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Book Review: Launch, by Jeff Walker
We love sharing books that really resonate with us, and that offer solid takeaways for authors. Launch, by Jeff Walker, is just such a book. If you're an author, entrepreneur, or just someone with a killer idea itching to hit the market, this book should be your Go...
Citation Manipulation Continues to Wreak Havoc on Publishing
One of the new buzz problems in scholarly publishing is the growing notion of citation manipulation by journals and publishing societies. We’ve previously written about the recent trend of “citation boosting services” selling fake AI-generated articles with citations...
Book Summary Apps are All the Rage, but Are They a Danger to Authors?
If you’re a millennial, you probably used SparkNotes at some point in high school to help summarize a book for English class. I fully admit that I tried my best to get through Jane Eyre, but Charlotte Bronte and I do not agree on writing style and pacing. The...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
How to Procure a Cover Designer for Your Book
You should never judge a book by its cover, but that won’t prevent potential readers from passing over your book if they don’t like its cover artwork and design. So how can you commission a book cover that both attracts readers’ attention and accurately communicates what your book is about? Read on for your road map to success. Researching your target...
Before You Start Writing Your Book: Twenty Things to Consider About Your Story
Are you considering writing a book? Maybe you have a vague idea of a story you’d like to tell, but you aren’t quite sure, or maybe you have a solid idea of what you want to write, but … What might you be missing? When I started writing my (still unfinished) book a few years ago, I had no understanding of the journey I was about to take. I later learned...
Technically Speaking – Part 2
Part I of this two-part post focused on the five major steps to successfully approaching a technical writing project without a technical background. Now, in this second installment, we’ll focus on the list of 10 tips and tricks to successfully making that project happen! Tip #1: Focus on what you DO know. While you might not have a huge amount of knowledge...
Word Count in Novels: Is It Important?
Word count — it’s a simple enough thing — write the words and count them. But do word counts really matter when you are writing your novel, and is book length an important thing to consider before publishing? Although there’s no absolute answer, and there’s always an example of that one book in that one genre that was super-short (or super-long) but still...
How to Be a Good Beta Reader: Reading in Exchange for Critique
What Is a Beta Reader? A Beta Reader is asked to read an author’s work when they’ve finished their original edits, but before the professional editing has begun. They help the author handle big-picture questions regarding story, pacing, plot, character, etc. While they’re not typically looking for typos and grammatical mistakes, an author may ask them to...
What’s in a Name? How to Make Sure Your Book Title Looks and Smells as Sweet as a Rose
Maybe I’m showing my age here, but when I was a young adult, I loved going to Barnes & Noble to peruse the new book titles to see what spoke to me. We’re told not to judge a book by its cover, but a cool title on said cover is always helpful in catching the watchful eyes of readers. While some authors with a built-in audience can have an untitled book...
ISMTE Recap: When It Comes To Preprints, Trust, but Verify
With the open science movement growing in popularity in the last decade, preprints have become a bigger and bigger part of the publishing industry. They’ve also, in some ways, become a bigger and bigger problem for the publishing industry as well. ISMTE’s recent global event discussed preprints’ growing impact on the publishing industry in a panel titled,...
Navigating Reviewer Fatigue
Peer reviewed journals often try to promote timely publication as a selling point to potential authors. An efficient publication process is crucial for scholars who are publishing time-sensitive research and who are required to publish in many disciplines for career advancement. In fact, refereeing speed is rated as the third most important factor for...
ISMTE Recap: Is It Time To Pay Peer Reviewers?
It’s been this way for decades, but one of the biggest hurdles in peer-reviewed literature is waiting for peer reviewers. Yes, at the end of the day, no matter how good or important an article is, its processing time and publication date will ultimately be controlled by the peer reviewers who agree to review it. If an editor can’t get a reviewer to agree...
Technically Speaking – Part 1
If you’re not a technical expert, the terms “technical writing” and “technical editing” can be intimidating—but they don’t have to be! Editing this kind of writing isn’t all about having an advanced degree, because the purpose of editing isn’t to be a subject matter expert in, say, engineering or environmental science. If that were the case, all the job...