To trust is to maintain “firm belief in the reliability, truth, or ability of someone or something”. Upon receiving the email confirming my editorial placement with Edinburgh Literary Salon, one question kept ringing through my head; can I be trusted? 

As my first ‘official’ entry into the real-world of publishing, I was unsure of how much trust would be placed in me, or how much responsibility I would be afforded, throughout my placement. Despite some previous experience working in an editorial team, you’re never entirely sure what to expect when working with a new group of editors, new works and new authors – anything is possible. Often, editing can be a messy, disorganised process; when applying for the placement, I could only imagine the possible horror story-esque outcomes, perhaps offered one article and expected to return it instantly, or afforded no support from a secondary editor. The powers that be, so to speak, greatly influence the structure of an editorial process, and thus its eventual success. I count myself fortunate, then, that for my placement with Edinburgh Literary Salon, the process has been overwhelmingly supportive. 

Initially allocated a few articles each, we, as an editorial team working on the Salon’s newest anthology, were afforded space and time to develop and recognise our own opinions, stand-out themes and feelings towards the works allocated. This involved meetings between primary and secondary editors – each member was given four pieces of work per role, eight in total – and the team as a whole. Engendering a space for open, productive discussion is crucial in any creative environment, let alone regarding an anthology soon-to-be professionally published. It was a process that instilled both belief and enjoyment in the work I was doing, and it necessitated trust on a multiplicity of levels; foremost, between the Salon themselves and me as an editor throughout this creative process, alongside the trust within our editorial team as we developed the works. It also required trust between myself, the editorial team and the authors themselves, another process within which the Salon’s independent approach bore fruit.  

This element of the process included developing an introductory email from our editorial team to the authors; this felt like a collaborative process where, when I eventually emailed the authors, it felt like I truly had a part in the blueprint, rather than a formulaic, overused draft. Instructed to contact the authors once we had finished our first proofs, this evidently remained rather daunting, despite the collaboratively produced email; whether it was the authors invited to the project, or those carefully chosen through open submission, you never truly know how someone will react when reading their own work through the red lens of editorial scrutiny. While it admittedly helped that each of the authors were extremely gracious and receptive to any criticism thrown at them, this level of trust and independence placed in us, by the Salon, was a crucial part of my experience. 

Ernest Hemingway once noted that “the best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them”; mutual trust matters, and leaves an impact on all parties involved. While my placement still has a few weeks remaining, the process so far has instilled within me a belief that anything is possible when trust is involved, and it is a quality I hope to take forwards, in both a professional and personal sense. 

Image Source – https://anythingworthsaying.com/2016/03/21/the-trust-fall/