The Editor’s Book is worth checking out if your job includes editing or you just simply like a book as an artifact. It is a good example of a quality book, both visually and in terms of content. The appearance is harmonious and perfectly meets the requirements for book typography that Markus Itkonenspells out in one of the book’s selections. As for the contents, the book consists of twenty cogent articles that deal with publishing, book-editing, the book as artifact, and marketing. A large appendix presents sample contracts, proofreading marks, and an editor’s checklist. The book’s editor,Teijo Makkonen, says that there’s no formal training program for book editors; the work has to be learned on the job. The core competence is deciding what to publish, declares Harri Haanpää. According to him, the decision is based on the ability to distinguish the significant from the insignificant; rejection is an essential skill, since that’s what the editor does 99.5% of the time. Authors often forget that publishing is a business, and that a book is the product. Arto Tuokko calculates that in Finland a book has to sell two thousand copies before the publisher breaks even − and most books don’t come near that. That’s why Timo Salo suggests that editors add another category to their bedtime reading: sales figures.