355. On the Job with Carla Benton, Book Copy Editor & Proofreader

Ali on the Run Show

Ali Feller

Run, Health & Fitness, Women, Inspiration, Runner, Entrepreneur, Sports, Fitness, Health, Running

4.9 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 6 April 2021

⏱️ 69 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

“If you want to do this job, you have to be willing to assume that you could be wrong about just about everything. You need to be willing to look everything up.”

Carla Benton gets paid to read all day. Sound like the dream? As a freelance book copy editor and proofreader, Carla agrees: She's living her dream. (She worked on 70 books last year alone!) On this episode, Carla (whose twin sister, Emilia, was on the show a few weeks ago) offers a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to get a book published. She started her career in publishing in New York City, where she worked for major publishing houses including Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, and Penguin, before moving to Chicago and going freelance. She has contributed to hundreds of books and best-sellers — including running books, like Deena Kastor's Let Your Mind Run and Becky Wade's Run the World. Carla also talks about the difference between copy editing and proofreading, what it's like editing fiction novels set amidst the pandemic, how Covid-19 is changing the industry, and diversity in publishing.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	The On The Job Series on the Alley on the Run Show is brought to you by TrackSmith.
0:04.2	Go to TrackSmith.com slash OnTheRun and use code OnTheRun to get $15 off your next
0:10.3	TrackSmith purchase of $75 or more.
0:18.0	Welcome to The Alley on the Run Show. I'm your host Alley Feller and this is The On The Job Series.
0:23.9	Every week on the job I introduce you to women who have cool,
0:27.1	unique, exciting careers. We learn about how they got into their fields, what their days are
0:32.2	really like, and what makes their jobs exciting, challenging, scary, and stressful.
0:37.7	My goal with this series is to learn more about how women make work and running work in tandem.
0:42.8	And honestly, to hear more about women off the run, we talk so much on this show about life
0:49.1	on the run, but our lives are more than just splits and paces and miles and bathroom stops.
0:54.3	Well, mine's a lot about them stops. Here's something fun. Remember a few weeks ago
0:59.5	when we heard from freelance journalist Amelia Benton and I mentioned that she's a twin?
1:05.1	Well guess who's here today? Carla's here. Carla Benton is Amelia's twin sister.
1:10.6	She is a freelance book copy editor and proofreader. And in my head I thought I knew all about what
1:16.7	that entail they do come from a publishing background, but I was wrong. It was so fun to get to learn
1:22.3	more about what Carla does and what makes her job so important. The short version?
1:27.9	She makes sure that when an author's book hits shelves or the internet, every sentence of it
1:32.8	is perfect. Grammatically and contextually, she makes sure every sentence is the best sentence
1:39.6	possible. Carla worked on 70 books last year alone and in the past she has worked on well-known
1:46.3	running books, including Dina Caster's book, Let Your Mind Run, and Becky Wade's book Run the World.
1:52.3	We hear from a lot of authors on this show. And now with Carla, we get to go behind the scenes.
1:58.1	So please join me in welcoming book copy editor and proofreader Carla Benton to the On The Job
	...

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