Blog

The Talk

(Presented at the 2009 NCPA Conference)

Editing: The Invisible Art that Takes Your Book from “Self-Published” to “Professionally Published”

Good afternoon!

My name is Sandra Williams, and I’ve provided writing, editing, and design services since 1996. Before that I ran a marketing and publicity office, and before that I edited a weekly newspaper. My first love has always been books—I still have a few shelves of Nancy Drew books that back in the day cost only 60 cents—and in recent years I’ve been thrilled to work primarily with authors and publishers.

Something else about me—I like to work in t-shirts and sweats, and when the weather’s warm I rarely wear shoes. But today I dressed a little more formally. I put on some nice pants and a buttoned shirt because all of you here, no matter how open-minded you are, are going to get some kind of impression of me, are going to base your opinion of my credibility, on my appearance. Seriously, could you trust my judgment if I walked in here wearing a bathrobe and one shoe?
Continue reading “Editing: The Invisible Art talk and handouts”

I’ll be speaking at the annual conference held by Northern California Publishers & Authors on Saturday, April 25, 3:00-4:15 p.m.

Editing: The Invisible Art that Takes Your Book from “Self-Published” to “Professionally Published”

When asked recently how they felt about self-published books, nearly one in five of the news media who responded specifically mentioned the poor quality of editing. General readers are no more forgiving, as demonstrated by reviews at Amazon.com.

What is editing? Can anyone do it? What skills and tools are needed? You will learn:

• The different kinds of editing
• How to know which kind of editing your manuscript needs
• How to find the right editor for your manuscript
• Your role as author or publisher in the editing process

More information about the conference, including details about other speakers (John Kremer, Marion Gropen, Nora Profit, Robert Brekke) and how to register, are at the NCPA Web site.

Just want to make sure everyone understands that a professional editor or copyeditor is not going to mock you or make fun of your work.

By the time we see your manuscript, you’ve spent months and often years on it. Our job is to help ensure your words are clear to the reader and to make you look as good as possible. It’s a collaborative relationship that works best when there is mutual respect. In all cases, the book belongs to the author, and the author has final say.

Of course there will be infelicities, unless you are one of those rare* people who is perfect. A typical manuscript comprises 100,000 words. That’s 100,000 opportunities for error at minimum, compounded by words’ pesky habit of working in tandem and our brains’ tendency to spit out commonly heard terms while our eyes overlook them.

Copyeditor’s note: “Our brain’s tendency” or “our brains’ tendency”? A judgment** call. Although there’s only one brain per person, using the singular brings up the image of a collective mind. These constant judgment calls make copyediting the hardest job I do, except for writing.

* Thank goodness!

** Although “judgement” is an acceptable variant spelling, according to Merriam-Webster’s 11th Collegiate Dictionary, the dictionary recommended by The Chicago Manual of Style, “judgment” is the preferred spelling. Major and minor publishers use Chicago for their house style.

It is not okay to take large blocks of writing from Web sites and present that information as your own work.

If I find that work you have given to me to edit is not yours, I will return the project to you.