1. How would your instructors react if you had outside copy editors correct your work before you turned it in? Why is writing at school different from writing on the job? Andrew Yoder has been a book production editor for Rowman & Littlefield Publishers in Lanham, Maryland, for nine years. He shepherds books through copyediting, proofreading, indexing, cover production, and finally manufacturing. Most of his technical communication involves e-mailing authors, freelancers, and in-house colleagues. He also is a book author and freelance writer and editor.

To begin a writing project, Andrew first gathers all of the resources he needs into one electronic file, organizes the contents of the file into smaller themed sections, and then finds the best section with which to start. “I’ll occasionally read the quotes [in the file] and try to think about different angles and sections while doing mind-numbing tasks like mowing my yard.”