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Self-Publishing in 2024: Prize-Winning Contenders to Check Out
In the year 2024, I think we can safely say that self-publishing is here to stay. What was once seen as just a forum on the internet to publish niche genre work by lesser-known authors, self-publishing is now big business with many aspiring authors forgoing the...
It’s Time to Start that Great American Novel: Celebrate National Novel Writing Month
During the COVID lockdown, how many people thought they would finally sit down and write that novel that has been brimming in their brain for years. Some were able to accomplish this seemingly impossible task, but for most, the dream of writing the great American...
Why Research Matters in Nonfiction Writing
Writing nonfiction is so much more than just weaving words on a page; it's a balancing act between storytelling and facts, creativity and credibility. At the heart of this type of writing lies its most essential element—research. In the world of nonfiction writing,...
Exploring the Forbidden Aisles of Banned Books!
Banned Books Week is “an annual event that highlights the value of free and open access to information.” Beginning in September of 1982, Banned Books Week was created in response to an unexpected surge in the number of challenges to books available in libraries,...
I’ll Give You Proof!
At first glance, copy editing and proofing might seem like very similar tasks—and they do, indeed, have plenty in common. But a copy editor with a sharp eye for detail will recognize that these are entirely separate processes with entirely separate skill sets. On the...
Can AI Be Responsible? The Case for Elsevier’s Scopus
If the scholarly publishing community has learned nothing else over the last 5 years, it’s that for better or worse, AI is here to stay. Peer reviewers are using it. Authors are using it. We’ve talked so much about the use of AI in scholarly publishing and the...
Is There a Better Way to Incentivize Peer Review and Reverse the Peer Review Crisis?
Anyone who has worked in the peer review system knows that things are in a state of flux right now. It is a system that has seen a heavy, almost overwhelming, burden on mostly volunteer reviewers. A study in 2020 analyzing peer review across all academic journals...
AI Detection Software is Hit or Miss According to Most Experts
For this year’s Peer Review Week, the theme selected was “Innovation and Technology in Peer Review”. We’ve spoken at length in recent posts about how AI and technology have changed the nature of peer review. We’ve specifically discussed ChatGPT’s growing role in peer...
Get Ready for Peer Review Week 2024: Innovation Meets Technology from September 23-28, 2024!
The academic publishing landscape is undergoing significant changes, with a growing focus on author and research integrity, alongside the increasing integration of AI. There's mounting pressure for greater transparency and efficiency in peer review as publication...
Celebrate National Dog Day with a Good Book (No Promises that the Dog Lives!)
Monday, August 26 is National Dog Day. The holiday was first established 20 years ago by animal advocates with the goal of advocating for the adoption of the numerous dogs found in animal rescues all over the country. According to a 2024 study, 65.1 million households...
Book Review: The Chicago Guide to Copyediting Fiction by Amy J. Schneider
A quality and detailed manual to help in technically revising and formatting works of fiction. Writers and editors, certainly ones new to the trade, are inclined to focus on the importance of official style when it comes to nonfiction writing. The more “serious” the...
Feeling the Burn: How to Avoid Burnout While Writing a Book
For most authors, writing is far more than just a career—it’s a passion. The thought of starting a new book project is, at first, one that sparks rigorous motivation and enthusiasm. But all too often, that initial “get up and go” mentally quickly melts away into exhaustion and burnout. No seasoned author wants to admit it, but all too many projects end up...
LGBTQ Books are the Most Challenged in America: Here are Some that Top the List
LGBTQ representation in publishing has grown exponentially over the last decade in a good way. We noted in a previous post that LGBTQ books have gone from being a niche subject in the back of bookstores to bestsellers that are helping to keep publishing alive and thriving. The sales of books with LGBTQ characters and themes have grown 200% since 2019...
Celebrating and Honoring Freedom Day: Juneteenth
Juneteenth has been celebrated by Black Americans since 1866, but has been largely overlooked, marginalized, and unknown to many Americans until recently. Juneteenth would not become recognized as a federal holiday until June 18th, 2021, after a proclamation by President Joe Biden. Emancipation Day celebration, June 19, 1900, held in "East Woods" on East...
Pride Month Book Recommendations Across Genres
This June, we have a few book recommendations to celebrate Pride: skip the corporate rainbow-washing and instead curl up with a good book by a queer* author featuring queer themes, characters, and insights. The following books, encompassing just some of the diversity of LGBTQ community, delve into the joys, sorrows, and full range of queer life—and they’re...
7 Key Tips for Tackling a New Client’s Style Guide
Diving into work for a new copy editing client is always an exciting time for any editor—but it can also be an intimidating one. And it doesn’t help when you’re trying to wrap your mind around a 10-page style guide you’ve never seen before! But here’s the good news: once you’ve gathered enough experience in the publishing and copy editing fields, it...
LGBTQ Representation in Publishing is on the Rise, but the Band Plays On
June is designated as Pride Month in honor of the 1969 Stonewall riot, which was seen as the unofficial start of the gay rights movement here in the United States. The movement has seen gains over the years in just about every aspect of American culture, including the publishing industry. These gains, however, have not been easy to come by, with years of...
Should the Onus be on Research Institutes or Publishers to Catch Scholarly Misconduct?
Scholarly misconduct unfortunately seems to be on the rise in recent years. Paper mills are becoming more and more prevalent by the day. More than 8,000 papers were retracted by publisher Hindawi. Wiley’s newest AI paper detection software found that 10-13% of papers submitted to their various journals could potentially be from paper mills. Other journals...
Getting Graphic: A New Take on the Classic Gothic Novel
World Goth Day is celebrated annually in May. This day can be described, according to World Goth Day’s website, as, "a day where the goth scene gets to celebrate its own being, and an opportunity to make its presence known to the rest of the world." This day was created in Great Britain when Goth music DJ’s Cruel Britannia and Martin Oldgoth were...
This is the Blog About Death: Celebrating World Goth Day with Gothic Literature
Since 2009, May 22 is World Goth Day. According to the website, the holiday is “a day where the goth scene gets to celebrate its own being, and an opportunity to make its presence known to the rest of the world." For those of us who haven’t been in a high school setting in (gulp!) close to two decades, we probably have the image of goths being pale...
Gothic Literature: Publishing the Eerie and Macabre
Halloween isn’t the sole occasion for spooky tales that send shivers down your spine. If you’re a fan of horror like me, you'll enjoy a chilling novel any day, whether it's the witching hour or not. Have you heard about indie publishers dedicated to all things dark and eerie? To celebrate World Goth Day, explore three Gothic Publishing Companies that could...