Sunday, August 28, 2011
Norm Applegate's Blog: How to hire an editor
Norm Applegate's Blog: How to hire an editor: I haven't posted in awhile, been so busy working and traveling. The last few weeks I've been in Dallas, Austin, Tempe, Denver and I live in...
Saturday, August 27, 2011
How to hire an editor
I haven't posted in awhile, been so busy working and traveling. The last few weeks I've been in Dallas, Austin, Tempe, Denver and I live in Sarasota. I'm writing this Saturday August 27, from Vegas at 6:22 am. Hungry, just got up. Tonight going to Rod Stewart.
This article is kinda timely for me. I hired an editor two weeks ago and she seems really good. So following what I've done in the past. When I see a writing tip that I like I repost it.
...
You’ve written a novel, or a short-story collection, that you hope to publish yourself in print or online, or perhaps you plan to send it to an agent in the hopes that an editor at a publishing company will consider it. Or perhaps you have, or work for, a business that distributes printed communications, or you’re responsible for a Web site that posts lots of written material.
You know the content isn’t ready for prime time. You need an editor. What do you do?
Determine the Type of Editing You Want
First, clarify what kind of assistance you seek. Does your content need a substantive edit, copyediting, or proofreading? Substantive editing involves intensive attention to plotting, narrative, characterization, tone, and other holistic factors for fiction, and organization, logic, and effective messaging in marketing communications or other nonfiction. If your novel has been rejected for publication or your articles (or someone else’s you’re shepherding) lack the impact they require, you should search for an editor who performs substantive editing.If you believe the content is basically sound, but you believe it needs revision for grammar, usage, style, and punctuation, find a copy editor. If you’re concerned only about typographical errors, hire a proofreader. (But realize this: You can probably get away without a substantive edit, but content that has been proofread but not copyedited is probably substandard.)
Identify the Project’s Scope and Schedule
Next, consider the parameters of the assignment. Is the project a single book, or a series of essays to be assigned over a matter of weeks, or an ongoing collection of articles for a Web site? Whoever you hire will want to know your time frame. Do you expect the assignment to be returned in weeks, days, or hours? Will it be delivered, and is it to be returned, all at once, or piecemeal?Payment Policy
Next, decide how you will compensate the editor. Will you pay by the hour, by the project (a flat fee), or by the page? Most editors work with an hourly rate, which is the fairest and the most effective, because it allows the editor to do their best work. You can, of course, specify a cap on how many hours the editor is allowed to bill for.And how will you pay? By check, or money order? By PayPal, or another online service? Some editors may ask for a percentage of the total payment up front or after you receive a specified proportion of the edited material. You can ask the editor to complete a sample (paid) edit of one chapter or a single article that you evaluate before approving them to complete the assignment.
Obtain an Editor
Now, where do you find an editor? You can post physical or virtual notes in your area to solicit local teachers or English majors, but though they may be an economical choice, teachers and English majors are not necessarily good editors. You can put projects up for bid on Web sites like Guru.com, but it’s a complicated process, and many editors who offer their services on the site are underqualified or are not proficient in American English or British English. (And if you lowball the rate you’re willing to pay, you’ll get what you paid for.) Employment sites such asMedia Bistro are effective for finding media professionals but not so much for obtaining help with fiction projects or small-scale assignments, and posting employment listings can be pricey.Craigslist, however, remains an excellent resource, and job postings cost only $75. (And you needn’t restrict your search to your local market.) In addition, organizations such as the Bay Area Editors’ Forum
Consider the Costs
Substantive editing is likely to put you back $50 or more per hour, and the typical working rate is several pages per hour. Copy editors charge about $25 to $50 per hour, depending on their level of experience and expertise and on the subject matter, and they generally complete five to ten pages an hour. Proofreading costs less and is accomplished more quickly, but unless the content is online, you’ll have to mail the proofs, send them as a PDF Portable Document File (the editor will need an editing program), or have the proofreader complete the project on site or pick it up and deliver it on completion. (And remember, proofreading without copyediting is a risky shortcut.)As you can see, hiring an editor is an expensive proposition. Engaging even a $25-per-hour copy editor for a 100,000-word novel will cost you about a thousand dollars. An experienced substantive editor could end up billing you a few hundred dollars for helping you craft a 2,500-word article for a specialized publication. Even having some Web pages proofread can easily become a three-figure expenditure.
But consider the return on investment: A literary agent is impressed with your tight, cleanly written prose. A periodical accepts your clear, concise, confident technical article. Your typo-free Web site (which your proofreader has also improved with some apt suggestions about format and design) attracts visitors, who may also become customers. It’s nearly impossible to quantify the effect of an editorial professional’s contribution to the impact of any piece of content, and in many cases, the editing you don’t notice is the best kind.
In a sense, it’s a leap of faith to hire an editor. There’s no guarantee that employing an editor (even one armed with an impressive resume or glowing testimonials) will result in publication of your content or any other definitive marker of success, and the process of obtaining an editor’s services isn’t effortless even in the best circumstances. But if you’re careful, you’ll reap the benefits of better content.
Source: Dailywritingtips
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
5 Ways to Reduce Use of Prepositions
Here's a great article on improving your writing.
Prepositions, words that indicate relations between nouns, pronouns, and verbs (mostly small ones like for, in, of, on, to, and with but sometimes more substantial, as in the case of beneath or between), are often integral to a sentence, but writers can clutter sentences by being overly dependent on them. Here are five strategies for minimizing the number of prepositions you use:
1. Eliminate Prepositions by Using Active Voice
Shifting from passive voice to active voice, as in the revision of “The watch was obviously designed by a master craftsman” to “A master craftsman had obviously designed the watch” takes a preposition out of action. (But take care that the inversion of the sentence structure doesn’t incorrectly shift emphasis or diminish dramatic effect.)2. Substitute an Adverb for a Prepositional Phrase
In the writer’s toolbox, adverbs are stronger tools than prepositional phrases. Revision of the sentence “The politician responded to the allegations with vehemence” to “The politician responded vehemently to the allegations” strengthens the thought and deletes the weak preposition with.3. Use a Genitive in Place of a Prepositional Phrase
An easy test to help reduce the number of prepositions is to search for the genitive case, or a possessive form: If a sentence could use the genitive case but doesn’t, revise the sentence.For example, “She was disturbed by the violent images in the movie” gains more impact (and loses a preposition) by reversing the sentence’s subject and object: “She was disturbed by the movie’s violent images.” (Combine this strategy with a shift from passive voice to active voice, and you jettison two prepositions and further strengthen the statement: “The movie’s violent images disturbed her.”)
Another use of this technique is to revise a phrase including a reference to a location within a location, as in “the Museum of Modern Art in New York City,” which can be more actively and efficiently rendered as “New York City’s Museum of Modern Art.”
4. Omit Prepositions by Eliminating Nominalizations
Writers and editors aid clarity and conciseness by uncovering nominalizations, otherwise known as buried, or smothered, verbs. In doing so, they also negate the need for a preposition.For example, the sentence “Their attempt to provide a justification of the expense was unsuccessful,” simplified to “Their attempt to justify the expense was unsuccessful,” not only transforms the verb+article+nominalization clump “provide a justification” into the streamlined verb justify but also makes of unnecessary. (I originally wrote “but also makes the use of of unnecessary,” but then deleted the superfluous phrase “the use of” and thereby deleted a preposition.)
5. Delete Prepositional Phrases
Prepositional phrases (preposition+article+noun) provide context, but they’re not always necessary. In a sentence like “The best outcome for this scenario would be an incremental withdrawal,” note whether the meaning is clear without the phrase, and if so, strike it out: “The best outcome would be an incremental withdrawal.”Author of:
Article for Dailywritingtips
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Amazon set to launch services in India next year
Amazon, for all its shortcomings has been very good to me. This year with Amazon, my novels in both the UK and here in the USA have taken off. It happened in February and March. Especially Into the Basement, it has shot to number 1, in kindle>graphic novels>horror in both countries. We all know someone if not ourselves that own an ebook reader. I use an ipad and access books through the Kindle app and ibooks.
But something else is happening that has a huge potential for an author’s income. Foreign markets are opening up. Most of you know earlier this year Amazon opened up book distribution to Germany. Now they are going into India. I need translators…
I was very lucky this year; a Turkish publisher approached me. They have edited, translated and given Into the Basement, a new title; Sadist. That one word really sums up the essence on “Basement.” Plus, the cover is creepy! Check it out at: www.normanapplegate.com.
Here’s the announcement about India:
Amazon set to launch services in India next year
Ishan Srivastava, TNN Jul 26, 2011, 11.04am IST
CHENNAI: World's largest online retailer, Amazon.com is set to enter India, riding on the second wave of ecommerce boom in India. Amazon is in discussions with leading Indian e-commerce players like Flipkart.com, LetsBuy.com and Exclusively.in, among others and may enter the market as early as the first quarter of next year.
All the best
Norm
Monday, July 25, 2011
Software Program to Write Better
It hit me the other day I haven’t talked about what tool I use to write with. By tool I mean software program. I use Scrivner. I know, kind of a strange title. I wondered about that myself. It’s a medieval English occupational surname for a 'writer', a clerk, especially one who writes and copies books and manuscripts.
The Scrivner team is small, looks like about five people headquartered in Cornwall England. The program was developed by one of the team to help him and I’m quoting here, “get a grip on my writing, notes and research, to organize it and start putting it all together like a jigsaw.”
I’m a Mac user and Scrivner was built for the Mac. Therefore it’s stable. I understand there is a Windows version on the way. There isn’t an iPad version yet but with a few third party apps you can sync and go mobile.
Scrivner is simple. It’s a word processor and project management tool. Here’s how they describe Scrivener on their website: “you can enter a synopsis for each document on a virtual index card and then stack and shuffle the cards in the corkboard until you find the most effective sequence. Plan out your work in Scrivener’s outliner and use the synopses you create as prompts while you write. Or just get everything down into a first draft and break it apart later for rearrangement on the outliner or corkboard.”
I like the corkboard concept. This is where you can store index cards. I use one card per chapter. It’s how I plan out my novel. For reading all the index cards I switch to the outline, helps me take my plan to the next level.
Oh yeah, there is even tutorials on YouTube. How convenient is that?
It’s worth checking out. I’m on my 6th novel using Scrivner.
all the best
Norm Applegate
Monday, July 18, 2011
7 Writing tips! Powerful effects you can use now!
If you've been following my blog you know I post writing tips. That is mixed in between all the horror thriller suspense book stuff. Oh yeah, some film and movie stuff too. What I've posted below is really cool. These are some excellent tips for adding motion to your writing.
The following rhetorical tools enrich writing by eliciting a primal emotional response in readers:
1. Alliteration
Alliteration, the pattern of two or more words within a phrase or sentence that begin with the same sound, is an effective form of emphasis that adds lyricism to even straightforward prose and influences the mood.Alliteration can be delivered in consecutive words: “They have served tour after tour of duty in distant, different, and difficult places.” Or it can recur with gaps of one or more nonalliterative words: “Squaring our performances with our promises, we will proceed to the fulfillment of the party’s mission.”
2. Assonance
Assonance, akin to alliteration, is the repetition of vowel sounds in a phrase or a longer passage: “The clamor of the band addled them.”3. Consonance
As the name implies, consonance refers to repetition of consonants — specifically, those at the ends of words: “Their maid has spread the word of their deed.”4. Onomatopoeia
This term refers to words that are sound effects, indicative of their meaning or otherwise imitative of sounds: “A splash disturbed the hush of the droning afternoon.”5. Repetition
Repetition is the repeating of a word or phrase to produce a pattern or structure that strengthens the cumulative effect of a passage: “When I find you, I will catch you. When I catch you, I will cook you. When I cook you, I will eat you.”6. Rhyme
Rhyme, the matching of identical or similar word endings in sentences of prose or lines of poetry, needn’t be limited to lyrical contexts: “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.”7. Rhythm
Rhythm, the deliberate manipulation of syllabic patterns in a passage, like rhyme, should not be consigned solely to poetry: “The eager coursing of the strident hounds and the sudden pursuit of the mounted men drove the bounding prey ever on.”When employing one or more of these techniques in your writing, keep these points in mind:
- Be sure they have intrinsic value to the content and do not simply showcase your cleverness. Employ them in moderation, and be true to your voice and the tone of your writing.
- In serious expository prose, no more than one or two instances will help readers retain important information or strengthen a memorable conclusion. A more casual, lighthearted essay can afford a few more tricks, especially as mnemonic devices. A humorous piece allows you to be more indulgent, but an excess of use can quickly become wearisome and counterproductive.
- Study the masters, take note of their restraint and originality, and use those lessons as points of inspiration for your own applications of these techniques.
Author of:
Source for the article: Dailywritingtips
Friday, July 8, 2011
Indie Author Released in Turkey
In April I received an email and thought it was a scam. In fact I’m still waiting for the hit. An editor for a Turkish publisher saw my novel Into the Basement on AmazonUSA and UK and wanted it. Come on, horror in Turkey? What did I know?
Basement is currently #1 on Amazon USA and has been in the top 5 on Amazon Uk since March.
We exchanged emails, worked the deal, I signed the contract and this week saw the cover. I’m thriller. The name for the Turkish release is: “Sadist,” very creepy.
Sadist will be available in two weeks at 94 D&R's, KİTAPSAN Book Stores and in other bookstores throughout Turkey. Also from these websites:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)