The Editor's Companion: An Indispensable Guide To Editing Books, Magazines, Online Publications, And More Download Free (EPUB, PDF)
Excel at editing!The editor's job encompasses much more than correcting commas and catching typos. Your chief mission is to help writers communicate effectively--which is no small feat. Whether you edit books, magazines, newspapers, or online publications, your ability to develop clear, concise, and focused writing is the key to your success.The Editor's Companion is an invaluable guide to honing your editing skills. You'll learn about editing for:CONTENT: Analyze and develop writing that is appealing and appropriate for the intended audience.FOCUS: Ensure strong beginnings and satisfying endings, and stick with one subject at a time.PRECISE LANGUAGE: Choose the right words, the right voice, and the right tense for every piece.GRAMMAR: Recognize common mistakes in punctuation, parts of speech, and sentence structure--and learn how to avoid them. You'll also find valuable editing resources and checklists, advice on editorial relationships and workflow, and real-life samples of editing with explanations of what was changed and why. The Editor's Companion provides the tools you need to pursue high quality in editing, writing, and publishing--every piece, every time.
Paperback: 232 pages
Publisher: Writer's Digest Books (January 1, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1599639025
ISBN-13: 978-1599639024
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.6 x 8.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #103,220 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #58 in Books > Reference > Writing, Research & Publishing Guides > Writing > Editing
Reviewed by C J Singh (Berkeley, California)An Excellent Book on Editing BasicsIf your interest is in learning editing basics using Associated Press (AP) Stylebook, this book is an excellent introduction.(However, if your interest is in learning editing basics using The Chicago Manual of Style, Amy Sohn's book on Copyediting would be my recommendation -- see my review on .)Steve Dunham is a highly experienced editor, thoroughly familiar with the yearly updates of the Associated Press Stylebook. The preface opens: “Editing—Who needs it? As a writer I write things that I think will be clear to everybody, but an editor says, ‘No, no, Steve,’ and I realize my error. Thank God for editors.” I like his voice already. In the next sentence Dunham quotes Laura Moyer, a copy editor: “Nobody loves a copy editor, but everybody needs one." "Even though we make errors seven days a week,” she noted on another occasion. Moyer’s sentences appeared in her blog dated six months apart and Dunham accurately marked them as endnotes 1 and 2. This inspires confidence in the accuracy of his 220 endnotes.The 242-page text is presented in 11 chapters:1. Marks of Good Writing;2. Editing for Content;3. Editing for Focus;4. Editing for Precise Language;5. Editing for Grammar;6. Typography;7. A Few Tips;8. Editorial Relationships;9. The Editors Tools;10. Samples of Editing;11. One’s That Got Away.I enjoyed reading these chapters. Here are some examples.
7.5/10This is a basic introduction to editing, no matter you are a beginner editor, a peer-reviewer or just want to edit your own texts.One expects the book of a professional editor to be good, easy to understand, and well organised, and, generally speaking, this is the case.Although many of the things Dunham recommends are a bit too obvious (especially if writing is part of your job or just your job) they should never be forgotten. At times, it is painful seeing academics doing the sort of mistakes that Dunham mentions in this book. Actually, these are some of the mistakes I do make while writing for work, or writing a review.The book is clearly written, without any pomposity or technical jargon. A priori, I thought this would be a dry book, but I found it to be not only useful and practical, but an enjoyable light reading as well.The chapter I find most interesting and useful is chapter 9 (The Editor's Tools), which not only provides us with a commented bibliography and list of online resources, but also an example of check-list. I also enjoyed Dunham's comments on the relationship with editors and authors in chapter 9, which are great to level your head when correcting somebody else's work, something that I find difficult because I get exasperated by some people's "crappola". And also all his comments on the use of Wikipedia.Some of his comments on common grammatical and orthographical mistakes are spot on and very easy to understand, therefore, very useful. I also like some of the explanations Dunham gives about confusing (fusing) words.
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