A Medical Editing Audio Conference

Freelance editor and friend of this blog Katharine O'Moore-Klopf has asked me to pass along the following information about an upcoming audioconference she will be copresenting. The healthcare field is one of the hottest in our economy and will continue to be so for the rest of our careers. Here's a way to use your editing talents in an industry that is growing.

On Tuesday, October 28, 2008, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Eastern time, Katharine O'Moore-Klopf, ELS, will be a copresenter of an audio conference, sponsored by Copyediting newsletter, on common problems in medical editing. The conference is for new medical copyeditors and for those who would like to become medical copyeditors. You can get more details and register by going here. The main topics will be

• When to stet jargon and when to eliminate it
• How to describe patients—they aren't their diseases and they aren't on meds
• Where to find solutions to problem reference-list entries
• Which sections of the AMA Manual of Style you'll keep returning to

Katharine has spent the last 18 years as a medical copyeditor, most of them as a freelancer, and she is also certified by the Board of Editors in the Life Sciences as an editor in the life sciences. She will be speaking from the viewpoint of an editor who works on both medical textbooks and medical journals. There will be Q&A periods scattered throughout the conference.

If you can't change your schedule to participate in the audio conference, you can go here to order an audio CD of the conference. If you can't afford the cost of the conference yourself, you and one or more colleagues can register under one name and make arrangements among yourselves to share the cost. International callers are welcome; consider using VoIP software such as Skype to decrease the cost of your time on the phone. And remember, if you're already self-employed as a freelance editor in the United States, the cost of the audio conference (and the audio CD, if you purchase it) is a business expense that you can write off on your income tax forms.

Get ready to pick up your phone and learn from the comfort of your employer's office, your home office, or your home. If you've wanted to know what makes medical copyediting different from copyediting in other fields, this is the conference for you.