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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,...
Celebrate World Smile Day with a Few Books that will Leave you Grinning
“Let’s put a smile on that face.” While Heath Ledger intones these words with dread in his legendary Oscar-winning performance as the Joker in The Dark Knight, it’s a phrase that shouldn’t inspire fear in people. In 1963, artist Harvey Ball created the iconic smiley...
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...
7 Tips to Overcome Writer’s Anxiety
After four years of political, social, and medical upheaval, stress is just a part of everyday life. If you aren’t feeling at least a little stressed, congratulations you’re probably a chatbot. The publishing industry is no stranger to stress. We’ve talked about...
The Ins and Outs of Short Story Publishing
Why Publish Short Stories One reason to publish short stories is to appeal to people who have less time to read. Because they are naturally shorter than novels, short stories get to the point faster than longer works. Stories also allow authors the opportunity to fine...
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...
Tips for Writing a Romantasy
Romantasy is a fiction genre that has recently been growing in popularity, particularly on Booktok (the book subsection of the TikTok social media app). But what is this genre, and how can you write a romantasy book that might become a best-seller? Romantasy — a portmanteau of the words “romantic” and “fantasy” — is a commercial fiction subgenre that...
Stories that Stick, by Kindra Hall
Writers, if you’re like me, then you probably love devouring books that can help you navigate the complicated world of publishing. It’s exciting to announce, then, that Technica Editorial is starting a new book review series to share some of the standout books that are well worth sharing. We’re kicking it off by taking an in-depth look at "Stories that...
Fact, Fiction, and Form: The Art and Creation of Memoirs
To begin creating a memoir, writers must learn how to express their reality in an artistic format. Defining a memoir is the first step in this style’s creative nonfiction writing process. When trying to create a personal portrait reported in unshaped facts and unfiltered information, in completely chronological order without thematic explanation, the...
Golden Fig Books: An Independent Bookstore Feature to Celebrate Independent Bookstore Day
An Independent Bookstore is defined as a bookstore that is independently owned and not a part of a larger corporation. In celebration of Independent Bookstore Day, which is recognized on the last Saturday in April, I have reached out to a local independent bookstore in the area, Golden Fig Books, to learn more about their bookstore and what makes it...
The Art of the Book
Depending on the corners of the internet you inhabit, the algorithm might show you, like it does for me, crafty videos of people using paper, twine, glue, cardstock, leather, and all manner of other things to make and bind their own books and journals. Book binding, at home at least, requires many tools like awls and stitching frames to bring a book into...
Human Nature: What Human Help Can Do That AI Cannot
In today’s world, artificial intelligence (AI) is, slowly but surely, becoming just as much of a staple to the publishing industry as the internet. Its advantages include allowing the writing and editing processes to become faster, more streamlined, and, in some cases, less expensive. Still, there are disadvantages to AI that can’t be...
Cash for Citations: The Newest Scam in Scholarly Publishing
“Publish or Perish” tends to be the unfortunate moniker of the scholarly publishing world nowadays. Experts have to publish their work (and in the right journal, mind you) to get the citations and recognition needed to advance in their field. This mindset has of course led to a sea of bad actors taking advantage of researchers, with various scams promising...
AI’s Role in Peer Review
We’ve almost talked to death the topic of ChatGPT’s authorship role and the ethics of authors using it and other AI tools to produce manuscripts in past blog posts. Yet, this doesn’t change the fact that AI continues to infiltrate every step of the scholarly publishing process from writing manuscripts to searching through databases during the investigation...