Editor Responsibilities

Your members will look to your committee webpages for Practice Points that pertain to your committee’s area of focus; articles and issue archives for the committee’s e-newsletter; and more.

Your role as an editor is to make sure that the administrative and substantive content available on the webpages is kept current. The committee webpages should contain timely and relevant Practice Points pieces and substantive articles. Editors are also responsible for maintaining administrative content on the webpages, including the subcommittee roster and message from the chairs. Regular communication with your committee’s cochairs is pertinent in keeping the webpages current and relevant for members.

DUTIES
The main responsibilities of an editor includes:

• Soliciting articles for publication to the committee’s webpages and e-newsletter
• Reviewing and editing articles
• Writing or soliciting regular features for the web (e.g., tips for young lawyers, articles on business development, book or program reviews, updates or commentary on a particular type of case law)
• Finding regular contributors to blog on specific topics of interest
• Updating web content, including subcommittee rosters
• Obtaining and sending to Section staff signed ABA publication agreements for each author
• Participating in planning for the future of the publication

Each editor may be involved in one or more of the above tasks at any given time. Editors will work with authors, committee cochairs, and Section staff to make sure that the webpages contain substantive content that is tailored to members’ needs.

EDITORIAL TEAMS
A great publication begins with an editorial team that has regular planning conference calls and guidelines that put forth the committee's mission as it pertains to content. As a committee editor, your suggestions in planning are invaluable. Committee editors are selected to represent a variety of viewpoints, substantive areas of expertise, experiences, and practice settings.

Building an Editorial Team. Work with your committee cochairs to develop a team of volunteer assistant editors. A good website will keep two or three editors busy; four or more editors are not too many.
As you approach potential editors, distribute this document to each. Being a committee editor involves significant work, but it’s great for network development as editors work with one another and with authors. Each editor should have specific tasks to help generate content.

EDITORIAL TEAM RESPONSIBILITIES
An editorial team serves to produce the highest quality content in the most efficient manner. An active, well-organized team of editors exemplifies an effective division of labor that represents the committee’s major constituencies and ensures that the numerous practice areas of the committee’s target audience are represented in article topic selection and authors. This serves two goals: (1) increased solicitation of articles, and (2) increased variety of contributions.

SOLICITING ARTICLES

• Plan more articles than you are expected to publish. There will always be authors who do not come through, as well as those who deliver unsatisfactory articles. You don’t want to have to publish an inferior article because you’re on deadline and have insufficient material. On the other hand, your webpages will improve if, by soliciting more articles than you need, you find yourself with a reserve of great copy throughout the year.
• It is important to have a regular flow of articles and Practice Points for your committee webpages. The webpages can include unlimited articles. The more frequently items are posted to the web, the more traffic the site will gain.
• Never promise that an article will be published. Explain to the prospective author that the committee must review the article before publication.
• Make sure to deliver current information on the happenings in your committee’s area of focus.
• Solicit articles in developing areas that have not been addressed previously.
• Solicit articles from new, young, minority, and women lawyers whenever possible.
• Look for bloggers or authors who are willing to write regular online features.
• Confirm with the author the deadline for the article.
• Potential authors may turn you down and will occasionally withdraw from participation. Don’t be discouraged. Ask the declining author to recommend another author.
• Other committee editors and leaders are a valuable resource for finding authors. Talk to them.

REVIEWING AND EDITING ARTICLES
Editors are required to review and edit articles before submitting them to staff for publication. Authors should not be sending content to staff. Committee editors should work directly with authors and send final, edited copy to staff. The following are questions to consider if you are unsure whether an article is appropriate for publication.

• Is the law correct?
• Are the facts accurate?
• Is the article well written?
• Is the topic interesting to readers?
• Is the topic timely?
• Are the style and tone appropriate for the web?
• Is the article the correct length for the web?
• Does the article contain in-text hyperlinks instead of citations?

ISSUE PLANNING

Guidelines. With your readership in mind, develop a set of guidelines for your authors that describes the kind of material your publication covers and in what manner it covers it.

Contributing Editors. Consider appointing contributing editors who can periodically write, or find writers in particular substantive areas you need covered.

Conference Calls. Hold editorial conference calls monthly or at appropriate intervals. Focus on article and author idea brainstorming, and reporting on articles/author solicitations in progress. Put article ideas and unsolicited articles up to the lens of your mission to determine fit. Sticking to your guidelines keeps your publication focused and distinctive.

Stay Ahead. Plan ahead, even a year in advance if possible. At a minimum, outline possible themes or topics for future months and keep an eye out for article ideas that fit within the theme or topic area.