Writer, Editor, Helper

Typos and Worse: When E-Books Need Correcting

Photo: New York Times, May 10, 1914, p. 21

Not long ago an author e-mailed us in dismay: An image in his newly published book was wrong.

The book, which I had copyedited, was so new it was still on my desk: oversized and gorgeous, Edward W. Wolner’s Henry Ives Cobb’s Chicago: Architecture, Institutions, and the Making of a Modern Metropolis.

But in chapter 12, in place of an image of the renovated Times Square Heidelberg Building (1914), a skyscraper of “high slenderness,” there appeared a mystery building, undeniably squat.

Fancy or Skunked: Is the Wrong Word Sometimes Right?

Erin Brenner’s recent post at The Writing Resource, “Nine Words to Avoid in Your Writing,” wasn’t about banning words. It was about avoiding the kinds of words that Bryan Garner calls “skunked”: those whose meanings are so controversial they’re guaranteed to provoke reader fury. Bemused, comprise, data, hopefully—you know the type.

Conservative writers might feel that using such words “correctly” (that is, in their traditional sense) is a matter of principle and a way to educate readers. On the other hand, even writers with less prescriptivist leanings might enjoy flaunting less accepted usages, maybe even relishing the dust-ups when they are challenged.

Would it be better to avoid such words? After all, being “right” has little value if everyone believes you’re wrong.

Citation Software: How to Make a Perfect Mess

Preparing notes and bibliographies in a consistent style has long been one of the less glamorous tasks of academic writing. And now, with the increasing use—or rather misuse—of citation software, it is surely one of the most rapidly degenerating.

An informal poll of university teachers I know showed that although four of the six require students to use consistent styling in notes and bibliographies, there was generally no close monitoring of the results. Four of the six also replied that in their own published work they expect notes and bibliographies to appear in a consistent form. However, there was a suspicious vagueness as to exactly how and when this miracle of consistency would emerge.

Dear Carol: On Selling Your Work, Language Trivia, and More

Hi Carol—

I’m a writer, just starting out. I’m based in Australia and I have had a couple of articles published and am wanting to sell them to other publications. What is the best way of going about this? I have not signed an exclusivity agreement with the editor of the publication I have written for; she is aware I want to to sell them and has agreed.

Do I write to one editor at a time to offer them the opportunity to buy the article, or can I e-mail ten at a time? Do I have to state where it was published the first time? Can the article be exactly the same, or would I have to change it in some way? Do I actually send them the entire article and suggest a price? Any hints would be much appreciated.

Submitting a Manuscript? Leave the Typesetting to the Pros

 

Word processors are wondrously FUN to play with, and writers who secretly believe they have a talent for graphic design (but who have never actually studied it) seem unable to resist availing themselves of every bell and whistle.

That’s fine, if you’re self-publishing. But if you’re submitting work for publication, formatting to this degree is not only unhelpful, it’s even a little dangerous—and not just because it’s a sure way to tire your copyeditor before she reads a word of your text.