Copyediting and Proofreading For Dummies


Book Description

Turn your knack for language into a lucrative career Must-know techniques and resources for maximizing your accuracy and speed Interested in becoming a copyeditor or proofreader? Want to know more about what each job entails? This friendly guide helps you position yourself for success. Polish your skills, build a winning résumé and land the job you've always wanted. Books, magazines, Web sites, corporate documents - find out how to improve any type of publication and make yourself indispensable to writers, editors, and your boss. Balance between style and rules Master the art of the query Use proofreader symbols Edit and proof electronic documents Build a solid freelancing career




The Copyeditor's Handbook


Book Description

The Copyeditor's Handbook is a lively, practical manual for newcomers to publishing and for experienced editors who want to fine-tune their skills or broaden their understanding of the craft. Addressed to copyeditors in book publishing and corporate communications, this thoughtful handbook explains what copyeditors do, what they look for when they edit a manuscript, and how they develop the editorial judgment needed to make sound decisions. This revised edition reflects the most recent editions of The Chicago Manual of Style (15th ed.), the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.), and Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (11th ed.).




The Subversive Copy Editor


Book Description

Each year writers and editors submit over three thousand grammar and style questions to the Q&A page at The Chicago Manual of Style Online. Some are arcane, some simply hilarious—and one editor, Carol Fisher Saller, reads every single one of them. All too often she notes a classic author-editor standoff, wherein both parties refuse to compromise on the "rights" and "wrongs" of prose styling: "This author is giving me a fit." "I wish that I could just DEMAND the use of the serial comma at all times." "My author wants his preface to come at the end of the book. This just seems ridiculous to me. I mean, it’s not a post-face." In The Subversive Copy Editor, Saller casts aside this adversarial view and suggests new strategies for keeping the peace. Emphasizing habits of carefulness, transparency, and flexibility, she shows copy editors how to build an environment of trust and cooperation. One chapter takes on the difficult author; another speaks to writers themselves. Throughout, the focus is on serving the reader, even if it means breaking "rules" along the way. Saller’s own foibles and misadventures provide ample material: "I mess up all the time," she confesses. "It’s how I know things." Writers, Saller acknowledges, are only half the challenge, as copy editors can also make trouble for themselves. (Does any other book have an index entry that says "terrorists. See copy editors"?) The book includes helpful sections on e-mail etiquette, work-flow management, prioritizing, and organizing computer files. One chapter even addresses the special concerns of freelance editors. Saller’s emphasis on negotiation and flexibility will surprise many copy editors who have absorbed, along with the dos and don’ts of their stylebooks, an attitude that their way is the right way. In encouraging copy editors to banish their ignorance and disorganization, insecurities and compulsions, the Chicago Q&A presents itself as a kind of alter ego to the comparatively staid Manual of Style. In The Subversive Copy Editor, Saller continues her mission with audacity and good humor.




How to Write a Novel


Book Description

Author and former literary agent Nathan Bransford shares his secrets for creating killer plots, fleshing out your first ideas, crafting compelling characters, and staying sane in the process. Read the guide that New York Times bestselling author Ransom Riggs called "The best how-to-write-a-novel book I've read."




Writing the Breakout Novel


Book Description

Take your fiction to the next level! Maybe you're a first-time novelist looking for practical guidance. Maybe you've already been published, but your latest effort is stuck in mid-list limbo. Whatever the case may be, author and literary agent Donald Maass can show you how to take your prose to the next level and write a breakout novel - one that rises out of obscurity and hits the best-seller lists. Maass details the elements that all breakout novels share - regardless of genre - then shows you writing techniques that can make your own books stand out and succeed in a crowded marketplace. You'll learn to: • establish a powerful and sweeping sense of time and place • weave subplots into the main action for a complex, engrossing story • create larger-than-life characters that step right off the page • explore universal themes that will interest a broad audience of readers • sustain a high degree of narrative tension from start to finish • develop an inspired premise that sets your novel apart from the competition Then, using examples from the recent works of several best-selling authors - including novelist Anne Perry - Maass illustrates methods for upping the ante in every aspect of your novel writing. You'll capture the eye of an agent, generate publisher interest and lay the foundation for a promising career.




Jacob Wonderbar and the Cosmic Space Kapow


Book Description

Out-of-this-world antics in this hysterical middle-grade adventure! Sixth-grader Jacob Wonderbar is a master when it comes to disarming and annihilating substitute teachers. But when he and his best friends, Sarah and Dexter, swap a spaceship for a corn dog, they embark on an outer space adventure. And between breaking the universe with an epic explosion, being kidnapped by a space pirate, and surviving a planet that reeks of burp breath, Jacob and his friends are in way over their heads. Action packed with an added dose of heart, Jacob Wonderbar and the Cosmic Space Kapow is sure to captivate middlegrade readers all over the universe.




The Business of Editing


Book Description




The Lost Girl


Book Description

New Series: Tragedy sends Amy Robbins into her own personal hell. When an enemy tries to take her final hope, FBI Agent Loren Ryder squares off against evil, separating the good guys from the bad.




Egglike


Book Description

"I never fast before medical procedures-it gives me joy to confuse the doctors. I think they like it, too, gives them more of a challenge. Once, on the way to have my kidney removed, I stopped at an all-you-can-eat buffet for a large plate of beef kidneys with mushrooms and garlic. You should have seen the expression on the surgeon's face when he opened me up and had to spot which kidney was mine and which belonged to the beef. I couldn't see his expression though because I was under anesthesia." "Did you have dreams?" "As a child, yes, many times. Dreamed of cowboys, Indians, ghosts, flies in the soup . . ." "Me, I still dream, even now as an adult, even now as I sit here. But I always forget the dreams, so I can't be sure if I really had them or if they were just a dream. How's the duck?" "It's quite exquisite. Like a chicken mixed with a lake. Please, have some." The woman used her fork to take a tiny, almost invisible piece of duck from the man's plate. She drowned it in vinegar, blew on it for a long minute, then ate it while closing her eyes. Egglike is the first novel by musician and artist Adi Gelbart.




All About Copyediting


Book Description

Want to add punch to your prose? Follow these 55 simple edits and improve your writing forever! Getting readers past page one, despite your ‘explosive, fast paced hitting-the-ground-running opening’, is what this guide is all about. Applying the 55 easy editing steps to your fiction will allow reviewers and readers to evaluate your novel purely on the strength of your story and not on clumsy and weak prose, overuse of adverbs, repetition, and flabbiness. And in the process, you will learn to become an experienced and competent editor. Use these 55 steps to: Find redundant adjectives and overused adverbs Banish boring words Learn dialogue writing Write characters more effectively Discover over thirty overused words and phrases such as that, it, up/down, was/were, had, even, got, etc. Reduce overuse of exclamations and the ellipsis Use italics, quotations, and capitalisation properly Target word pairs and homophones Improve your proofreading and editing skills Handle numbers and time effectively ...And discover more about flow, show not tell, writing tenses, dialogue handling and more. All About Copyediting will not tell you how to write a novel, nor how to write like Tolstoy, or any other author. It will certainly not explain how to write bestselling fiction, how to make money, or guarantee you marketing success. What it will guarantee, is to give your novel the best chance it can get in a tough, competitive, and new publishing world. BUY All About Editing and edit your way to success! REVIEW EXCERPTS "An indispensable guide for amateurs and professionals of any theme of word-based creation." "This is a very useful and easily understandeable guide for new writers trying to self publish" "A very useful tool to have on hand." "A must read for any writer to avoid sending a clanger of a draft to a reviewer or publisher! Great value." "The style is clear and accessible. This is a book that I have found invaluable as I rewrite and revise my fiction drafts. Highly recommended" "...gives you simple, clear rules and 55 easy steps to check your book for. It won't turn a poor writer into a great one, but it will help you avoid common mistakes and give you tools to turn telling into showing" "An extremely useful guide for editing manuscripts, written as a set of editing tips." "This is a great resource for authors. I have used it and it works. I highly recommend this book. Great!"