“Preserve the author’s voice,” editors are commonly told. But what IS voice? What Voice Is Voice is that quality of writing that makes you recognize the author. It is word choice, rhythm, order of thought, tense, a tendency toward open or closed punctuation. It’s the author’s way of putting words … [Read more...]
Vetting Clients: 10 Red-Flag Phrases
No matter how a prospective client finds you (personal referral, search engine, networking event, etc.) it’s your responsibility to make sure you’re a good match. The biggest rule in freelancing—and one newbies often break—is “trust your gut.” You don’t want to end up with a problem client, and take … [Read more...]
New Page Navigation Options in Word
Thumbnails and Side to Side navigation are new Page Movement options in Word 365 (2019) for Windows. Here’s how they work. Side-to-Side Navigation On the View ribbon, there is now a Page Movement area where you can select from the familiar Vertical scrolling view or the new Side to Side … [Read more...]
Does This Title Need a Comma Too?
The adverb too, as common and as useful as it is, can also be a source of irritation for copyeditors. As an intensifier meaning "excessively" or "more than necessary" ("Oh that this too too solid flash drive would melt!") it doesn't lead to many problems except in its overuse. But when it's used to … [Read more...]
How to Build a Waiting List
Publishing departments are on a production schedule; if one editor isn’t available when they need them, they call the next editor on the list. Yet, some editors have waiting lists full of projects. How do they get the deadlines to move? Well, for one, these editors have “clients”—boss, writer, or … [Read more...]
Usage Dictionaries
Editors love a good reference, and there’s one under-the-radar type of reference book that’s particularly well-suited to editors: the usage dictionary. Let’s define some terms. A usage dictionary is not a standard dictionary. Your trusty Webster’s New World or Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate is a … [Read more...]
Online Citation and Bibliography Software: A Journey from Nemesis to Hero
It’s the rare academic work or corporate report that isn’t missing a name, date of publication, or page number in at least a handful of references. So as copyeditors edit bibliographies, we often fill in or ask authors to provide missing pieces of information. Formatting references in our pet styles … [Read more...]
Copyediting Basics: Dealing with Citations
One of the most challenging tasks of copyediting is dealing with citations. Precision and correctness are important but the work itself is often mechanical and tedious. Documentation Basics The purpose of a citation is to enable the reader to identify the sources of all information presented in the … [Read more...]
Of People and Persons
A few weeks ago, in "Some Nouns Have Too Many Plurals," I wrote about a number of singular nouns that have multiple plural forms. One word I left off that list is person, which, when you focus on its plurals, presents a few unusual considerations. These days, the standard plural of person is … [Read more...]