Category: On editing

Mistakes Were Made: On editing, proofing, and why errors get through

GREETINGS, fellow travelers.

I was talking with my colleague, fellow writer/editor/publisher R.G. Emanuelle this morning (and if you have not read her work, her latest is an awesome F/F gothic thriller/mystery).

R.G. and I are co-founders and co-owners of publishing venture Dirt Road Books. We and 4 other authors got together and launched it in 2017. R.G. and I come from traditional publishing back in the day; collectively, we have over 40 years of experience in publishing (omg dinosaurs roaming the earth).

Both of us worked with publishing houses before ebooks, way before the availability of platforms as we know them now, so we’ve been editing and proofing manuscripts in various formats for a while.

Today we were talking about typos and errors that sneak into the final product, and I thought I would offer some thoughts about how and why that happens, and I’ll do a comparison of old-school vs. new-school processes in publishing a manuscript.

Also, it might be valuable for readers who don’t have a background in publishing or editing to understand the amount of work that goes into a manuscript, whether its format is print or ebook, so you understand why books are priced the way they are. Sure, you can say that “ebooks should be priced even lower than they currently are because they’re just electronic files,” but the fact is, the manuscript behind that ebook went through an ass-load of work before it got ebooked. You wouldn’t do a ton of work on contract for a pittance, would you? Or for free? Well, there you go. Just something else to ponder.

Anyway, let’s break this down. Continue reading →

by Categories: Editing, On editing, Publishing, Publishing bizness, Things that might make you think, WritingTags: , , , , 6 Comments

Different types of editors in publishing, cont.

Hi, kids. Since people seem to have been interested in the last post I put up about editing, I thought I’d put this one up, too. This, as well, was previously posted at Women and Words, where I am an administrator.

At any rate, the last post I did here on my site about editing dealt a lot with the PROCESS a manuscript goes through prior to publication. Here, I’ll talk about all the different TYPES of editors you might run across in the publishing world, including those who might call themselves acquiring editors and/or managing editors and things like that. The publishing world involves business, and many editors are thus tied up with the business itself of publishing.

We’re not just mechanics for your manuscript. We are also gatekeepers and observers of what goes on in the publishing world, tracking trends and looking for the next big kind of genre that people might want to buy. Literary agents are often editors, too. They have to be. They’re assessing manuscripts and thinking about how to get that manuscript the best placement possible. They’re looking for manuscripts that might be trendy, but with new and interesting twists. And they’re also looking for the Next Big Thing, whatever that might be.

source: DarkMatters

So yes, the nuts and bolts of actually editing a manuscript are important. But there are all kinds of other things at play, too, and these are tied to the publishing world and to the business. So let’s go have a look.

EDITING ROCKS! Read on to see why.

Continue reading →

by Categories: Editing, On editing, Writing, Writing tipsTags: , , 4 Comments

Mysteries explained: The editing process

Hiya, friends. Thought I’d re-post something from Women and Words here (tweaked a little for updating purposes).

This is a post I did on the different kinds of editors and how they figure in publishing. Someone recently found it and pinged it, saying it was “useful.” So I figured I’d pass it along to you.

So let’s go find out about the editing process, one of the mysteries of publishing.

Continue reading →

by Categories: Editing, On editing, Publishing bizness, WritingTags: , , 6 Comments

Ah, the importance of editors

Hi, fellow readers and writers! And assorted peeps!

I’ve been on the road for a few days. When I travel, I take books. Actual paperbacks. OMG, like, I must be some kind of antique! Don’t worry, I also take my Kindle, but I generally have at least 1 paperback, usually 2. This time, I had 5, because I was going to be on the road for a few days.

Anyway, I had a couple of thrillers by a writer I enjoy reading, an urban fantasy by another writer I enjoy reading, and two novels by urban fantasy authors new to me. All of these paperbacks are published by mainstream houses, big imprints.

One of my writing colleagues says that when you read a novel and all of its parts are working as they should (plot, characterization, dialogue, narrative style), then you don’t stop reading. You flow with the text from beginning to end (maybe stopping to re-read something because it was really cool or really struck you). But if the parts aren’t working, you’ll know because it’s like hitting a pothole when you’re driving. Or coming to a traffic light where you sit for a while.

And that’s exactly what happened while reading one of the books by an urban fantasy author whose work I didn’t know.

The things that interrupt my reading flow are the dreaded “telling and not showing,” stilted dialogue, plot holes, and misspellings. Typos I can understand because I’m an editor, and I get that not everything will be caught. We do the best we can, but a few get through. I can forgive a typo here and there in a book. However, misspellings are another matter. An editor needs to know how to spell and which form of a word is correct. In one of these books, editors dropped the ball. In the other, they let a couple things slip through. Editing is, in some ways, an art. But like any art, it requires extensive knowledge of writing and grammatical mechanics. Editors need to be painstaking in their work. They need to be detail-oriented. And sometimes, that just doesn’t happen. Even at the big houses.


[source]

Continue reading →

by Categories: Editing, On editing, Writing tipsTags: , 6 Comments

Publishing biz stuff, and randomness

Hi, sexies!

I know, I know. Everybody’s rushing around for the holidays, gettin’ crazy. That’s fine. I hope everyone maintains their sanity and stays safe.

Okay, just to point you to a few things that you might find groovy. I do blogs over at Women and Words now and again that deal with the business of publishing for readers. That is, readers who might be curious about what goes on in the bowels of the industry.

Here’s one on royalties.
And here’s another on the editing process a manuscript goes through.

And here’s my handy holiday gift guide!

There you go. Don’t want to keep you too long. More randomness tomorrow, I think.

Cheers!

by Categories: On editing, Publishing bizness, Random WTF stuffTags: , , ,

Mysteries of publishing explained

Hi, folks–

I also blog over at a site called Women and Words, and today’s post is about the process a manuscript goes through once it’s contracted. Specifically, the editing process.

Click HERE to go right that post at Women and Words.

I’ve also blogged about the kind of money a writer can expect (not much) in my off-and-on series. You can catch that post HERE.

Just a heads-up for you readers who are interested, maybe, in what goes on behind the scenes for writers. And for beginning writers, it might help you out, too.

Happy reading, happy writing, happy Friday!

by Categories: On editing, Publishing biznessTags:

Want to catch more in your writing? Tips for that!

Hi, folks!

Editing tips can actually help you recognize not-so-great stuff in your writing so you can make it better. Dustin Wax says that learning to edit can help you write better.


source: Kathleen Grieve

QUOTE:
The best writers know differently, of course — their memoirs and biographies and writing manuals are filled with stories of books that needed to be cut in half to be readable, sentences that took weeks or months to get just right, and lifetimes spent tinkering with a single work that never strikes them as “just right”. To paraphrase a common saying among writers, there is no good writing, only good re-writing.

But if writing isn’t taught well enough or often enough these days, editing is hardly taught at all. This is too bad, since editing is where the real work of writing is at. More than just proofreading, good editing improves the clarity and forcefulness of a piece.

One of those tips, which I find particularly useful for writing better dialogue, is reading out loud. Wax also recommends reading in reverse. And CUT, don’t add. Another of my faves, get rid of adverbs.

More awesome tips at Wax’s blog at Lifehack.

Have fun!

Happy writing, happy reading.

by Categories: On editing, Writing tipsTags: , , ,