I’m reading a fairly popular thriller author’s newest novel, and I’m finding it a slog because while the story holds up, she really needed a line editor to pare back her worst habits. Here’s an example (I’m inventing this but it conveys the general problem): Janet clutched the steering wheel. The rain was pouring down!…
If you’re a copy editor who knows how to copyedit dialogue, a line like this: “I would never let you go.” She said. . . . probably causes you physical pain. So you’d fix it. But as a copy editor, you typically don’t make a lot of content changes, especially in fiction. If you’re tired…
A while back, I wrote a post on LinkedIn about income freelance editors could expect to make, and a bunch of editors responded, and one lone writer asked me to look at his book because he was sure I would love it. I haven’t been in book acquisitions for ten years, and even if I…
Are you thinking about exploring a new career in the new year? If you love books, you might think about editing as a career. But it can be difficult to find out if it’s right for you. What skills and aptitudes do you need? What’s the difference between copyediting and developmental editing? How to Become…
I’ve edited a fair amount of fiction over the years, but I’ve never edited horror. I’m not a horror reader and I don’t understand the genre. But ever since I started teaching at Club Ed, I’ve wanted to add a horror class because I know it’s a hugely popular genre and it feels like a…
Let’s discuss why book editors need a content strategy in order to market their business effectively. Why Book Editors Need a Content Strategy A while back, I mentioned on a LinkedIn post that for years, my best-performing content for my personal website had been a screed about how I hated wind chimes. That post drew…
Our upcoming Beginning Copyediting for Fiction class will educate anyone wanting to fix the errors seen on a daily basis in the real world! Over the past week or so, I’ve caught the following typos and grammatical awkwardness in major news media: USA Today: “publically released” USA Today: “could cause driver’s to crash” USA Today:…
A close call on the highway got me thinking about all the ways freelance editors can accident-proof your business. How to Accident-Proof Your Business A couple of weeks ago, the steering column on my car broke as I was driving down the highway! Fortunately, it was the 405, so I was only going about two…
My excuse-busting marketing method has been highly successful in helping potential author clients decide whether to get their books edited and published. Excuse-Busting Marketing: How to Help Authors Get Ready for Editing If you’ve hung around here for a while, you know that I’m a big fan of finding clients who already know they want…
When writing fiction, you’re likely to encounter problems with conflict—so the question is how to create conflict in a story. How to Create Conflict in a Story Conflict, as you probably know, drives the narrative. Consider this: Just now, I wanted a cup of tea, so I went and made one. So what, right? You…