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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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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:...
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...
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...
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...
The 2023 Peer Review Week is Almost Here!
Peer review has always been an important, behind-the scenes piece of the publication puzzle. An annual week to celebrate and explore its complexities is well deserved! A couple of decades ago, academic and scientific peer review looked much different from today. Turnaround times were calculated by weeks and months rather than hours and days. Snail mail --...
Google’s New AI Search Changes the Game for Publishing
We may still be a few decades away from HAL 9000 and the Terminator wreaking havoc on the humanrace (fingers crossed!), but AI continues to infiltrate and change the publishing industry. We’ve already writtenabout how AI in the form of ChatGPT is changing all the rules for manuscript writing in every realm of publishing,but now AI is also changing the way...
What Exactly is Ghostwriting?
If you’re anything like me when you hear the word ghostwriter, one of two things pops up. First, there’sthe 1990s PBS television series where a literal ghost who writes helps a group of teenagers solve mysteries (sadly,we won’t be doing a deep dive into that forgotten gem). And the other is an image of a seasoned writer taking thedictated life stories of a...
5 Tips to Become A Better Writer
Are you a novice writer just starting out in the realm of digital content, or are you a seasoned expert seeking tips on writing better? As a word nerd who is currently working on her own book, here are a few of my favorite writing tips you can use to hone your creative art and increase readership. 1. Nurture Your Brain. Read More. I have been reading for...
Writing Prompts to Unlock Your Creativity
Ideas may seem hard to come by, whether you're attempting to start a new writing project or are experiencing writer's block in the middle of one. Writing prompts are invaluable. Use this list of creative writing prompts to flex your creative writing muscles as you search your life experiences, interests, and imagination for ideas for your next novel or...
Academic Journal Submission Tips
Many academics will submit their work to academic journals at some point in their careers. For those pursuing tenure, success in publishing may be the most important factor determining whether they receive promotion and tenure. Few will understand the thought processes that editors go through when deciding whether to accept or reject a manuscript, or...
What Does ChatGPT Bring to the Editorial World?
On March 16, 2023, ACES, The Society for Editing, hosted a webinar on ChatGPT, calling on the expertise of Samantha Enslen (former ACES board member and writer) and Corinne Jorgenson, COO of Redpoint AI Engineering and Consulting. Enslen and Jorgenson gave a general, succinct overview of ChatGPT (and language networks in general) and explained its benefits...
Getting the Word Out: Social Media Tips and Tricks for Authors
Whether you love it or hate it, there’s no denying that in today’s world, social media is an integral part of how information is spread across society—and that very much includes authors who are looking to share their work with an audience. This opens the door for a flood of questions authors should be asking themselves about how to most effectively...
Hardbacks or Paperbacks: What’s the Right Choice for You?
While the common consensus is that publishing is moving further and further into the ebook market, physical media is still alive. Sales of physical books saw increases in 2020 and 2021 thanks to the pandemic lockdown, and while sales were overall down 6.5 percent in 2022, 788.7 million hardback and paperback books were sold in 2022. This represents a very...
How Long Should My Novel Be?
When you set out to write anything for publication, one of the key things you should ask yourself is “how long should this be?” There are several things that factor into answering this question, from age demographic to genre to narrative form. No matter what you’re writing, or for whom, knowing the average word count for publications and adhering to them...