Arghhhh… I just sent off the wrong version to a client. In this case, it wasn’t all my fault, not that it matters.
For this project we’ve got three people involved. Me, the client and the client’s secretary. I write, submit to the client who edits on paper, gives that to his secretary who enters the edits and sends the revised edition to me. I should have worked with the secretary to determine exactly how we’d deal with version numbers, but I thought what I was doing was clear… chapter number, brief title, date, my initials. We muddled along with me …read more

A client recently asked me what the difference between a copy editor and a proofreader is. The short form is that the proofreader is, for the most part, looking only for typos. The copy editor, however, goes further and looks for style problems, technical punctuation and grammar problems and even awkward sentences.
You might want to read the article I wrote called: What’s the difference between proofreading and copy editing?
Write well and often,

Two newsletters:
Abundant Freelance Writing – a resource for freelance writers including 3x a week job postings.
Writing With Vision – for those who want to get a book written.

Hmmm… 52 New Writing, Editing and Translation Jobs today.
We’re moving into the holiday season. In the U.S. that starts with Thanksgiving and lasts through January 1. Trade publishers tend to almost shut down. It will be interesting to see how freelance writing jobs hold up.
Write well and often,

Two newsletters:
Abundant Freelance Writing – a resource for freelance writers including 3x a week job postings.
Writing With Vision – for those who want to get a book written.

Mark Chillingworth states in his post, Wiley: publishers must push e-books, states that Wiley and others are urging book publishers to push ebook readers. The emphasis in the post is on textbook publishing, and, if I’m understanding correctly, the idea is that publishers could improve their bottom line if they were able to deliver more (text)books digitally; to do that, they’ve got to get readers to adopt ebook readers.
Well, maybe. I mean, that does make sense, but the ebook readers currently available still leave a great deal to be desired.
The iLiad is newish, looks good, uses something that’s supposed to …read more

It’s so tempting to think that your book will be a best seller if only you can find the right trade publisher. But the odds of that are truly small.
There are other ways to make money with a book. I’ve written about some of the alternatives in an article called Earn $1.25 Per Copy of Your Book or $85?
No magic bullets, of course, but some ideas you may want to think about.
Write well and often,

Two newsletters:
Abundant Freelance Writing – a resource for freelance writers including 3x a week job postings.
Writing With Vision – for those who want to get …read more

Publisher’s Weekly announced today that the sales of books in bookstores was up some 7.5% in August, on top of a rise in July.
It’s hard to know exactly what this means, but it’s certainly good news for writers… and probably for readers as well.
Have you spent more on books recently? Tell us about it.
Write well and often,

Two newsletters:
Abundant Freelance Writing – a resource for freelance writers including 3x a week job postings.
Writing With Vision – for those who want to get a book written.

According to Publishers Weekly, quoting the U.S. Census Bureau, bookstore sales fell 6.5% in February, lowering the total dollar amount to $1.01 billion.
I’m never sure what to make of statistics like this. A billion dollars of book sales is a whole bunch; February is a short month and I can’t find the original release to figure out if they correct for short months or what.
What probably is or will be true is the major trade publishers will be even more skittish about contracting with new authors. But this isn’t really news. The majors have gotten less and less interested in …read more