Jamaal Pittman: Being Neurotic, Letting Go, and Getting Confident as an Editor

OTB: How do you manage a team of 15 *and* copyedit?

JP: It takes a lot of organization, on top of prayer. It is kind of hard to manage 15 people, and I just try to plan everything out so that everybody has the best version of me and I get the best version of them. I can’t wing it. I tried to do that, and it always bites me in the butt. 

OTB: In the dedication and the book itself [The Copy Editor’s (Life)Style Guide], you talk a lot about self-worth and perfection versus humanity. Tell me a little bit about where that comes from. 

JP: I made no secret in the book that the early part of my career was filled with a lot of challenges. Some of it was the mechanics, but a lot of it was people, managers. There are often people who don’t necessarily see your value, and you’re not always treated the way that you feel you should be treated. 

There’s a very high standard for copyeditors to get things right all the time, but we’re human and we make mistakes. For some reason, in our careers, we’re treated like robots, which is not a good thing in those rare times we make a mistake, because the people around us don’t give us the grace that we deserve. We don’t give ourselves any grace either. 

I hope that this book starts a conversation about giving ourselves grace, about seeing our humanity outside of editing copy.

OTB: You also cover working with non-editors. What’s the best situation you’ve had with people outside the editing team?

JP: At a previous job, I worked on a team of really great people who all got along with each other because the tone was set by our manager. Because she trusted us to do a great job and treated us almost as peers, it created the best possible working environment, where you had all these people who had such a huge range of talent but were also kind people who enjoyed this company. When there were issues, we were able to talk through them, maybe have some humor associated with the frustration, and it just got us through. 

As a manager, I try to do that same thing. I try to set a positive tone, so people feel like they have a safe space where they can talk about their work — and sometimes things outside of their work.

I hope that this book starts a conversation about giving ourselves grace, about seeing our humanity outside of editing copy.

OTB: You say the best time for us to cultivate our relationships with writers is when we’re editing them. This interested me, because when I go into a project, I don’t think, “Oh, I’m working on a relationship.” How do you work with writers?

JP: Copyeditors at Capital Group don’t make the change directly in the document. We add comments in Workfront: “Remove comma here”; “Rewrite the sentence as the following.” When we’re done, the writer either applies our change or they stet us.

Because I’m not making a change directly, I have to be hypercognizant of how I leave my initial comment. If it’s something like a comma or a period, of course, be prescriptive. But when I speak to the writers in my comments, I’m not just giving a suggestion. I’m building that relationship. I’m showing you that I respect what you do. I see where you were coming from, but here’s my take on it. You can either take mine or you can keep yours. Either way, it’ll be fine.

It’s not like they’re getting a bunch of directives, which can turn any person off, because it’s their baby. We have the same mission: to put out the best possible content. It’s not to one-up each other. 

It’s okay to disconnect. There is no point in taking vacation but saying, “I’m going to keep checking in every day.” You’re not trusting your company, you’re not trusting your colleagues, and you’re also not trusting yourself.

OTB: Editors really need a book for our personalities — our therapy! You wrote about being out of the office and checking in, and how that’s a form of self-aggrandizement. 

JP: It’s okay to disconnect. There is no point in taking vacation but saying, “I’m going to keep checking in every day.” You’re not trusting your company, you’re not trusting your colleagues, and you’re also not trusting yourself.

One thing you can do before you leave for vacation — I mentioned this in the book — if you know the substitute editor for your project, is take 10-15 minutes to meet with them to go over the project: “Here are things to look out for.” If you do your due diligence before you leave, you can take that week or two off and not check in on anything. 

OTB: I had to laugh when you said that you noticed colleagues in other departments didn’t really have that problem. 

JP: Writers aren’t checking in on vacation; designers aren’t checking in. They are offline. You will see them when they’re back at work. 

OTB: About management — tell me the best management practices that you try to implement. Being present for the team sounds like one.

JP: Yes. If I had to add two more: advocate for your team and empower them. That’s all under one bucket. The third thing I would add is be available to listen. I have enough humility to not assume that I know everything and that people’s frustrations are often valid and coming from a real place. I want to ensure that I’m there for people in a way that I wish, early on in my career, somebody had been for me.

I’ve talked to ACES about the lack of diversity with Robinson Prize winners. There has been acknowledgment on their end that they have some room to grow with regard to their diversity efforts, so I hope it leads to more diverse winners.

OTB: Let us talk about Mirandas [a manager in Pittman’s book]. Do the Mirandas of the world owe us, when we’re starting out, a quality control check? A sit-down line-by-line review? 

JP: I don’t know if we owe them, but we should be open to it if they request it. I think it’s important to give an overview: “Here are some of the things that you’re doing well. Here are some of the things you’re missing the mark on.” 

With new people, in their first few weeks, I say, “Hey, here’s your assignment. When you’re done with it, you can either hand it off, if you feel comfortable, or if you want to, we can hop on a call and talk through some of the things that you found.” That way, we can catch errors, and I can get a sense of what their editing style is. 

OTB: How was the experience of being a finalist for the ACES Robinson Prize? 

JP: I was very proud and very honored to be named a finalist, but I’m going to be real with you: I wanted to win. The person who won deserved it, and I wish her the highest congratulations. I’ve talked to ACES about the lack of diversity with Robinson Prize winners. There has been acknowledgment on their end that they have some room to grow with regard to their diversity efforts, so I hope it leads to more diverse winners. 

OTB: What are your main observations about changes in editing and the professional environment over the 20 years you’ve been doing it?

JP: We’re not working in a silo anymore. When I started, I would get an assignment, mark it up, and hand it off. Nobody would talk to me unless there was an issue. I wasn’t involved in a lot of meetings. Now, we’re asked to help craft the content, the messaging. We’re working with designers and writers. 

Also, back in the day, interviewees would be given an editing test. Maybe some jobs still do that, but the interview is not even about that test anymore. It’s really about how you interact with other people. Your skill as an editor is already on your resume.

I am not doing the “Be somebody I’m not” anymore. 

OTB: How are things with the scholarship you founded, the Annie and Sallie Ann Wheeler Memorial Scholarship? 

JP: It feels really good. We check in with our winners to see how they’re doing, six months to a year later, just seeing how they’re doing in school, their first semester, their first year. It’s not just the money. They have a lifetime of support, and they’re part of this permanent thing.

OTB: In the book, you lightly touched on being an editor and a black man, and the stereotypical image of an editor. Do you have anything else that you want to say about the code-switching element of the profession?

JP: The older I get and the deeper I get in my career, I find the less code-switching I do. I don’t know if that’s a conscious thing, but I’m being more authentic at the workplace in a way that I couldn’t have been, or didn’t feel comfortable being, 20 years ago. 

Some of it also has to do with how DEI has taken shape, especially since 2020. We are having these conversations about diversity and people bringing their true selves to work. I think it’s a combination of time and corporate culture adjusting. 

I am not doing the “Be somebody I’m not” anymore. When I let go of all of that — how I thought I was supposed to be in this corporate space — I became a better person, a better editor. I became more confident in who I am.

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