The Editorial Process

Ellen Seligman, vice-president of McClelland & Stewart, the Canadian publishing house, has worked with the likes of Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje, Rohinton Mistry, Jane Urquhart and Leonard Cohen, among others. In this interview, she shares her thoughts on the editing process: "I do not subscribe to the belief that editors are, by definition, ego-less, unthanked, and all that stuff. I actually get annoyed when I hear that. By and large, [as an editor] you are bringing your own ego, your own mind, your own responses, your own creativity. That's part of the editorial process."