Helping Writers Go from Unpublished to Published
As a writer, I use Scrivener to create my documents—even my blog posts. As an editor, my primary tool is MS Word and Track Changes. While I’ve never asked other editors what they use, I’d venture they use track changes, too.
That makes it critical for writers to understand what track changes are and how to use them.
So today, I’m offering a video from Lynda.com as a quick tutorial.
For those of you who missed last month’s Facebook live Ask the Editor video, I’m sharing it here today.
Never mind that I couldn’t seem to say my name that day–the hazards of live video. 🙂 The question is “Should I use real restaurants, stores, and places in my story?” [Read more…] about Should I Use Real Places in my Story?
There are hundreds, probably thousands, of books on the market that deal with the craft of writing—learning plot, character development, story arc, and such. But sadly missing from the list is grammar.
I know it’s a school subject many people hated. Do they still make kids learn how to diagram a sentence? Maybe diagramming a sentence is what turned us off.
But lately I’ve been stuck on grammar. So much so that I’m rereading one of my college text books. As an editor I need to know the rules, otherwise how [Read more…] about Do I need to master grammar to be a better writer?
I’ve been hard at work lately, developing a booklet just for you.
Yes, I notice your reluctance to hire a freelance editor. I understand that hesitation. You don’t know whom to hire; you don’t know if you’ll get scammed; you don’t know how to evaluate the editing you get back. No doubt, though, residing at #1 is How much is it going to cost?
So I’ve put together what I call 7 Cheats Sheets to Cut Editing Costs to help you reduce your editing costs. My critique group is clamoring for the final product because [Read more…] about 7 Cheat Sheets to Cut Editing Costs – Coming Soon
Because my kids graduated from school long ago, I no longer know what’s taught in English class—aside from the “cursive writing” controversy. I only know I see a wide variety of grammar and format errors in the manuscripts I edit and proofread.
Many writers incorrectly format numbers, dates, and times, so I thought I’d give you some basic guidelines today. [Read more…] about How to Format Numbers, Dates, and Times in Your Manuscript
“I can’t afford to hire a professional editor,” you say.
But you can’t afford not to hire one. The quality—or lack thereof—of your story directly impacts your ability to land a traditional publishing contract. If you publish indie, it impacts your sales. And who doesn’t want lots of sales?
I don’t say this just because I’m an editor. Even I send my own work to a writer friend to edit. That’s because it’s hard for us see the mistakes in our own writing.
That’s why I encourage you to hire an editor.
We all know professional editing costs can add up, but I often get the impression that writers expect it to start at $5000 and go up from there. Even $1000 is a lot when that same amount pays the mortgage for a month or two.
Let’s take a look at the industry standard fees given in Writer’s Market 2017. [Read more…] about A New Perspective on the Cost of Freelance Editors
When I went to high school, teachers taught us to underline book titles. With the advent of all things digital, that changed. In fact a lot got changed.
What I’m talking about is the stylized treatment of text.
In the world of publishing, there are two style books that pull most of the weight. In the book world, The Chicago Manual of Style is the primary style guide (first published in 1906!). This book contains over 1000 pages and instructs how to [Read more…] about Should I Use Italics or Quotation Marks? A Style Guide to Formatting Titles
Today’s my birthday, so I decided to take the day off and have my friend Donna Wittlif guest post. I first met Donna through an online group I belong to and then had the opportunity to edit one of her books—fascinating sci-fi.
She is a retired special education and English teacher who loves writing. Her World Eternal series are science fiction/religious stories for young adults and adults.
When writers are working on a book, [Read more…] about Don’t Make These Mistakes in Doing Research