Real-Life Decision Making
You're working as an in-house book editor for an established publishing
company. An unpublished manuscript by a talented young writer crosses your
desk. The book is about a rather obscure subject that you just happen to be
passionately interested in: the history of piggy banks shaped like mailboxes.
You're very excited and dive right into the book. Your mind is racing with
ideas about how to present this book to your colleagues as a sellable product.
A small part of you realizes that it's too obscure of a subject to actually
work, but you're tempted to ignore that and go with your excitement.
Do you pitch the idea to your colleagues, or do you just enjoy the manuscript
for yourself and tell the writer you personally love it but can't do anything
with it?
"[Decision-making] skills are crucial every hour of the day, no matter
what you're doing," says Florida-based freelance book editor Laurie Rosin.
David Fuller is a newspaper copy editor who also works as a freelance book
editor. He says that on the proofreading level, editors have
to use decision-making skills in basic ways. They decide what guidelines to
follow when it comes to grammar, style, etc. But on a larger scale, decision-making
takes on greater importance.
"When it comes to deciding on which manuscripts to publish and which to
decline, the ability to make decisions is much, much more important," he says.
"This is very tough because it isn't just whether the manuscript is any good,
but whether the publisher will be able to reach the right market for it."
What do you do?