Links and Stuff
Links to editing articles, blog posts, resources, and other material I found interesting
Thinking about becoming an editor? The EFA page “So You Want to Be an Editor?” provides information about and links to education programs, conferences, books, podcasts, websites, and more items to help guide would-be editors (in-house or freelance) on how to break into the industry. Katharine O’Moore-Klopf also maintains a comprehensive list of editing courses and programs at her website. See also “Becoming an Editor FAQ,” by Crystal Shelley.
If you’re new to freelancing or you’re trying to build your editing business, check out this helpful resource from the EFA: “Resources for New Freelance Editors.” Also see the free “ACES Guide for New Editors” with accompanying resources. Wish I’d had the benefit of this sort of material when I started editing.
And here's a site to get wonderfully lost in: https://www.writersandeditors.com/. It’s an A to Z topical listing of subjects that will interest any writer or editor.
Also check out the ACES book corner, with news about books relevant to the editing industry.
Online dictionaries, thesauruses, vocabularies
“For the writer—any kind of writer—the dictionary is an indispensable resource. No matter how extensive vocabulary the writer may have, no matter how skilled he may be in selection of words, there is always the likelihood that use of the dictionary may sharpen his discrimination in the use of words, may supply him with a synonym better than his first choice, or may even open up a new line of thought.”—Edward N. Teall, Putting Words to Work (1940), 78–79.
Merriam-Webster Collegiate (pronunciations, examples, thesaurus, word of the day)
Includes American Heritage, 4th ed. / Wiktionary / WordNet 3.0 / Century Dictionary & Cyclopedia / Roget’s Thesaurus, 3rd ed. (pronunciations, examples, thesaurus)
American Heritage, 5th ed.
Includes Webster’s New World College Dictionary / American Heritage, 5th ed. / English Wiktionary / Computer dictionary / Investment dictionary / Webster's New World Law Dictionary / Webster’s New World Roget’s A-Z Thesaurus
Includes American Heritage, 5th ed. / Collins English Dictionary / Random House K. Webster / Farlex Dictionary of Idioms, Collins Thesaurus of the English Language / Links to 14 foreign-language dictionaries
Has both US and UK English, English-Spanish, Spanish-English, thesaurus, translation page
Includes Random House Dictionary / Collins English Dictionary / Online Etymology Dictionary (word origins) / Word of the Day
The Australian Government Style Manual
Dictionary of South African English
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Includes English-Spanish, English-Japanese, English-Korean
Drug Slang Code Words, from the DEA (2018 report, thanks to Katharine O'Moore-Klopf)
Urban Dictionary (slang, crowdsourced)
One Look (more than 1000 dictionaries, and good reverse dictionary)
Computer Desktop Dictionary (plain-language computer/IT terms)
Investopedia (business and financial terms)
Nolo’s Plain English Law Dictionary
Getty Vocabularies (art, artists, architecture, geographic names)
Panlexicon (thesaurus and word finder)
Biographies
See also the dictionary section (with links) in Chicago Manual of Style online, which has a great variety of dictionary links and lists of bilingual dictionaries, and medical and scientific dictionaries at https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/book/ed17/backmatter/biblio/asec03.html
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ACES conference handouts and resources
While this material is available freely to you, you may not reuse these materials, in any form, without the consent of ACES and the authors.
To keep up with editing news, I used Scoop.it, a content curation program, for four or five years. It let me gather posts on proofreading and editing, evaluate them, and add comments on them. You can visit my page here. I no longer update it, since the premium version is now more than I'm willing to pay.
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Estimating job times (for editors)
Years ago, someone (sorry I can't credit you personally) on the Copyediting-L discussion list posted the following formula for estimating the amount of time required to edit a manuscript, and I’ve found that it works fairly well:
1. Choose a short sample from within the manuscript.
2. Edit it, and calculate your words/hour or pages/hour from that for your first read.
3. Add 50% for your second read.
4. Add 10% to 15% for odds and ends of work.
5. You now have your total time estimate and can set a fee accordingly.
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Test yourself
Try the Chicago Style Workouts at http://cmosshoptalk.com/chicago-style-workouts/
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Monthly (more or less) Updates:
January 2024: Doing catch-up. This PDF of slides from highly experienced technical editor Linda Oestreich is all about what we do to help improve documents and how to query authors respectfully to get good answers:
<https://static.sched.com/hosted_files/stcsummit2017/e7/Summit17_HardDayEditing_Wkshop_Final.pdf<
Oestreich is a Fellow of the Society for Technical Communication and an instructor at UC San Diego Extended Studies Technical Communication Certificate Program.
September 2023
In updating this page, I noticed that I forgot to mention The Chicago Guide to Copyediting Fiction, by Amy J. Schneider. Highly recommended.
August 2023
“Overcoming Perfectionism”—a blog post from the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading that covers an issue many editors face.
July 2023
Fact sheets for editorial workers from the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (UK). This is a paid-for resource, unless you’re a member, but the cost isn’t exorbitant.
May 2023
Search Gizmos: Tara Calishain at ResearchBuzz has put together a great selection of search tools (around 60 so far) at https://searchgizmos.com/biglist/. She wrote: “To guide someone in generating Google searches when they don't know much about a topic, I created Wiki-Guided Google Search (https://searchgizmos.com/wggs/) which uses Wikipedia mentions to find relationships between keywords and build Google searches, and Clumpy Bounce Topic Search (https://searchgizmos.com/clumpy/), which uses recent page popularity to find popular pages in Wikipedia categories and bundle selected ones into a Google Search.” There’s much more, so check them out, as well as the ResearchBuzz site and its helpful daily blog at https://researchbuzz.me/
(From Katharine O'Moore-Klopf, KOK Edit) If you'd like to know more about the process of self-publishing an ebook and a paperback version of the same book through Kindle, you might be interested in this 4-part series of blog posts by longtime technical writer and editor Mike Pope:
* "Publishing a Kindle Book, Part 1: The Original Manuscript," at <https://www.mikepope.com/blog/DisplayBlog.aspx?permalink=2759>
* "Publishing a Kindle Book, Part 2: Formatting the Kindle Ebook,"
at <https://www.mikepope.com/blog/DisplayBlog.aspx?permalink=2760>
* "Publishing a Kindle Book, Part 3: Publishing the Ebook," at <https://www.mikepope.com/blog/DisplayBlog.aspx?permalink=2761>
* "Publishing a Kindle Book, Part 4: Formatting and Publishing the Paperback," at <https://www.mikepope.com/blog/DisplayBlog.aspx?permalink=2763>
April 2023
From Office Watch: “Find more and faster in Word using these tricks.” Word options that you may not be familiar with, and which can help you in your editing.
January 2023
A helpful post from Rhonda Bracey’s CyberText newsletter, “ChatGPT: Some uses for editors.”
October 2022
“Does Your Novel Need a Copyeditor before Submission?” A good post on the CMOS blog by Carol Saller.
September 2022
A blog post by Graham Hughes: “Eight myths about editors and proofreaders”
August 2022
A post from CMOS Shop Talk on verifying quotes, with some good advice and links. I find that quotations are often wrong in material I proofread, and it’s vital to check them.
May 2022
Empirical Research for Editors, a searchable HTML page compiled by Aaron Dalton. Interesting studies, statistics, and facts behind the news and theories: http://aarondalton.ca/EmpiricalEditors
March 2022
From Buzzfeed: “16 Mistakes Copy Editors Are Begging You Not To Make”
January 2022
When Friends Find Grammar “Errors” in Your Novel: Lots of good advice on editing and language from Carol Saller.
October 2021
Two lovely (and inspired) editors’ anthems by James Harbeck. My favorite is “Ode to Editing,” but the other one is also good.
A good post from Stan Carey on “How well read should editors be?” Stan runs the “Sentence First” blog and often posts interesting material for editors.
September 2021
Proving Copyediting’s Worth: What can happen when your company decides it doesn’t need an editor
August 2021:
A very useful article from Carol Saller: When to Delete “That.” (And when not to.) It seems as if I often face manuscripts where the author has ruthlessly purged “that” much more than necessary. I plan to keep this link for future use. Thanks, Carol!
July 2021:
A “Publishing Project Checklist & Timeline” from editor Adrienne Montgomerie
A humorous look at “tossing and turning” by Grammarphobia
A good article from CMOS Shop Talk on whoever/whomever, with good advice on grammar in general.
May 2021:
Helpful advice from Carol Saller (as usual): How Grammar “Goofs” Work in Creative Writing. I’m working on a novel right now with awkward less/fewer situations.
Plain language resources, from the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
April 2021:
A helpful and informative overview of some language and style changes from Merrill Perlman at CJR.
Fun with words, from Mental Floss: “14 Colonial-Era Slang Terms to Work Into Modern Conversation”
From CMOS Shop Talk: “Edit, Rinse, Repeat: Taking Care of the Small Stuff.” Cleaning up a file before you work on it, a process I’m engaged in right now.
March 2021:
Helpful guidance from CMOS Shop Talk: “Prefixes: A Nonissue, or a Non-Issue?”
An article I wrote for the ACES blog: “Nonfiction editing: Little things.”
February 2021: “The first wordsmith in chief,” from Grammarphobia, with an interesting look at new words coined by US presidents
January 2021: From Carol Saller posting at CMOS Shop Talk: “How to Format a Novel for Submission”
From ACES: “The Secret to Great Proofreading”: Assume all content is guilty of errors until proven error free.
Another post from ACES: “Working with the Author.” Good tips (and nice cat picture), but for an in-depth treatment of this important subject, I recommend Carol Saller’s book, The Subversive Copy Editor.
December 2020: CMOS Shop Talk: Your Dog[,] Smurf: Understanding Commas with Appositives. Helpful for me, at least, as I often have difficulty with appositives.
From ACES: Think like a detective as well as a style cop: “The Endnote Clue.”
Another from ACES, on how much (and how) to edit, “A Machete or a Razor?” with apologies to Edward Bulwer-Lytton, whose books I enjoyed as a child.
October 2020: “Who Gets Capitalized in a Novel?” A post on handling fictional names and titles, by Carol Saller.
July 2020: A look at who, whom, and their various forms and history: “Whomspun History,” by Grammarphobia.
“Commas of the Founders,” by Mark Allen. How grammar (specifically use of the comma) has changed over the last 200 years. A sample edit of a letter from James Madison to Congress in 1810.
Something many other editors might relate to, “Confessions of an Accidental Editor,” as well as tips on what to do if you’re editing something technical and you don’t understand what it says.
June 2020: A note from Chicago: “We now prefer to write Black with a capital B when it refers to racial and ethnic identity. At the same time, we acknowledge that, as a matter of editorial consistency, White and similar terms may also be capitalized when used in this sense. We continue to recognize that individual preferences will vary, and we acknowledge that usage may depend on context. A correction has been made to CMOS Online and will also appear in subsequent printings of the seventeenth edition.” (Frank: AP style has made a similar change.)
A good article from ACES on “Building a Stable Workload as an Editorial Freelancer.” It can take years to build stability into your workload—which often translates as regular and repeat clients—but it pays off in the years that follow.
May 2020: Research tips, plus just plain interesting, from Daniel Russell: “Comment on ... The Future Through the Past - Using archival news to see what's next in COVID.” Go to the bottom of the page to access links to the previous post.
April 2020: “Rolodex, on rotation”: an entertaining look at the Rolodex and the word’s enduring use by Merrill Perlman. Articles and posts by Merrill are always interesting and instructive.
“42 Low-Cost Ways to Promote Your Business”: Handy marketing advice for editors. (Note: Later updated to "53 Low-Cost Ways.")
March 2020: “Advice to a beginning editor,” by James Harbeck, which has good advice for all editors.
Helpful post from Merriam-Webster: “A Guide to Coronavirus-Related Words: Deciphering the terminology you're likely to hear.”
February 2020: Grammarphobia addresses the question ‘Premier’ or ‘premiere’?
Check out the Mother Jones style guide.
January 2020: A young writer named Ivy brought this page to my attention, with its many tips and resources on writing, research, revising, editing, and proofreading. Thanks, Ivy, and may your writing and editing prosper!
A great post by Tania Pattison, full of resources: “Building an editing/proofreading business: things to read.” Check it out.
November 2019
Slate on “Space Invaders: Why you should never, ever use two spaces after a period.”
September 2019
A helpful column from the “American Editor” blog: “On the Basics: The ongoing challenge of finding editorial work”
Advice for editors from Carol Saller at CMOS Shop Talk: “Do You Overstep When Editing Fiction? Three Easy Cures.”
Liz Dexter at LibroEditing on a common problem: “What to do if your comment boxes go tiny in Word”
The latest new Merriam-Webster words, and a blast from the past over the use of “thou.”
August 2019
A post by Carol Saller: “Sure, You Got A’s in English—But Do You Know Where Commas Go?”
Grammarphobia on the misconception that “none” is always singular
July 2019
Advice on overcoming a problem that new editors often face: You can’t get editing work without experience, but you can’t get experience without getting hired: “5 Ways to Break the Vicious Circle of Newbies.”
Putting this here for my reference too: Japan Style Sheet: The SWET Guide for Writers, Editors and Translators
June 2019
Wired on why it’s so hard to catch your own typos. Even editors hire other editors to go over their work.
A good article from An American Editor blog: “How Not to Network.” Don’t be I.M. Pistov in your communications.
May 2019
An interesting look at the English language: The Scripps National Spelling Bee is a reminder of the English language's amazing enormity
An older post from The Week that’s attracted a lot of attention on the news site I oversee: “English is weird.”
Helpful post from Iva Cheung on having a house style guide
May 2018
From ACES 2018: How to grow your freelance business: Three editors share their financial strategies
Negotiating and delivering bad news with grace—advice from Laura Poole
A nice article showing how it’s done: “How to Copyedit The Atlantic”
Historical-fantasy novelist Guy Gavriel Kay on the slow process of editing his work: an author talks about working with his editor.
Brianne Hughes talks about The Cybersecurity Style Guide. Interesting to see how it all came together. It’s an immense amount of work (I put together a small style guide once).
“20 Truths from 20 Years of Editing” by Adrienne Montgomery. Great!
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Older Links
December 2013
A good infographic on grammar mistakes: The Top 10 Grammar Mistakes to Avoid Making.
Customers pay attention to the little things: another study of how typos and bad grammar can affect a company's credibility.
November 2013
Helpful article from Writer’s Digest: “10 Things Your Freelance Editor Might Not Tell You—But Should”
Hand signals to avoid on cover artwork.
October 2013
An editor comments on the scourge of the typo.
A good post from Carol Fisher Saller: What Copyeditors Can Learn Online (Maybe Not What You Think).
Jesus misspelled, and other famous typos.
September 2013
Grammarphobia examines “different to,” “different than,” and “different from.”
August 2013
Counsel on “this this” and “that that” from Grammarphobia.
From the Yahoo! Style Guide on the value of proofreading on the Web: Error-free content underscores your site’s credibility. The Web Credibility Project at the Stanford University Persuasive Technology Lab found that typographical errors are one of the top 10 factors reducing a site’s credibility.* In the 2002 “Stanford-Makovsky Web Credibility Study” (a research report by the Stanford lab and Makovsky & Company), researchers noted that “Web users do not overlook simple cosmetic mistakes, such as spelling or grammatical errors. In fact, the findings suggested that typographical errors have roughly the same negative impact on a website’s credibility as a company’s legal or financial troubles.”** Once credibility is diminished or lost, it can be hard to rebuild.
* B. J. Fogg, “Stanford Guidelines for Web Credibility.” A research summary from the Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab, Stanford University, May 2002, http://credibility.stanford.edu/guidelines/ (accessed December 29, 2008).
** B. J. Fogg et al., “Stanford-Makovsky Web Credibility Study 2002: Investigating What Makes Web Sites Credible Today.” A research report by the Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab and Makovsky & Company, Stanford University.
A helpful website: Clichés: Avoid Them Like the Plague
July 2013
Advice on using i.e. and e.g.
The 100 words most often misspelled ('misspell' is one of them) as presented by yourDictionary.com. Each word has a mnemonic pill with it and, if you swallow it, it will help you to remember how to spell the word.
June 2013
Some old but familiar words, and how and why they've endured—an interesting article from Mental Floss.
May 2013
A nice list of examples for using who/whom from Grammarphobia.
March 2013
• How good grammar can help your professional life: An article from the HBR blogs.
January 2013
• Wise counsel from The Editorial Eye more than forty years ago:
Commandments for Copyeditors
(#36, 12/79)1. Thou shalt not change the author’s meaning.
2. Thou shalt not introduce new errors; especially shalt thou not change something correct to something incorrect.
3. Thou shalt change nothing except to improve it.
4. Thou shalt hearken to thy instructions and do precisely what is expected of thee.
5. Thou shalt honor and obey those in charge over thee.
6. Thou shalt mark clearly and write legibly in a color that photocopies well.
7. Thou shalt protect the manuscript from rain, hail, wind, coffee, children, pets, and all things damaging.
8. Thou shalt meet thy deadlines.
9. Thou shalt assume nothing but shalt seek answers to all things doubtful or unspecified.
10. Thou shalt read and study the English language continually.
November 2012
• For bilingual children’s stories, children’s videos, coloring pages, activities, and more, visit http://www.freekidstories.org/, a great site run by my talented daughter Lori. Shameless promotion on my part.
• AP vs. Chicago: A guide comparing Associated Press style and Chicago style for editors, writers, teachers, students, word nerds, and anyone else who gives a dollar sign, ampersand, exclamation point, and pound sign about style.
October 2012
• For a daily update on news and views from editorial professionals, as well as a place to post questions, share advice, and enjoy the occasional pun war, join Copyediting-L, a very active discussion list with very helpful and knowledgeable editors.
• This isn't about editing, but it's related. I've found that most editors like to read (a shocking fact, I know), and I'm among them. I like to read science fiction in particular, and when I find good science fiction and fantasy (SFF) books on the Web, I bookmark them. A site I've found that has SFF books which I've enjoyed (for free) is BaenCD at the Fifth Imperium. I hope you enjoy these books as much as I did.
• Ask a Librarian at the Library of Congress. If you've searched for some information or the answer to some question and just can't seem to find it anywhere on the Web, you might want to try this free service. I've found that the researchers who answer questions I've posed have gone way beyond the call of duty to help me discover answers, while being cheerful, courteous, and a pleasure to communicate with.
• The best site for editors I've ever come across is the Copyeditors' Knowledge Base, owned and managed by Katharine O'Moore-Klopf. For editing information, advice, and resources, it's the place to go.
Email: frank@steele-editing.com Image courtesy of Danilo Rizzuti