Position: Executive Committee member (two-year term)

Candidate

Samatha Enslen

Job title: President

At: Dragonfly Editorial, Tipp City, Ohio

Job description: Runs an agency that provides editing and writing support to companies worldwide. Manages three full-time editors and 25 freelance editors and writers. Responsible for developing editorial standards and guidelines.

How has the nominee contributed to ACES?

In October 2012, Sam was co-presenter of the Washington Regional. She brought six of her Dragonfly colleagues to the conference, and one of her clients. This spring, Sam will be presenting at the ACES St. Louis Conference on two topics: “Federal Proposal Editing,” and “Editing While Exhausted.” Sam and her colleagues have also helped to promote ACES through their blog on dragonflyeditorial.com and through their Facebook and Twitter presences.

What makes the nominee the best candidate for this position?

As ACES moves into the future, it’s more and more important for it to expand from serving just copy desk editors, to serving editors involved in a wide range of work: book editing, government editing, corporate editing, medical and scientific editing, web editing. Samantha’s experience in these areas—combined with the experience of her staff—means that she can help the board better understand the needs of these editors, and craft programming that serves them well.

If elected, what does the nominee envision for ACES during his or her tenure?

We need to articulate the value proposition for joining ACES – what do you get for your money? In addition to discounted conference rates and training programs, we could have an expanded webinar / audio-conference series; handouts for new members – “copy editors’ checklist,” “top 10 resources for editors,” etc.; and an extension program. I’d like to help ACES grow ACES and increase its profile among all types of editors as the preeminent organization of its type.

This year, for the first time, none of the board candidates is currently working in newspapers or magazines, and the new board will have a majority from outside of newsrooms. How can ACES keep its credibility as a journalistic organization as well as its increasingly important role as a resource and advocate for copy editors who do not work in news? Indeed, should it?

Copy editors across industries share common concerns. How can I keep up with changes in language? Ensure quality under shrinking deadlines? Use technology to edit more efficiently? At the same time, editors in niche industries face niche concerns. Copy-desk editors struggle with increased workflow. Freelance editors wonder how to price their work. And corporate editors struggle to justify style choices to resistant managers. ACES can and should address the common and niche concerns of our copyeditors. We can do this at our national conference, with keynote sessions addressing broad concerns and small sessions addressing specialty areas. We can do this with webinars and audio-conferences targeted to specific industries. And we can do this with blog posts and social content created by board members in varying industries. This broad focus gives us a wide membership base and makes us relevant to copyeditors inside and outside newsrooms. That should be our goal.