Tracks and Session Overviews

Level: Intermediate

Know What You’re Getting Into — Learn How to Identify Your Boundaries and Vet Indie Projects for Sensitive Themes Professional fiction writer Amelia Winters shows you tools she created to deal with sensitive themes.

Oops -- A Human Didn't Write This
Amy Frushour Kelly, who leads EisnerAmper's AI content policy team, discusses recognizing AI-generated content and implementing protocols.

The Coaching Instinct
Historian and Book Coach Caroline Malloy, Ph.D. and Copyeditor, Book Coach, and CEO of Pique Publishing, Nadia Geagea Pupa, will discuss how to identify your coaching instinct, how to lean into it to better serve your writers, and how to expand your skills and confidence as a coach.

The Secret Sauce to Becoming Invaluable: Add a Dash of Instructional Design
Become more indispensable by discovering how different audiences learn and retain information, from Hilary Kirchner, founder of Dream Write Creative.

Level: Introductory

Anti-hustle Marketing and Business Development for Freelancers
Learn the strategies on how to make yourself more comfortable when marketing your free-lance editing business,so that it comes from a place of generosity. Led by Letitia Henville, PhD.

Social Media and Website Accessibility Workshop
Eric Ascher of Respectability will discuss how to make websites and social media content more accessible to people with disabilities: write effective alt/text images, add captions to your video content, and more.

The Job Hunt: Building an Industry-Focused Skill Set
Discover the most sought-after skills for entry level positions and where to hone your skill sets. Led by Jess Jelma Masterson, writer, editor and assistant professor at Susquehanna University.

AI: What Is It Good For?
Join Daniel Heuman, CEO and Creator of PerfectIt, for a live demo and discussion of practical applications of AI to enhance your editing process.

Level: Intermediate

Collaboration in Action: Working with Subject Matter Experts to Get on the Same Page
What are the most effective strategies to bridge the gaps between writing professionals and subject matter experts? Led by Rachel Stroup, Managing Editor, VA Office of Inspector General.

Collaborative Editing: How to Edit Effectively as Part of a Team
Medical writer and editor Jenny Lass shows the tools to navigate the complexities of working in larger groups.

Editing for Accessibility: Going Beyond Automated Checkers
Learn how accessibility impacts documentation and what to do when accessibility checkers fail. Griffin Zimmerman, PhD candidate and accessibility consultant, leads the discussion.

Editing with Empathy: How to Craft a Positive Editor/Author Relationship
Editor and educator Erin Servais discusses empathetic editing: what it is, how it helps authors, and how to apply its methods to your work.

Fast Searches and Deep Sources for Editors
Learn how to refine your Google search skills to find primary resources more quickly, led by Melanie Faizer, teacher at the University of Tennessee and news director at Knoxville's NPR affiliate.

ISO's New Plain Language Standards -- How They Can Enhance Your Editing Even If You're Not a Plain Language Expert
Dragonfly Editorial's Samantha Enslen will discuss how to create content that helps readers find what they need, understand it, and act on it.

Mind your business (editing)
Debts or deficits? T-bill or T-bond? Merrill Perlman, former director of copy desks at The New York Times, points out the distinctions among different business terminology.

Level: Introductory

An Introduction to Developmental Editing for Non-Fiction
Designed for non-fiction editors who want to incorporate developmental editing into their business, by Claire Beveridge, copy editor, coach, and certified business strategist.

Becoming a Microsoft Word Power User: Customizations, Shortcuts, Wildcards, and Macros
Want to finally conquer Microsoft Word? Boost your confidence and learn how to customize toolbars, create keyboard shortcuts, use macros, and more. Suzy Bills of BYU is your guide.

ChatGPT: The Threat, the Promise, and How it's Affecting Editing
In a follow-up to ACES ChatGPT webinar in March, what have we learned since? Samantha Enslen of Dragonfly Editorial uncovers the new AIs and whether they'll enhance our work.

Confident Querying, Without the Ego
How to write more effective queries, understanding the copyeditor ego, and improving the editor-author relationship. Led by ACES lifetime member Christine Steele and Lourdes Venard, both from the Copyediting Certificate Program at UC San Diego Extended Studies program.

Editing Books for Young Readers
Kidlit editor Jennifer Navarre shows how to distinguish among picture books, early readers, and chapter books, and helping authors determine the best audience for their book.

Timeless Basic Math: Lessons from Henry Fuhrmann's Math Books
ACES President Neil Holdway channels Henry Fuhrmann's love and appreciation of math when using percentages, averages, and other calculations in copy.

Transforming AI as Your Content Sidekick: Core Practices to Focus on for B2B/B2C Content Editing
Dubai-based creative copywriter Patricia Mae Estenoso discusses what AI cannot cover that a human editor can and implementing best practices for effective B2B and B2C content editing.

We Need to Talk: Communication Tips to Help Editors Help Writers
Discover practical tips to better communicate with writers, which would help reduce the number of revisions and increase efficiency. Rachel Lussos shares her knowledge as a professional writer and editor in a variety of industries.

Working with First-Time Authors Authors working on their first book may not know what to expect from an editor. Jennia D'Lima leads the discussion on setting realistic expectations, anticipating questions, and creating a list of tactful responses for various scenarios.

Intermediate

Perfectly Imperfect: Accepting and Embracing "Good Enough"
Rhonda Kronyk will use her experiences as an editor and public speaker to help participants recognize when the desire to be perfect negatively affects their business and their mental health. Rhonda is a founding member of the Indigenous Editors Association.

Supporting Neurodivergent Authors
Cate Ryan of Cate Edits shares her experiences and challenges as a neurodivergent editor and explores how we can improve our business practices while understanding the range of conditions that make up neurodiversity, such as ADHD, autism, and dyslexia.

Introductory

Feel Good Where You Work: The Secret Ingredient to Editing Well Over the Long Haul
How can we ensure that our physical surroundings and habits positively affect our mental stamina? Freelance non-fiction editor Hannah de Keijzer leverages her background in massage therapy and dance to share techniques and best practices on a sound body and a functional physical space.

Intermediate

Updates to APA's Inclusive Language Guide
This session, led by APA's Efua Andoh, will cover the 2023 updates to APA’s inclusive language guide, detailing their process for considering and creating coverage for new topics as well as outlining exactly what guidance has been added and what’s been revised. With Chelsea Lee, Meggin van der Hilst, and Mia Smith-Bynum.

When Niching Down Isn't for You
Small businesses can be expansive. Four editors discuss their individual businesses, how they've balanced the variety of work, and how different pursuits can complement one another. Participants include Carolina VonKampen, Emily Stewart, Genevieve Clovis, and Tanya Gold.

Editing for Disability Inclusion
This panel, presented by the National Center on Disability and Journalism, offers insights for editors on how to make content as inclusive as possible for people with disabilities. Panelists Kristin Gilger and Daniel King discuss language choices, framing of stories, visual choices, and how to create a newsroom culture that embraces disability inclusion.

Introductory

Both Sides of the Page: From Editor to Author and Back Again
Brenna Bailey-Davies and a panel of authors probe their experiences to better understand what editing is like from a client's perspective and how to support writers pursuing self-publishing and traditional publishing. Brenna will be joined by Genevieve Clovis, Laura Bontje, and Molly Rookwood.

Through the Looking Glass: A Different Lens from Disabled, Chronically Ill, and Neurodivergent Editors
Antonn Park, Shannon Scott, and Vee White chat with moderator Kyra Freestar about working as an editor while living with disability, chronic illness, and neurodivergence. They also address how working with disabled and neurodivergent editors can offer a fresh perspective that is beneficial to employers, clients, and other editors alike.

Editing for and in the Government: 2.0 How to get into government editing and avoid the pitfalls, from Melissa Cichantek, Kim Cragg, and Leslie Poster.

Advanced

Using Copy Editing to...Save the Earth?
Laura Standley of the creative advertising agency Droga5 explains how to better identify positive bias toward colonialism and capitalism and negative bias toward the environment, helping writers and editors think bigger about the language and grammar of sustainability, all with the hope of producing change.

Intermediate

Beyond the Gender Binary: Editing for More Inclusive Fiction
Two nonbinary fiction editors, Eliot West and Tanya Gold, who specialize in queer and queer-inclusive texts will discuss the complexities of nonbinary genders and how they intertwine with the craft of fiction. They'll give practical tips to help editors support their authors in creating more inclusive stories and authentic nonbinary gender representations.

Editing for Equity through Sentence Structure, Framing, and Narrative
Participants will learn how sentence structures, framing, and narratives can support inclusive language or subvert equity. The session will draw on inclusive language guidelines as well as research on stereotype perpetuation through language. Led by Sabrina Ashwell, senior copyeditor of Chemical & Engineering News.

Stylebook by Committee
Julie Kliegman, copy chief at Sports Illustrated, will discuss how to form a stylebook committee that includes staff who are not copyeditors to achieve more inclusivity, greater acceptance, and a happier workplace.

What's new in AP Style?
Our colleagues from the AP Stylebook, Paula Froke, editor, and Colleen Newvine, product manager, present updates and additions to AP style in the last year, including what's changed and why.

Introductory

Accessible and Inclusive UX Writing
Learn how to edit your own writing for readability, how to stay up-to-date on inclusive language guidelines, and common objections to making accessible language changes and how to address them. Led by Cheryl Cline, a writer, editor and standup comedian based in Los Angeles.

AI Translators vs. Language Justice
This session will provide practical examples to demonstrate how to apply language justice in your work as a bilingual translator and copyeditor. Sofía Jarrín, a copy editor, proofreader, and translator, presents this topic.

Food for Thought: How We Talk About Food and Weight and Why It Matters
When writing about weight, health, and eating disorders, identify how to choose inclusive words, avoid stereotypes and consider replacement terms. Jill Campbell shares her insights as a copy editor at Healthline Media and as a freelance editor and proofreader.