Choosing an editor and creating a team

First up, you don’t need to choose an editor. When you create a job, it goes into a queue and a suitable editor will claim it when they are free. Most often you’ll get a good experience. Sometimes, though, you won’t because the editor wasn’t in tune with what you want, because they didn’t have the right background or for some other reason.

Wordy has over a hundred editors. They have a wide range of experience and degrees in various subjects (see below), so we almost certainly have an editor or two who is right for you. While saying that, editing, given the elusive nature of English grammar, is somewhat subjective. You may find that one editor works the way you like while another doesn’t.

If you are new to Wordy, I recommend that you go with the flow and let different editors work on your jobs. That may work well for you or it may not. You may not like how some editors work, whereas you may be really pleased with what others can do to your material.

There are various ways you can manage who can edit your documents.

First, you can block editors. Blocked editors can’t see your jobs and can’t work on them. This is the simplest solution, and it still gives you access to the large pool of Wordy editors.

Next, you can add a comment to your job, such as “Reserved for Jonathan”. Our editors will respect your wishes and leave the job for the named editor. But what if Jonathan isn’t immediately available? The job will sit there indefinitely. You may find that after some hours, other editors drop by and leave a note asking if they can claim it. If you’re happy to wait for the named editor to become available, then you can add a note saying so. Otherwise, you could open the job up by adding a second message. The downside is that once an editor has seen the original comment stating that the job is reserved, they won’t necessarily go back and see a later message making it open, so you could cancel the job (which refunds your Wordy account) and create a new job with no “reserved for” message. With such jobs, it can be useful sending your preferred editor a message through a previous job they have done for you to ask about their availability.

The other option is to create a team. Teams can be locked or unlocked. If the team is locked, only editors in the team can see your jobs and claim them. If it is unlocked, the team members will see your job first. If none of them claims it, the job will be opened up (I think it’s after 45 minutes), and all other editors will be able to see it (except blocked editors, of course).

The big disadvantage of a locked job is if none of your editors are available within your time frame, especially if you have a small team. You can check their availability individually by sending them messages through previous jobs they have done for you.

If you create a team, I recommend leaving it unlocked and blocking editors you prefer not to work with.

Below is a list of some of the subjects that our editors have degrees in. Note that most editors will work on more than one subject. Someone with experience of economics, for example, may be comfortable working on material related to finance, business, sociology and so on. I have degrees in physics and maths, but I also specialise in subjects such as IT, electronics, mechanical engineering, astronomy and the like. I’ve also worked extensively on fiction, resumes, emails and many other things. The same is true for all our editors, so don’t put too much emphasis on their qualifications.

• anthropology
• biochemistry
• biology
• business management
• chemistry
• classics
• communications
• computer science
• creative writing
• ecology
• economics
• economic history
• education
• engineering
• English
• film studies
• fine arts in graphic design
• gender studies
• graphic design
• history
• history of art
• history of science
• information systems engineering
• international studies and political science
• journalism
• jurisprudence
• law
• liberal arts
• library and information science
• linguistics
• literature
• literary translation
• marketing
• mass communications
• maths
• music
• neuropsychology
• neuroscience
• philosophy
• physics
• political science
• PPE
• psychology
• science and technology journalism
• social sciences
• social work
• sociology
• theatre arts
• writing and publishing