What Does XML Do For Editors?
At first glance, it may seem that the only negatives to XML fall on the editorial team. Because every item in an XML document must be tagged, there is more work for the editor prior to handover to production. However, this can easily be done in Microsoft Word or whatever other software you typically use. What's more, tools exist to automatically tag documents, only leaving you the job of spot-checking or resolving any anomalies the tool has found.
There are undoubted benefits in the revision process, though. XML-based documents are held in a single source and outputted as a book, and ebook etc from that. This makes creating new or revised editions much easier (and puts an end to an error being corrected in one format, but not another...). What's more XML tools provide the means to track who has amended what, meaning it's easy to see who amended what and when.
Leveraging the value in your back list
To get the most out of XML, it is important to move all in-print items into an XML format. (To think of it another way, you can't watch a television programme recorded on Betamax without a lot of hassle.) However, the conversion of your legacy data need not tie-up internal resources. Outsourcing companies exist to convert your data cost-effectively and to the highest quality.