from editors from India and abroad to author chapters for the book. The proposals were reviewed by the Ed Com and the feedback was given to the authors. Then, arrived the first drafts, which were again reviewed and sent back to the authors for revisions. We thus had a cycle of either 2 or 3 drafts, and in some cases, we had to drop the chapters that did not meet the editorial standards that we had set for the book.

Then, the book was sent for developmental editing, and we had to move some chapters to the second book at the suggestion of the developmental editor. The book was then copyedited, proofs were shared with authors, author corrections were incorporated, corrected proofs were read, and the index was created. We followed a rigorous editorial workflow before publication to achieve the high editorial standard we had set for the book. This being our first project, we learned a lot in the process and are going to incorporate the learnings in the production of the subsequent books in the series.

[Vivek Kumar with members of the editorial committee of the book Discover the Editor in You: Copyediting as a Career: Top right: Abha Thapalyal Gandhi (chair), bottom row, left to right: Anupam Choudhury, Murugaraj Shanmugam, Preeta Priyamvada.]

Q: This book is intended for anyone who wants to build a career in copyediting. Is this intended for fresh out-of-college graduates, or will professionals from other fields interested in moving to copyediting also find this useful? Being one of them myself, I have seen many from engineering and life science fields want to move to copyediting for a career.

Yes, this is meant for fresh out-of-college graduates as well as those who are thinking of transitioning into a second career. The book gives an overview of the copyediting profession, with step-by-step discussions on how to learn to copyedit, where to look for work, and how to get a recognized credential in copyediting. Anyone new to the field will be able to benefit from the information and even experienced copyeditors will find a lot of value in the book. The section on Technique and Craft in the book delves deep into grammar, style, author queries, and fact-checking and can be a good refresher for experienced copyeditors. ?We compiled this book as a collection of experiences and guidelines on copyediting for a global readership and have made it available in India and internationally. You can find the links to order in each country here: https://linktr.ee/icf_2015. There’s also an option to buy it as an ebook.

Q: What are some future projects of ICF? If a copyeditor from India would like to get involved, what are some ways they can they do it?

A conference would be the cherry on the cake. I am very ambitious and optimistic when it comes to ICF, and I might go on an all-India book tour next year when our second book comes out.

There are so many ways that copyeditors from India and abroad can help us by volunteering their time and effort. We are on all major social media channels, and they can maintain our accounts on a rotating basis. They can help us by creating promotional materials (posters). The biggest help they can provide is coordinate events in different cities because meeting other editors face to face is the ultimate joy.

Best wishes, Vivek, to you and all the members of ICF for its growth and expansion into a registered professional society! Thank you for your time and your inspiring efforts, which shakes us out of our comfort zone and wants us to get up and make a move towards whatever it is that we like in our heart to do.

My Underlines

These are some of the interesting facts and definitions I underlined while reading the book Discover the Editor in You: Copyediting as a Career:

• With the advent of knowledge process outsourcing, by 2011 India was receiving 60% of the global outsourcing work in publishing.
• “The copyeditor reads what is conveyed in the lines and what is conveyed between the lines.”
• The Appendix "Courses on Copyediting" is a great collection. The table lists formal courses in editing, publishing and related fields offered by recognized organizations around the world. Great resource for anyone looking to learn copyediting or further their professional development.
• The copyeditor holds the responsibility to check and flag permissions and copyright issues.
• “The role of an academic publisher is now evolving towards a true academic partner to institutions (schools) and providing 360-degree solutions instead of being merely a product seller.”
• “‘Diction’ is word choice. Informal writing calls for informal diction and formal writing calls for formal diction. … The wrong diction can alienate a reader.”
• “Alt text is not the only aspect of accessible publishing but is just a part of it.”
• “The acceptable length of an index is 2%-5% of the number of pages of the book.”