Our main aims are:
- to advocate on behalf of, and protect the interests of, our members;
- to provide professional up-to-date advice and training;
- to foster high standards in editing, proofreading and indexing.
We have working relationships with editing organisations in other countries, the Society for Editors and Proofreaders (SfEP) in the UK and Editors Canada being the most significant, and we are members of ICRIS (International Committee of Representatives of Indexing Societies), the body that manages international relations between indexing societies and associated groups or networks around the world.
Membership
All AFEPI Ireland members go through a rigorous vetting process when they first apply to join.
We offer two levels of membership: Associate and Full Member. Associates are relatively new to editing, proofreading and/or indexing, or have limited training and/or experience. Full Members are trained, experienced editors, proofreaders and indexers. Many of our Full Members have worked in-house for Irish, UK and US publishers, while others come from academic backgrounds or have worked in an editorial capacity outside of the publishing industry.
You can find out more about joining AFEPI Ireland here.
Directory
For publishers, independent authors, businesses, organisations, state bodies, designers, students (with permission from their college/university) – anyone who uses our services – the Directory of Full Members is a particularly useful tool for sourcing the right freelancer for each project. Aside from editing, proofreading and indexing, most of our members boast other related skills, such as publishing advice and consultancy services, design, ebook formatting, project management, translation, training, typesetting and writing. They also cover a diverse range of specialisms and subject knowledge, and work on different kinds of text: for example, academic, autobiography and memoir, business, young adult and children’s, educational, ESL, fiction, Irish language, law, public administration, sciences and STEM, training manuals and websites.
Code of Practice
We promote best practice not only in editorial skills, but also in the conduct of our businesses. AFEPI Ireland members are bound by our Code of Practice, which enshrines our duty of care to clients, whoever they may be. Under its terms, all our members are required to provide a competent, confidential service, to behave with integrity, and to act in a professional manner at all times.
Training
We place great importance on training and on ongoing professional development to help our experienced members stay nimble and adaptable in this fast-changing industry. We collaborate with the Publishing Training Centre (PTC), the SfEP, Publishing Ireland and the Irish Writers’ Centre to maximise opportunities for high-quality, industry-recognised training for our members (see our Resources page). The benefits package we offer members – reduced rates and subsidies for relevant training, an online forum, access to trade publications – is a means of encouraging them to learn new skills and keep up to date with old ones so they are able to meet the demands of the modern publishing industry.