The Editor’s Craft – The Editorial Department

Evaluating Nonfiction: One Editor’s Approach What can set your nonfiction manuscript up for success ... or doom it to the reject pile
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Evaluating Nonfiction: One Editor’s Approach What can set your nonfiction manuscript up for success ... or doom it to the reject pile

Developmental Editing, Getting Published, nonfiction, PG, The Editor’s Craft, The Editorial Process, Traditional Publishing

Evaluating Nonfiction: One Editor’s Approach What can set your nonfiction manuscript up for success ... or doom it to the reject pile

Fiction lives or dies by the author’s storytelling and writing skills (and perseverance and some luck). For nonfiction, then, one might assume that likewise, an interesting topic well elucidated will do the job. However, the publishing industry and readers regard nonfiction a bit differently.

Subject Matter

Publishers generally have certain prerequisites for even considering […]

By Peter Gelfan|2022-02-21T18:11:32+00:00|Developmental Editing, Getting Published, nonfiction, PG, The Editor’s Craft, The Editorial Process, Traditional Publishing|Comments Off

Spotlight on Developmental Editing An overview of why it’s needed, how it works, and what to expect from the process
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Spotlight on Developmental Editing An overview of why it’s needed, how it works, and what to expect from the process

The Editor’s Craft, The Editorial Process

Spotlight on Developmental Editing An overview of why it’s needed, how it works, and what to expect from the process

When many people think of editing, they think of arcane symbols and scribbled margin notes in red or blue pencil – move this paragraph, delete these words, add a hyphen, correct that spelling, capitalize this letter. And while that is an important part of editing, it’s only one part, and it comes last. So let’s talk about […]

By Editorial Department|2022-02-21T19:45:44+00:00|The Editor’s Craft, The Editorial Process|Comments Off

Jonathan Balcombe on Writing, Editing, and Getting Published A bestselling nonfiction author shares his approach to editing and mentoring others
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Jonathan Balcombe on Writing, Editing, and Getting Published A bestselling nonfiction author shares his approach to editing and mentoring others

JB, TED Editor Posts, The Editor’s Craft, The Editorial Process

Jonathan Balcombe on Writing, Editing, and Getting Published A bestselling nonfiction author shares his approach to editing and mentoring others

[guest post by Jonathan Balcombe]

My career as a biology student, animal advocate, editor and author has required me to write at every stage: essays, lab reports, a thesis and a dissertation, peer-reviewed journal articles, testimonies, correspondence, course syllabi and lectures, even a film script. Most recently, as an author of popular science books, […]

By Jonathan Balcombe|2022-02-21T19:27:23+00:00|JB, TED Editor Posts, The Editor’s Craft, The Editorial Process|Comments Off

The First Duty of a Manuscript Critique Why candor matters and what you can expect from your editor if your manuscript isn't very good
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The First Duty of a Manuscript Critique Why candor matters and what you can expect from your editor if your manuscript isn't very good

Developmental Editing, RSB, The Editor’s Craft

The First Duty of a Manuscript Critique Why candor matters and what you can expect from your editor if your manuscript isn't very good

[by Ross Browne]

The first thing I’d put on the table in connection with how we handle very flawed manuscripts can, I hope, go without saying. And that’s that we never want to be discouraging to an author. There’s no pleasure in telling a writer that a manuscript needs deep rewriting rather than editing or that its […]

By Ross Browne|2022-12-06T02:04:21+00:00|Developmental Editing, RSB, The Editor’s Craft|Comments Off

My Neighbor Is My Editor A seasoned pro takes aim at the notion that anyone with eyes can be an editor
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My Neighbor Is My Editor A seasoned pro takes aim at the notion that anyone with eyes can be an editor

MF, The Editor’s Craft, The Editorial Process

My Neighbor Is My Editor A seasoned pro takes aim at the notion that anyone with eyes can be an editor

This just in: your neighbor’s English skills are probably not up to the standards of book publishing.

When I first began editing books, I had been a professional editor for more than twenty years, at a New York-area newspaper, a regional magazine, and several magazines with an international readership. Perfectionist that I was at the time, I could quote […]

By Marica Ford|2021-03-18T16:56:52+00:00|MF, The Editor’s Craft, The Editorial Process|Comments Off

What Editors (Really) Do A guide for authors, by Editorial Department founder Renni Browne
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What Editors (Really) Do A guide for authors, by Editorial Department founder Renni Browne

RDB, The Editor’s Craft, The Editorial Process

What Editors (Really) Do A guide for authors, by Editorial Department founder Renni Browne

So in one of my favorite New Yorker cartoons by Sam Gross, we have a cat maniacally clawing an upholstered chair, obviously not for the first time, and its owner explaining to her guests: “We believe that in […]

By Renni Browne|2022-02-21T19:31:14+00:00|RDB, The Editor’s Craft, The Editorial Process|Comments Off