Red Pencil Conference 2025
On Saturday, November 8, over 300 editors gathered in Lynnwood and online for the Northwest Editors Guild’s 2025 Red Pencil Conference! This year’s hybrid event, Framing our Futures: Perspectives on a Changing Industry, drew 185 in-person attendees, 131 online attendees, and 24 panelists and speakers (11 of whom were Guild members). The program included 15 empowering sessions exploring everything from working with authors to AI to freelancing. “This conference was the boost I needed to re-energize and refocus,” wrote one happy attendee. “I have so many notes and ideas to think through. The professional development from this day is going to help me be a better editor.”
Red Pencil 2025 Day-of Conference Details
It’s finally here! Read on for everything you need to know about Red Pencil Conference 2025: Framing Our Future: Perspectives on a Changing Industry. See you in Lynnwood or online! Read on for details about the in-person conference.
Can’t Wait for Red Pencil 2025? Meet Our Keynote Speaker Jane Friedman
Psst… the Red Pencil Conference is just three weeks away! Whether you’re joining us online or in person at the Lynnwood Event Center, we’ve got an exciting conference planned for you on Saturday, Nov. 8!
No matter which type of ticket you choose, all of this year’s conference attendees get to start the day with an inspiring keynote by publishing expert Jane Friedman, who will discuss how AI is already transforming the editorial process and offer a clear-eyed assessment of both the opportunities and threats that AI presents to editors and writers alike. This thoughtful take by an industry veteran will begin at 9:30 a.m. PST at the Lynnwood Event Center, where it will also be livestreamed and recorded for virtual attendees.
We’re so excited about Jane’s keynote that we’ve asked her for more information about her long career and topics she may explore during her keynote address—Editing in the Age of AI: Protecting and Advancing the Craft of Writing—which you can read below. Don’t miss out on Jane’s full keynote address at this year’s Red Pencil Conference on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025! You’ll also be able to buy a copy of her book, The Business of Being a Writer, at the Third Place Books table at the conference.
Three Ways to Experience This Year’s Red Pencil Conference
Online vs. In-Person vs. Hybrid Conference: Which is Best For You?
In a world where Zoom calls and virtual meetups have become the norm, the debate between in-person and online conferences is more relevant than ever. While some people swear by the energy and networking opportunities of face-to-face events, others appreciate the convenience and accessibility of tuning in from anywhere. That’s why we designed this year’s Red Pencil Conference to offer both in-person and virtual attendance on November 8, with a third hybrid option that incorporates in-person attendance with digital perks like online access to recordings!
What's in Store for Red Pencil 2025?
The Northwest Editors Guild's 9th biennial Red Pencil Conference will take place on Saturday, November 8, 2025! This year's theme is Framing Our Future: Perspectives on a Changing Industry. The 2025 Red Pencil conference will explore how editors can play a pivotal role in shaping the future of our industry during this time of rapid change.
With an inspiring keynote and a full day of sessions led by experts in our field, we'll examine the myriad challenges and opportunities facing editors today. These include the dizzying growth of AI, rising censorship and intellectual property theft, and preserving the diversity and value that is vital to our industry.
Keynotes and Copyediting Fiction with Amy J. Schneider
Red Pencil is back after a four-year hiatus, and we’re pleased to announce that Amy J. Schneider, a veteran editor and author of the new book, The Chicago Guide to Copyediting Fiction, will be the keynote speaker at this year’s conference. If you haven’t registered yet, the deadline for the Early Bird registration has been extended to March 13, so don’t miss out! Read on to hear from Amy about her keynote, staying current in the publishing industry, and how her StetPet, “Alice the Land Shark,” helps her work.
Presenting at Red Pencil with Joanie Eppinga
The deadline for submitting presentation proposals and ideas for Red Pencil 2023 has been extended to Sunday, October 16, so if you’ve got something you want to share with the editing community (or you have an idea you want to suggest someone else share, especially if they’re local!), please get in touch with our conference planning committee. In case you’re nervous about speaking in front of a large group, we want to assure you that Red Pencil is just about the friendliest group you could start with! I sat down with Guild member and past Red Pencil conference and ACES presenter Joanie Eppinga to chat with her about her experiences and advice about presenting.
Give Back by Volunteering for the EdsGuild
Do you want to help create beneficial opportunities for fellow editors? All it takes is your time and knowledge and signing up for one of the Northwest Editors Guild’s upcoming volunteer options.
The Guild is now in the process of recruiting volunteers for board service (beginning in January 2022) as well as conference planning for the next Red Pencil Conference in Seattle (scheduled for late 2022).
Building Relationships: A Post-Conference Conversation
To all the editors who participated in the Northwest Editors Guild’s Red Pencil Conference 2019 in September, we’d like to say once more—thank you for joining us! It was a day full of new perspectives, new ideas, new skills, and new voices. It was also a day for celebrating editors and our commitment to creating bridges between writers and readers.
We would also like to thank once again the many supporters who stepped up to make the Guild’s first scholarship program a reality this year. Six Voice & Voices scholarships were awarded to encourage six editors to attend their first Red Pencil Conference. We hope they will continue to add their voices to our growing editorial community.
English as We Have Loved It
When Amy Einsohn’s classic Copyeditor’s Handbook was first published in 2000, at least 50 percent of copyeditors in the book industry (a sector of publishing rarely ahead of the technology curve) were still marking paper manuscripts with No. 2 pencils, according to panelists at a conference for on-screen editing held in San Francisco that year. Many deft amateurs still learned their craft, as Amy and I had, by apprenticing to a battle-tested in-house editor or by following hand-marked foul copy while proofreading typeset galleys. Publishers, the traditional gatekeepers of content, still typically anointed lucky authors for fifteen minutes of fame, although spurned writers sometimes resorted to the widely disparaged practice of “vanity publishing” by digging into their own pockets. Some of us editors even had “real jobs”—the kind with regular paychecks and benefits. (Secure in my niche as managing editor at the University of California Press, I was among the fortunate ones.)
The culture and practice of editing have profoundly changed since then.