Publishing Outsourcing:
Offshoring Editorial Services
Publishing Outsourcing: Brief Overview
Since its inception in the late 1970s, publishing outsourcing has become a $1.2+ billion industry in India, the Philippines, and primarily other Asian countries. This industry comprises mainly scientific, technical, and medical (STM) journals and professional books as well as higher education and trade books, some magazines and newspapers, and other, non-traditional publishing content in corporations and the legal field.
Publishing has always been a relatively low-margin industry, and as labor costs rose in the United States and Europe in the 1990s, publishers sought lower-cost labor alternatives offshore in India and other Asian countries.
The aggregate publishing outsourcing market was valued at approximately $800 million in 2008, with most of the market (valued at $650 million) concentrated in India. The Philippines has the second largest revenue share ($100 million), with the remaining $50 million divided between China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and, most recently, in countries in Central and South America. The Philippines has become a legitimate outsourcing alternative to India, especially since 2005, due to its closer cultural affinity with the United States. Annualized market growth has been about 20% per year during the 1990s and early 2000 and is projected to be at $1.2+ billion in 2014.
Key Publishing Outsourcing Services
The main publishing services that are outsourced are content generation services (including copy editing), design and typesetting services, technology services, and a mix of other technical and software services, especially XML tagging. Content services, or premedia services, are the largest service category,
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The second largest content segment is educational or academic textbook publishing, including K-12 to higher education content. Although not as mature as the STM market, this is an especially strong growth segment because academic publishers are under significant pressure to deliver digital content and move away from expensive new textbooks, as well as used textbooks, especially in the United States.
The next segment in terms of size, and the newest to embrace offshore outsourcing, is the magazine market, at about 10% of the total revenue. This market segment has been increasingly faced with cost and pricing pressure as well as competition from websites for similar content and declining print advertising revenues since 2000. Legal content outsourcing is the next segment, with about 6% of the total market.
XML and SGML
Equally important during the the 1990’s was the development of Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) and Extensible Markup Language (XML) as an innovative way to capitalize on the advantages of “single-source publishing” for digital outputs other than print. “Single-source publishing” is a catalyst for using XML where a publisher can create content once and use that content again at minimal cost for other non-print formats and channels. Currently, there are thousands of publishing outsourcing providers in both India and the Philippines—the two major geographical destinations for publishing outsourcing—as well as other Southeast Asian locations. The major components of this outsourcing segment include copy editing and composition in QuarkXPress, Framemaker, Adobe InDesign, Advanced Arbortext (3B2), and TeX and LaTeX as well as coding in XML or SGML. Outsourcing these premedia functions offshore often reduces a publisher’s overhead costs by as much as 40% depending on the content, but such cost benefits often take at least a year to accrue with the right process and workflow with the right offshore provider. Also, in the late 1990s, XML became a ubiquitous publishing standard, and this service is now a core function for many offshore providers.
Copy editing is also a very important service and is often outsourced to offshore providers. However, this service is often fraught with cultural and
language challenges because it is not as predisposed to automation as XML and composition services. The following includes a detailed review of outsourced editing services.
Outsourcing Editorial Services
Copy editing is a difficult skill to acquire and develop in any culture or language because it requires considerable time, education, and practice. Good writing and editing are often considered rare, lost skills in many cultures because they require practice and work over an extended period of time with little immediate gratification. As Gene Fowler once said, “writing is easy: all you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.” Editing is as much an art as a technical skill. It requires a keen eye for the fine nuances of language that often change in use and application depending on the subject matter, the audience, and especially the culture. Equally important, editing content in a language other than one’s own native language is often much more arduous than many realize, especially in English. As many non-native English speakers know, English is a difficult language to learn, especially to write and edit.
There has been significant analysis and criticism of outsourcing editorial services. In 2011, Kathleen Lyle published a detailed and insightful study (http://www.sfep. org.uk/pub/news/outsourcing.asp)—“What Price Quality? Overseas Outsourcing of Editorial Services”—about the practice in the United Kingdom for The Society of Editors and Proofreaders. This study is worth reading because it details the challenges of outsourcing this service. As this study shows, outsourcing copy editing services to India is often considered problematic for many publishers outside of India, especially for new publishers who are not familiar with the challenges of outsourcing offshore. Worth noting, Time, Inc., the popular consumer magazine in the USA, has recently announced in 2014 that they will also outsource editing services, although there has been much controversy about this decision. Many of the challenges are cultural and related to how the English language is spoken and written differently in other countries. Also, there is often a fundamental misunderstanding about what copy editing actually means if outsourced to India or other offshore destinations. Carefully defining the copy
editing process, therefore, is very important for both outsourcing providers and especially publishers.
Clearly, anyone who understands the copy editing process is aware that there are many different levels of copy editing. Anyone who has written a research paper for college or a business presentation knows that it is very common to have widely varying opinions about what is, and is not, good writing. Consequently, editing is often highly subjective: there is rarely an exact or perfect example of writing. Perspective varies widely irrespective of the content.
Another editorial service that has become increasingly popular to outsource offshore is indexing. Along with indexing, enhanced metadata has become critically important with the epub 3 standard for ebooks. Onix 3.0 and other metadata platforms allow digital content to be searched in a more granular way, beyond some of the more superficial tags such as title, author, ISBN, price, trim size, and content area.
This concise review covers the different levels of editing, copy editing automation tools, online and developmental editing with Microsoft Word, the importance of being well read and to practice writing, as well as the significance of effective copy editing as a marketing tool.
Levels of Editing
There are different levels of copy editing: light (copy markup), medium (copy markup with occasional rewording and rephrasing), and heavy (exhaustive editing). Developmental editing is an even more advanced level of editing that is often handled by a specialized language editor, who is also often a subject matter expert (SME) in the particular field, such as chemistry, mathematics, or linguistics. This work is often not outsourced because of its complexity.
Most copy editing outsourced to India or the Philippines is in the category of STM books and journals. Copy editing STM content in the United States is quite expensive because a technical, subject matter expert is often required, and so the service is often outsourced to reduce publishing costs. STM content is often delivered to an outsourcing provider after being peer-reviewed and technically edited by a content specialist. Most of the authors are professors , specializing in the subject area, for example, physics or botany. Such content is frequently copy
edited using automation tools (Microsoft Word-based) to expedite the editorial process. Specific examples of these automation tools are Inera’s eXtyles®, Aptara’s PowerX Editor, and many other proprietary tools developed by offshore providers. Inera has recently introduced edifix, a reference checking tool that is very useful for journal reference editing. The Charlesworth Group has also recently launched RealEdit, a web-based XML editorial platform in which content is initially tagged in XML as an XML-first workflow, and then editors can perform editing on that content while maintaining the XML structure. This is a trend worth special notice because more and more content is moving to a true XML-first workflow to expedite the publishing process with multiple, digital formats. The use of automation tools is a legitimate copy editing service, and new publishers, who are not familiar with this software-based process, may be surprised with the results, because it often does not involve in-depth or developmental editing. An issue worth noting is that many STM books and journals are usually very time sensitive because the research is often groundbreaking and timely. Consequently, the time to publication is often a strategic marketing issue for publishers. This is especially true in fields such as genetic engineering and biotechnology. “Online first” is a publishing process in which journal articles are published online first on the publisher’s website to expedite the availability of new research, and then in print much later. These timely journals are often published monthly or even weekly. The use of software automation tools for editing is often important for such a shorter publishing cycle.
In many ways, the opposite issues are often evident with humanities and social sciences (HSS) content, which is often not so driven by short production schedules. Schedules might be monthly or even quarterly. Also, of particular interest, the editing required in a linguistics journal, for example, is probably much more stringent than what is required in an STM journal. Such content requires a specialized editing skill set that it is often not outsourced successfully with offshore providers. However, these are very general observations and may not be strictly applicable to all publishers.
Developmental editing or “heavy editing” is an editing process that takes into consideration much more than just the automation process found with software tools. This type of editing is usually much slower and a difficult process, depending on the content. Developmental editing is a type of editing that is often found
in a freshman college English class in the United States. Microsoft Word’s “track changes” with “balloon” comments are often used in this extensive editing process, which is also often characterized by manual corrections by hand. Even though Microsoft Word is often used, this is still considered a very slow process because comments are often manually keyed in by the editor. The content is reviewed on a very detailed level and is beyond the limit of most automation tools. Appropriate sentence structure, logic, diction, syntax, parallelism, and other grammatical issues are reviewed. Appropriate diction is a critical issue: using the “right” word for the “right” content for the “right” audience. Much of this editing process is based on keen judgment, logical comprehension, problem solving, and experience. In other words, the following words are synonyms, but are used in different ways for different content and for a different audience: “bad,” “terrible,” “awful,” or “inappropriate.” One of the words might be better than the others depending on the audience and the intended meaning. Much developmental editing is based on the logic, detail, and sequence of the content, which automation tools cannot easily detect.
Much of the editing process offshore involves style editing which focuses on reference styling, consistency of abbreviations, number style and house style. This form of editing is very common offshore. However, language editing is less common with offshore work since the focus here is on spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, punctuation, and grammar. Style editing requires less skill, whereas language editing requires much more work and skill and is often not as common with offshore work. When a publisher is considering outsourcing editorial services, it is very important to understand the provider’s services and the differences in how they define the editing process.
Editing Skill Sets
One of the most important personal characteristics of an effective copy editor is to be an avid reader: reading more than the words and sentences. In short, examining the content very carefully by re-reading and reviewing the sentences is essential. Reading content as a copy editor without altering the author’s meaning is often a highly nuanced critical skill set. This takes much practice and commitment. Another important characteristic of a good copy editor is to be an avid writer. Almost always, a qualified copy editor is usually a zealous reader
and writer and has a sense of the finer nuances of language. Such editors often have a broad perspective on the use of language similar to an automotive repair technician who has repaired many different automobiles and is familiar with what tools to use and when, where, and how. Having a broad knowledge of words and sentences from his or her own reading and writing is like having a large set of tools to repair written communication problems.
Consequently, an ideal copy editor is someone who not only knows the use and validity of editing with automation tools, but also appreciates and uses judgment about diction, sentence structure, and logic. Both skills are very important for a successful copy editor in India and elsewhere. Both automation tools and language editing skill sets are prerequisites and are applicable at different levels of editing.
Importance of Reading Well
In the United States there are two very useful books for editors published each year, from Houghton-Mifflin “The Best Of American” series on essays (non-fiction) and short stories (fiction). Each book in the series is a selection of the best short stories and essays. The short story selection is more creative because the content is fiction, and the content in the essays is more descriptive and analytical because the content is non-fiction. Both book series are very useful in terms of reviewing what is widely considered to be the best writing every year from an American perspective. Much can be learned from both books about effective rhetoric, diction, and sentence structure.
House Styles and Turnaround Times
Another very important issue is the publishers’ expectations regarding turnaround times and the nuances of the house style that must be clearly defined by both the publisher and the outsourcing provider. Most publishers have a very specific style guide that must be followed. For a copy editor to take on a new journal or book and to deliver acceptable content in a week is probably very unrealistic, especially if the content is STM. Experience would indicate that it is very prudent to temper the publishers’ expectations; it may take as long as 2 months to become familiar with the publisher’s style and the unique language characteristics of the content. In such cases, it is best to “under-promise,” and “over-deliver” to ensure
a new publisher’s satisfaction. Managing the client’s expectations will go a long way in improving the copy editing quality and satisfying the client as a long-term customer.
Editing as a Marketing and Branding Tool
On a deeper level, copy editing is ultimately marketing. Words, like pictures, communicate a message that can be very influential. Although containing only three words, Nike’s advertising slogan “Just Do It” is ubiquitously recognized and powerfully reinforces the branding.
Clear, concise, convincing writing is at the heart of effective marketing. Many often refer to this as “content marketing.” Advertisers are keenly aware of this as they develop “catchy” phrases and words consumers remember when they choose products or services. Ironically, many in the publishing field outside India are very conscious of the lack of credible English often seen on many outsourcing providers’ websites.
This is slightly outside of the review of this article, but is a crucial facet of how the outsourcing provider is perceived internationally on the basis of the quality of editing and content with marketing material. Unfortunately, many Westerners are often prejudiced in their view of the standard of spoken and written English in India. The irony of this is that many publishers view such an issue with considerable dismay, thinking that if a provider cannot spell or compose a sentence well, then that provider is probably not in a good position to handle their copy editing services. Of course, this perspective makes perfect sense, but offshore providers often do not seem to understand this perception. Consequently, publishing outsourcing providers are often notorious for having poorly written websites with many glaring grammatical problems. Potentially, one of the best ways to market the quality of copy editing in India and elsewhere is to be sure that the company’s website uses standard English that is intelligible and convincing. The same issue often applies to marketing material sent to new customers. A provider (who will go unnamed to protect the “grammatically guilty”) had the following sentence on their website as a testimonial from an existing client:
“Management of software releases at highest level, project management sets priorities exactly according to agreements made.”
Not only is this sentence grammatically awkward, but the meaning is also totally elusive. What is the message supposed to be? Not many publishers would find such a statement a valid testimony to convince them to work with an outsourcing provider. Websites are, obviously, very public. Most web marketers realize that they have about 30 seconds to convince a potential client to stay on the site, or leave—often leaving forever. Consequently, it is imperative to use effective English to attract new customers. The same principle applies to Microsoft PowerPoint sales presentations. This content needs to be reviewed carefully for effective English before being presented to potential clients to avoid very embarrassing moments of confusion.
In summary, effective editing and writing are valuable skill sets, and one of the most strategic differentiators for publishing outsourcing providers in India and elsewhere. Effective copy editing can often be the deciding factor for new publishers choosing an outsourcing provider.
Thank you for taking the time to review this paper. If you have any comments or observations on this topic, please contact us with your feedback.
James S. Hill is the Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Publishing Services with Deanta Global, a leading publishing outsourcing vendor in Chennai, India. Hill has over 20 years of publishing experience in editorial, production, sales, marketing, and business development in trade, academic, as well as STM publishing. He has an MA in English from Oklahoma State University where he published his thesis on William Faulkner in Notes on Modern American Literature, and on Thomas Carlyle in The Explicator, and composition articles in The Writing Lab Newsletter. Hill has also published popular articles about publishing outsourcing and using LinkedIn as a sales and marketing tool with leading international journals.
Amit Shah is the Managing Director of Green Comma, an independent US-based editorial services company. He has over 25 years of experience with trade, reference, academic, and K-12 publishers including executive editorial positions with Pearson Education and Holt, Rinehart & Winston (now Houghton-Mifflin Harcourt). He has also led editorial teams for US-based outsourcing vendors working with all the major publishers. He has an undergraduate degree in history and political science from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University, Delhi, and has done graduate work in international affairs at Columbia University.
Namami Ghosh is an editorial freelancer with about 15+ years of experience in the publishing industry. She has handled both STM and non-STM work for major international publishers and earned rave reviews in the process. Some of the prestigious accounts that she has won include Elsevier, Springer, Taylor and Francis – Informa, IB Tauris, GmB Publishing, and Intellect Journals. She started her career with TnQ books and Journals in Chennai, India, and then moved on to SPi Publisher Services, and was later with Integra Software Services Pvt Ltd. Namami is currently a full-time freelance editor in Pondicherry, India. A rare breed of copyeditor who is equally adept in both the sciences and the humanities, she is well known for her flair for the English language, an eye for detail, and an untiring zest for copyediting. Her contact information is [email protected]
Vivek Kumar is an editorial freelancer based in New Delhi, India, providing copyediting services to STM publishers in the United States and the United Kingdom. He has more than a decade of industry experience and has been interviewed twice for his views on freelance copyediting as a career. His first interview is available at:
http://www.notjustpublishing.in/interview/Vivek/Kumar
Kris Emery has used parts of the second interview as quotes in her ebook Feel the Fear But Freelance Anyway. He is a member of the Editorial Freelancers Association.
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