Copyediting Explained

When someone "gets all up in your sentences" what is really going on? Scott Berkun explains in How copyediting looks and feels. I first saw this comprehensive article referred to as "Understanding copyediting for writers." It's not exactly that, but writers should know about this vital part of getting any kind of manuscript published. He explains it in terms of book publishing, but editing is editing and:

Copyeditors have a tough job. They have to sort out what the author was trying to do, and then help them do it. But if a writer botches a sentence or a paragraph (or chapter), it’s hard for copyeditors to figure out the intent.

Berkun's method of editing is incredibly labor-intensive. Most of my clients are happy if I just "clean up" their manuscripts for books, stories, articles and essays. I offer the option of using MS Word's Track Changes feature, but most opt for the quicker fix that does not complicate the document. I suspect most do not even know "Track Changes" exists.

On the other hand, if someone wants a peek inside an editor's mind or is trying to learn editing "by Braille" studying a document that displays the original and changed text could work. If the editor had the patience to explain why she made each change, so much the better.

I usually just tell them, "It sounds better" or "It is clearer" and "I am 65 years old and I've read a lot of books, written countless pieces that were published, and I have the style manuals at my fingertips, that's why." An editor is a harsh mistress.

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Women of Religions

Reading Girl Mary by Petru Popescu set me pondering the books I've read in the last few years about significant women in religions. I thought it must be rather difficult to write about them, especially in light of the current tensions among different groups. Would I dare to fictionalize one, or not, because of fear of retaliation?

I asked Popescu that question, and he indicated he had no trepidations at all, but he did offer to tell us about writing this book. He has advice for approaching historical figures as novel subjects. He said to write with "passion" and that:

When you write about the mystical, you believe in it. That is the rule of thumb and the best advice I can give to writers who attempt to write about religion and its formidably puzzling characters and events.

Read all of Popescu's article.

My saga of books on female religious figures began with The Red Tent by Anita Diamont (Jewish). The most recent were Girl Mary (Christian) and Mother of the Believers by Kamran Pasha (Islamic). I'm still reading Hinduism, which has such deep and diverse roots that no single woman or goddess stands out, though I feel drawn to Kali.

In between these book ends, as it were, are the writings based on the figure Mary Magdalene (Christian): Labyrinth by Kate Mosse, The Expected One by Kathleen McGowan and, of course, Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. These books are part of a larger literary saga I've been on, reading about strong women, many of the books set in Asia.

Now, as promised last week, I have copies of Girl Mary to send to the first five people who comment (US addresses only, please). Comments may be on this post or Popescu's article. Be sure to send me your address by email: writers.edge [AT] gmail.com (Give-away has ended.)

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Banned Books Week '09

It's ALA | Banned Books Week and I say burn those bras! Oops, wrong era. Burn and ban those books! Nothing makes an item more popular than prohibition. Nothing makes people want to do something more than someone else saying "No you can't."

In junior high school, Julie Weitz's mother got a copy of Lady Chatterly's Lover, smuggled into the country who knows how. Julie and I spent the night under the covers with a flashlight, giggling over all the underlined parts.

By high school, I'd graduated to finding my mother's copy of Peyton Place. I "borrowed" it, replacing the the slipcover with one from another book. Just my luck, she wanted to continue reading the scandalous exposé before I finished devouring it.

My college years introduced Lawrence Durrell's The Black Book and Alexandria Quartet and Henry Miller's Black Spring. I still have those paperbacks from the 60s.

Supposedly, I was all grown up before acquiring Lolita, but young enough to thrill to the idea of reading a forbidden pleasure. Later additions have included erotic books by Anais Nin and Pauline Reage's The Story of O (more distressing than naughty).

All of these have become practically de rigueur, and the uptight bluestockings are left with only children's books to castigate.

Simon & Schuster provides a striking image of a poem about BBW, Manifesto, by Ellen Hopkins, bestselling author of Crank and newly published Tricks. Also, the Banned Books Week website offers information and useful suggestions for how to celebrate honor events.

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Dorraine Darden, Author

As promised, the interview with Dorraine Darden, author of Jack Rabbit Moon, a quite good self-published novel. I asked Dorraine to share her experiences in this enterprise and if she'd do it again. She provides important tips for writers who are considering self-publishing, including a list of best resources at the end of the article. Keep in mind that this is only one set of experiences and one author's knowledge. You need to check out everything for yourself.

I especially liked her answer to the question, "What are you doing to market Jack Rabbit Moon?"

I’m a hat-wearing mama. And boots and glittery shawls. These days an author must give it all they’ve got. Besides book signings, book club appearances, library workshops, blogging, writing forums, and writing for my community newsletter, I make wide use of the internet. An author website at Dorraine Darden.com, along with twitter, face book, my space, your space, and the whole Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Right now, though I’m carving out time to write again. This is where it all begins.

Read the whole interview here and in brief at BlogCritics.org.
Still to come: a review of JACK RABBIT MOON.

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Be BAD With Me!

A Writer's Edge is participating in Blog Action Day 2009: Climate Change. Please join us.

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Why Hire Editors?

A publisher's view of editors from Brian Jud's September 21 edition of the Book Marketing Matters newsletter:

Over the next seven issues of Book Marketing Matters I will describe one of seven signposts on the road to good publishing. Here is the first.

Signpost #1: Editorial Content. You know what you want to write. But no book should be published before it has received good editorial input and direction. A seasoned editor brings objectivity and can lend clarity, coherence, and structure to what you have to say. If your book isn’t accessible, it won’t get good reviews and come to the attention of your audience.

Eric Kampmann, President, Midpoint Trade Books

Alrighty! The Big Dogs on the Twitter chat about using the Internet, specifically blogs, for marketing urge me to be more, um, assertive? So, I'm just sayin' see the Writing Services page for information about hiring me to edit your material. Oh, and a juicy bone to dear Amy Africa @amyafrica : CONTACT ME.

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Content for Writing Sites

Thinking of setting up a blog or site about writing? I've found just the place to obtain content. At the iSnare articles marketing site are 2,330 (their count) articles on writing. No kidding, I found 78 pages of approximately 20 links each to full length pieces. I estimate about 1500 offerings, woven with numerous Google ads.

The site offers RSS feeds that will automatically populate a web page with the articles. Consequently, someone who knows absolutely nothing about writing and editing can set up a blog or a site on writing. I recognized few of the bylines, and the ones I did are not top tier writers.

The way I found the source was by visiting a new Twitter follower's site and backtracking through layers of links. Makes me wonder why I bother to whip up these original postings.

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Sneak Previews

Coming up: an interview with Dorraine Darden, author of Jack Rabbit Moon (see the nicely done book trailer featured here) about her adventures in self-publishing and plans for her next book. That's Dorraine, to the right, hiding behind, oh, maybe a cottonwood beside the Frio River? I'll be reviewing her lovely novel soon, too.

I'm not quite sure how I pulled this off, but Petru Popescu, author of Girl Mary, will prepare an essay for us on writing about famous female religious figures. About his book, Elie Wiesel said, "In this novel Petru Popescue's literary imagination will stimulate the reader's interest in religious and historical events." We will also have a few copies to give away, thanks to Simon & Schuster. Shall we have a contest? Lottery?

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Bibliodicks & Tricks

The publicity had me at "bibliodick." I've known a few "dicks" in my days, but never one meriting the prefix "biblio". The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Bartlett is one of the few I really could scarcely put down once I began reading. And I hope the author won't be insulted when I say I kept forgetting it is a true crime story. It reads like a novel. Enthralling. I was also enraptured and encouraged to find a veteran journo who could switch to a long form and write such a lyrical and erudite narration. Kudos! That the story is about old books is a bonus.

Not so enticing is Jill Dearman's bang the keys "Based on eternal principles that work for scribes of all stripes." I hesitate to trash the production of someone I've connected with on LinkedIn for fear she'll drop me, and I won't be able to stand the rejection. Well, let's just say that I am not persuaded by her acronymic B.A.N.G. "four steps to a lifelong writing practice." And I was totally turned off by her style--a breezy affection of a 40's noir film star channeling Tallulah Bankhead (darling!) If you're in need of prompts, the back cover promises "an armful of clever and penetrating exercises." That, there are in abundance. Oh, and lots and lots of name dropping.

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Can You See Me Now?

Most browsers should display my ubiquitous puss (icon, avatar) in the address window and tab now. Maybe it shows up other places listing the blog and/or feed, too. That is, if I followed the instructions correctly from Favicon generator and free .ico image host: Favicon for your blog ~ Blogger Book (via Kit Courteney Writes out of MyBlogLog).

This blog used to sport a favicon, then it fell out in a Blogger.com template upgrade or update or some such. I was too lazy busy to find the process again. Anyway, you can dude up your blog, or any web page, with such a trinket. Is this branding? My face in every place?

My attempts to design a logo always end on the drawing board. A three-letter name does not lend itself well to a square image. I like the "AWE" in text as a short-hand method to refer to this site, but as art it "SUX". Maybe some of you more creative peoples would like to submit proposals? I'm open to something using the site colors(#FFF3DB and #996600 I think).

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F-ing Lost

Going off at half-cock: The Daily Express's Ant and Dec headline,caught between editions.

The Daily Express had a prime example over the weekend of what can happen when you fiddle around with a headline.

Via Media Monkey.

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Remembering 9/11

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Ad Network Apocalypse?

What if they gave an apocalypse and no one came? Riffing on an old anti-war slogan, Advertising Age asks What Happened to the Ad-Network Apocalypse? If you're unfamiliar with what ad networks are, they're companies that partner with advertisers and publishers to buy and sell ads on sites they don't own themselves, similar to Google AdSense.

Warren Lee thinks only 15-20 of the 300-400 ad networks really matter, but the decimation predicted last year has not occurred. Some factors he cites include a growing but fragmented audience for increasing numbers of sites and the economical aspect of online advertising.

I thought this was interesting for bloggers who are always looking for ways to "monetize" their blogs (websites, web pages). That means make some moolah to help defray site costs, at least. And most bloggers start out with Google's AdSense, only to discover they aren't allowed to use any other ad system on a page that displays Google's. Until now.

A couple of weeks ago, Google notified AdSense clients that you will

soon be able to allow multiple ad networks to show on your pages, which means that advertisers from external Google-certified networks will be able to compete with AdWords advertisers for your ad space.

There are a few restrictions, and the email didn't list the "certified networks", but ads from these networks will compete with Google ads to show on sites, and the ad generating the highest revenue for publishers will be displayed, Google says. Since pictures (with audio) speak louder, here's a video on the subject:

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World Literacy Day

Heads up! Better World Books will be offering 15% off all used books available on its site today . Readers should use the code “4Literacy” at checkout in order to receive the discount.This is to celebrate International Literacy Day on Tuesday, September 8th.

Better World Books is a for-profit social enterprise that collects and sells books online with each sale generating funds for literacy initiatives in the U.S. and around the world. With more than three million new and used titles in stock, Better World Books is a self-sustaining company that balances the social, economic and environmental values of its stakeholders. Better World Books diverts books from landfills by conducting book drives on 1,800 college campuses, and by collecting discards from over 1,800 libraries.

Since its founding in 2003, the Atlanta-based company has raised $7 million for its non-profit literacy, library and college partners; donated over 1.3 million college textbooks; diverted more than 25 million pounds of books from landfills; and achieved over 9,000 tons of carbon offsets through carbon-neutral shipping.

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Happy Labor Day!

Happy Labor Day!

(editors never stop working)

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Posting Announcements

Take a cue from advertising. Put enough correct information in your announcements for people to know what you're talking about, who it's for, when it is happening, how much it costs and where they can find it.

I just spent a frustrating five minutes trying to track down what looked like a chat on writing. The poster wrote two items about whatever it was. The first gave a day and time, but didn't list the time zone. The second referred to "yesterday" (always use a date) and provided a wildly invalid link to what was supposed to be a blog post about the event--whatever it was. She also gave a different time, still without reference to time zone. Here's a hint: on the Internet, not everyone lives on the east coast of the U.S. even if they're dogs.

And call a spade a spade. If the event involves streaming audio/video online, don't call it "radio." If it requires a long distance phone call, explain that your "webinar" will probably cost participants, even if no fee is involved. Don't call it "free" unless you're providing a toll-free number that works worldwide.

I like to think I have at least average intelligence, but I'll bet no one other than the originator of the announcement I read knows Who did What, When, Where and Why or How. Gee, now where have I heard that before?

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Big Caturday Celebration

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

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Bad Writing Advice

Why would I tell you how to write badly? Or give you bad writing advice? Susan K. Perry, Ph.D. is a social psychologist, writer, and writing consultant. Among her books are Writing in Flow: Keys to Enhanced Creativity and Psychology Today saw some merit in having Perry produce 11 Types of Bad Writing Advice.My first reaction was to jump on it and see how I could turn it all about to provide a quick fix of "good writing advice". I'm not alone in an effort to improve life by thinking positive, casting fresh French baguettes across the ocean, as it were. If what goes around comes around, it might as well be nourishing and gourmet! So, let's see what we can do with Ms. Perry's list of bad advice to avoid: anything that limits, cramps, narrows, demeans, distracts, diverts, straitjackets, inhibits, stymies, cripples or dictates.

"Well, duh!" I thought. No, wait. There must be value here or the magazine would not have posted this blog entry, right? Let's apply critical thinking to the kinds of suggestions I give people who want to be writers or to develop their writing skills. The first that comes to mind is the one Jane Friedman uses as the title of her blog: There are no rules! And I realized Perry's piece provides examples of the types of "rules" tossed at newbies like live grenades.

The idea is to not adopt any attitude or practice that shackles you to just one way of thinking, behaving, writing, form, or style. You may think, "That's no help, Lady!", which brings me to my second iota of writing wisdom: It's all guidance, suggested methods to try out and discard if it doesn't work for you. Some of them mean, "Don't do this in excess in one piece of writing." Let me illustrate with Perry's last piece of exaggeration:

Avoid adverbs; never use the passive voice; don't start a sentence with "there are." Every one of these "rules" has been broken repeatedly to terrific effect by top writers. And while there are established formats for query letters, nonfiction book proposals, and novel synopses, for every successful sale based on those formats, there's a major exception.

Aye, here's the rub: the people we are dumping all this advice upon are not "top writers". They are the "bottom writers" (especially if they're pantsers, if you will!) I don't encourage a vertical hierarchy about much in life, so I prefer to refer to those at the center and those on the periphery, hoping to work their way into the swirl that is the writing galaxy. Those at the center did not get far if they began and persisted in "exception" mode.

The idea is first to learn to write well. When you are just starting out, don't lean on the crutches of adverbs, adjectives, do-nothing verbs, colorless nouns and "there are" constructions. You need to strengthen your writing with strong action verbs and descriptive nouns.

Just because John Updike wrote in first person and sometimes used mundane openers like "It wasn't so much that ...", peppered his works with long adjectival passages and didn't hesitate to pop in an adverb to modify an already carefully chosen verb, doesn't mean that your writing will shine if you this do, too, if that's all you can do. Updike was/is one of the brilliant suns we revolve around because of all the other writing woven through these "broken rules", brilliance that can support the lesser structures.

Yeah, yeah. Fly away! Be free! But first begin with some grounding in the basics. It's sort of like sending children to any Sunday School, so that they will have something to rebel against when it comes time to choose for themselves what to believe. Writers, like children, need a context and structure to get them off to a good start.

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Best Magazine Cover

Amazon customers have a unique opportunity to pick their favorite magazine cover of the year! Who do you think had the hottest look this season? Customers can vote for their favorite magazine cover from ten categories, and also choose the best cover out of the top finalists. Customers who vote for their most memorable cover will have the chance to win a $10,000 Amazon.com gift card!

This year, the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) has selected six finalists in each of the ten categories, including Best Obama Cover, Sexiest Cover and Most Delicious Cover, among others, with the final winners to be announced on October 14 at the Magazine Innovation Summit in New York City.

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Editing Importance

Fired for fancy fonts? According to the NZ Herald, "an Auckland accountant was sacked for sending 'confrontational' emails with words in red, in bold and in capital letters." Apparently, we need to add "courtesy" and good editing to the call for electronic etiquette.

All was not lost for Vicki Walker, for the country's Employment Relations Authority ruled against her employer, ProCare. An authority member explained: "ProCare did not have a style or etiquette guide for employees using email, so it was not clear what was regarded as unacceptable communication." Still, Walker spent thousands suing her former employer and was out of work for 13 weeks.

When you email co-workers DO NOT SHOUT at them. Or me.

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NY Times Book Reviews

Best Sunday morning reading: NY Times book reviews. I knew there must be a good reason why I look to the NY Times Sunday book reviews as role models. I just never knew how picky they are! Book Publishing News: The New York Times Book Review Selection Process Revealed by Scott Lorenz:

Gewen says The Book Review does not print the names of its editors except when they write articles. Furthermore, he stated that there are only about 17 people on the Review roster including support staff.

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