Interview with Flatpage’s Editorial Manager

We’re excited to welcome Ben Clifford to the Flatpage team! Ben came on board as our editorial manager this March, and if you’re starting a project with us, there’s a good chance you’ll get to work with him. Whether it’s academic research, nonprofit communications, or museum publications, Ben brings a calm, thoughtful presence to the editorial process—helping clients sharpen their arguments, clarify complex ideas, and refine their voice without losing what makes it uniquely theirs.

In addition to his own editing work, Ben oversees nearly every project that comes through Flatpage. From assigning the right editor to communicating timelines and needs, he helps ensure everything runs smoothly from start to finish. If you come to us with a new project, you’ll likely hear from Ben—he’s the one who’ll check in about your goals, manage the editing process, and deliver your polished draft when it’s ready. We sat down with him to learn more about his journey from academia to editorial work and what he’s loving most about his role here.

Tell us about your journey from art historian to editor. What inspired that transition?

My move into editorial work was a gradual process, but one that grew naturally out of my experiences in academia and the art world more generally. In grad school I often gave fairly detailed feedback on my colleagues’ seminar or conference papers, and even an MA thesis or two. We were typically rushing to meet a deadline, and so there were limits as to how far I could really dig into a given text to help it reach its full potential. But the experience stuck with me—I really enjoyed the process of working through someone else’s ideas and finding ways to express them as forcefully and clearly as possible. 

Some time later I was able to begin pursuing this kind of work professionally when, after a few years contributing critical reviews, I was offered the role of art editor at the Brooklyn Rail. I jumped at the opportunity!

What’s it like serving as art editor at the Brooklyn Rail? How has that role shaped your editorial sense?

In my opinion the Brooklyn Rail is one of the few remaining platforms where you can say something really substantive and idea-driven about contemporary art and the art world at large. So my first priority when working on an article for the Rail is to preserve and highlight the distinctive perspective that the writer is bringing to their text. At the same time, clarity and accessibility remains essential—especially when you’re dealing with dense theoretical arguments or complex visual analysis. 

Ultimately it’s these two priorities that serve as my lodestars as an editor: How can we preserve the nuance, sophistication, and distinctiveness of a writer’s voice and ideas, while also communicating them with maximum impact, in language appropriate to a broad, although hopefully well-informed, audience?

What kinds of projects do you typically work on at Flatpage?

As you might imagine from my background, at Flatpage my bread and butter remains projects related to the arts and art history, whether they’re coming from individual scholars, museums, or other institutions in the art world. 

That said, one of the things I’ve enjoyed the most about joining Flatpage is that it has given me the opportunity to broaden my horizons and work with texts across a wide variety of formats, objectives, and subjects. For example, this has included a lot of material related to international law and human rights issues (for example, the Open Global Rights blog), which I’ve found particularly rewarding. 

What’s your editorial philosophy when working with a new manuscript?

The first step in approaching any new manuscript is to make sure that I understand the author’s expectations for the editing process. If someone is looking for a final polish of their language, style, and formatting (copyediting), I need to adopt a mindset that is quite different from what is required in a situation where significant questions remain regarding the structure and argumentation of the text (developmental editing). 

In either case, however, the next step is to immerse myself in the text thoroughly. If I’m going to ensure that the author’s ideas come through as powerfully as possible, even the smallest adjustments need to respond to the overall logic and voice of their writing.

What’s one piece of advice you’d give to writers preparing to work with an editor?

The most important thing a writer should understand when working with an editor is that we’re here to help you. Although an edit can be intensive, and your editor may suggest significant changes to the way you structure and articulate what you have to say, ultimately the process is one of collaboration. 

The revisions a good editor makes are always intended to address specific problems—in the end you may not agree with their proposed solution, and that’s perfectly fine. Just understand that they are identifying moments in the text where something has gone wrong and a reader may lose the thread.

What do you enjoy reading in your downtime? Do you seek out certain genres or topics for fun?

I’ve always been a big reader of science fiction and fantasy, from the 1930s pulps, to the experimental “new wave” that stretched from the ’60s into the ’80s, to the present. Here are just a few writers I particularly love: Gene Wolfe, Samuel Delany, Mary Gentle, Susanna Clarke, Michael Moorcock, N.K. Jemisin, Glen Cook.

Want to chat with Ben about your project? He’s available for consultation calls. Book here.