During my training sessions with my editorial team in London this weekend we got talking about ebooks – a love ’em or hate ’em kind of discussion. As it invariably does among editors, the subject soon moved to the level of English in ebooks we’ve read. Sadly, the consensus was that the potential exists for ebooks to damage the high standards usually set in the British industry.
One of the editors had recently downloaded a top novel to her e-reader, and found it littered with mistakes – indeed, it seemed clear to her that the version she was reading was not the final manuscript that had been through the publisher’s full editorial process; she had the distinct impression she was reading a version that hadn’t been proofread. Embarrassing for the publisher, we agreed, and puzzling to those of our ilk, because we doubt that the publisher would have allowed the print version to be so messy.
It’s worrying enough that the self-publishing and ebook revolutions are creating an army of authors who don’t realise the need for copy-editing and proofreading to ensure consistent and accurate writing. It’s even more worrying when we notice a publisher lowering its standards as well. Of course, we must assume it’s a mistake (now and again a publisher skips a step in the editorial process, or publishes the wrong version of a book), and that the publisher in question is embarrassed by the state of the ebook version. Because to think the opposite – that it’s becoming acceptable to relax the rules of English when text is to be published for reading on a screen, rather than on paper; or that publishers are so concerned with the bottom line that they won’t spend a few hundred pounds on an edit/proofread and instead create a substandard product – is surely madness.
Monday, 16 January 2012
Sunday, 15 January 2012
Book Specialist launch and training day
- The day: Saturday 14 January 2012.
- The venue: Piccadilly, London – the bar at the top of Waterstones-without-an-apostrophe.
- The group: Me, Marketing Man Ally and five fabulous editors.
- The mission: To toast the launch of the agency, to hatch future plans and to do a training workshop on development editing.
- The result: Lots of helpful discussion about higher level editing.
- The post-launch plan: A glass of wine at All Bar One in Leicester Square, watching the world go by.
- The post-launch reality: A glass of wine at All Bar One in Leicester Square, staring out at the building site that was once Leicester Square.
- The aftermath: Feeling inspired and coming up with lots more ideas for developing The Book Specialist.
- The verdict: Top day.
Friday, 13 January 2012
The Book Specialist agency launch
I've been a lone freelance editor and writer for many years now, and while it's been an enjoyable journey, in recent years I've struggled to keep up with demand for my services. So I decided the time had come to expand, and the culmination is (drum roll please)... The Book Specialist editorial agency.
So, what's changed? Well, the essentials remain. I'll still do a whole lot of ghostwriting, development editing, copy-editing and proofreading projects for authors and publishers. The Book Specialist services will still be top quality and based on experience and creative ability. But it'll no longer just be me sitting in a room with my computer on my lonesome. I've gathered together a team of lovely and very capable editors to work with me.
For the past few months I've been working with my editing team to train them in The Book Specialist style of editing. They're a great bunch of professionals with a wide range of experience, and I'm delighted to be able to call on their expertise.
I've also been training my right-hand man, Ally, who's now handling all the admin side of the business, like accounts and marketing and file preparation and printing manuscripts - the stuff that was taking up valuable time I'd rather spend editing or writing.
All this help means The Book Specialist no longer has to turn away authors and publishers due to lack of availability, and it gives me more time and space to expand new areas of the business. So, I'm writing a book for authors. And I'm setting up a great new prize for authors. And I'm creating an editorial training course for proofreaders and editors. And I'm sourcing great book-related products to sell in an online shop. And I'm creating a resource hub for authors. Oh, and there are at least three novels floating about I'm meant to be working on as well...
If you'd like to find out more about the new Book Specialist, take a look at the new website at www.thebookspecialist.com. And drop me a line if you have questions or feedback or want to talk books.
Now I'm off to pop the champers. My husband tells me it's not ideal as an accompaniment to beans on toast, but I'm feigning deafness.
Wednesday, 21 December 2011
Monday, 31 October 2011
The Bookseller’s take on self-publishing
The publishing industry has a history of turning its nose up at self-publishing, but it has been heartening, in recent months, to see more and more positive commentary appearing in the industry publication, The Bookseller.
I was delighted, then, this week to find a flagship feature on self-publishing written by Alison Baverstock (author of the new book The Naked Author, which is winging its way to me from the nice chaps at Amazon as I write).
When I first started out in publishing, ‘self-publishing’ was something of a dirty word, inseparable from the concept of vanity publishing. I’ve been excited to see how the industry is transforming, with authors taking control of the process themselves. I work with too many great authors who can’t grab hold of that elusive book deal from the traditional publishers that are narrow in what they’ll take on and prescriptive in what they think readers want to read.
I know from my own contracts with three separate publishing houses at present, and from my clients' experiences, that the onus is increasingly on the author to take hold of the reigns of marketing – to Tweet, to blog, to pitch articles to media, to attend author events, even to come up with the marketing angles themselves. One client signed with an American publisher is expected to blog and Tweet with such regularity it’s become her part-time job.
But in pushing authors to be a brand, and to market themselves, publishers have created a generation of business-like, entrepreneurial, creative, hard-working authors who realise (hooray) that if they’re capable of doing this much marketing themselves, they’re probably also capable of managing the entire publishing process. And hey presto, self-publishing flourishes.
What drew my attention most in the feature was the mention of publishers increasingly using freelance, rather than in-house, editors to shape a book ready for publication. Authors are increasingly recognising that they can access for themselves the editors (like me) used by publishing houses – as Alison points out “editorial rigour can now be purchased” (though I’m not convinced by her addition “... as well as self-administered” – to some extent, yes, an author can improve his/her writing by reading some books on the subject, but that will never replace the services of a professional editor).
The secret to successful self-publishing is approaching the entire journey as a business venture – and that means hiring the services you require to present a desirable, professional-standard product.
On a final note, I had to laugh when I read, in the News section of the same issue of The Bookseller, that Peter Bazalgette was “impressed by the work the copyeditor [no idea why they’ve styled this as one word] put into the book... She suggested 670 amendments...” No doubt the reader is meant to gasp, astonished by the level of changes in a well-written book. I’m sure my clients will agree, no matter how great the writer, there’s bound to be hundreds of edits in a book. Why? Because editors see what writers don’t; we do this all day, every day, and we can spot an inconsistency at fifty paces and will correct punctuation, spelling and grammar that the author never dreamed was wrong in the first place.
All in all, a big thumbs up to The Bookseller this week for its sensible portrayal of self-publishing and the associated editorial services.
I was delighted, then, this week to find a flagship feature on self-publishing written by Alison Baverstock (author of the new book The Naked Author, which is winging its way to me from the nice chaps at Amazon as I write).
When I first started out in publishing, ‘self-publishing’ was something of a dirty word, inseparable from the concept of vanity publishing. I’ve been excited to see how the industry is transforming, with authors taking control of the process themselves. I work with too many great authors who can’t grab hold of that elusive book deal from the traditional publishers that are narrow in what they’ll take on and prescriptive in what they think readers want to read.
I know from my own contracts with three separate publishing houses at present, and from my clients' experiences, that the onus is increasingly on the author to take hold of the reigns of marketing – to Tweet, to blog, to pitch articles to media, to attend author events, even to come up with the marketing angles themselves. One client signed with an American publisher is expected to blog and Tweet with such regularity it’s become her part-time job.
But in pushing authors to be a brand, and to market themselves, publishers have created a generation of business-like, entrepreneurial, creative, hard-working authors who realise (hooray) that if they’re capable of doing this much marketing themselves, they’re probably also capable of managing the entire publishing process. And hey presto, self-publishing flourishes.
What drew my attention most in the feature was the mention of publishers increasingly using freelance, rather than in-house, editors to shape a book ready for publication. Authors are increasingly recognising that they can access for themselves the editors (like me) used by publishing houses – as Alison points out “editorial rigour can now be purchased” (though I’m not convinced by her addition “... as well as self-administered” – to some extent, yes, an author can improve his/her writing by reading some books on the subject, but that will never replace the services of a professional editor).
The secret to successful self-publishing is approaching the entire journey as a business venture – and that means hiring the services you require to present a desirable, professional-standard product.
On a final note, I had to laugh when I read, in the News section of the same issue of The Bookseller, that Peter Bazalgette was “impressed by the work the copyeditor [no idea why they’ve styled this as one word] put into the book... She suggested 670 amendments...” No doubt the reader is meant to gasp, astonished by the level of changes in a well-written book. I’m sure my clients will agree, no matter how great the writer, there’s bound to be hundreds of edits in a book. Why? Because editors see what writers don’t; we do this all day, every day, and we can spot an inconsistency at fifty paces and will correct punctuation, spelling and grammar that the author never dreamed was wrong in the first place.
All in all, a big thumbs up to The Bookseller this week for its sensible portrayal of self-publishing and the associated editorial services.
Wednesday, 5 October 2011
Avoiding Americanisms in your UK English
A common correction I make to UK authors' manuscripts is stripping out Americanisation, and ensuring the language is in UK English. Because we read so many American books, and watch so many American films and TV programmes, we're all familiar with US English, and I find that many authors unwittingly blend UK and US English.
Here are some Americanisms to watch for, and their UK English equivalents.
Here are some Americanisms to watch for, and their UK English equivalents.
airplane | aeroplane |
anymore | any more |
apartment | flat (apartment can work for new-build developments) |
Band-Aid | plaster |
candy | sweets/chocolate |
check (£) | cheque |
elevator | lift |
garbage | rubbish |
gotten | got |
highway | road |
license (noun) | licence |
movie | film |
OK | okay |
parking lot | car park |
percent | per cent |
restroom | toilet/bathroom |
shopping cart | shopping trolley |
sidewalk | pavement |
soda | drink (e.g. lemonade) |
subway | underground/tube (unless you mean an underpass) |
sweater | jumper |
takeout | takeaway |
vacation | holiday |
windshield | windscreen |
Wednesday, 7 September 2011
The comma and the word 'if'
You can use a comma to denote that a word is missing, and that's the easiest way to think about sentences that involve an 'if abc then xyz' kind of structure.
As you can see, in the second sentence the comma is taking the place of the word then. So it's either/or - if you use then in the sentence to connect the two thoughts (the if one and the consequence one) then you don't need a comma (like in this sentence). But if you omit the then, you need to use a comma (like in this sentence).
- If you do this then that happens.
- If you do this, that happens.
As you can see, in the second sentence the comma is taking the place of the word then. So it's either/or - if you use then in the sentence to connect the two thoughts (the if one and the consequence one) then you don't need a comma (like in this sentence). But if you omit the then, you need to use a comma (like in this sentence).
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