Fiction Editing Services: What to Look for in Making Your Selection

So you’re a novelist, you’ve finished your book, and now you’re researching fiction editing services. What should you look for, and what should you be aware of? First, be aware that any novel worth its salt deserves more than a “proofread” or “copy edit.” As an author, you want to make sure that your plot hangs together without holes or ... Read More

Authors, Don’t Rush that Edit

Authors, here’s some advice based on my sixteen years’ experience as a book editor. Don’t make the mistake so many authors do, rushing the editing phase of the project as they try to bring their book to completion. Enthusiastic authors are naturally in a hurry to get their book to print, so they often set up a time schedule in ... Read More

Does Your Nonfiction Book Need Footnotes? Endnotes?

You’re writing your book, making occasional references to other books, experts, and information sources. Now you’re wondering whether you need footnotes or endnotes or if it's okay to leave them out. Good news: most of the time, it is. But before we get to that, let's clear up any confusion you might have about the difference between footnotes and endnotes. ... Read More

‘The Chicago Manual of Style’: What Authors Need to Know

If you’re an author writing your first book, you’ve probably heard the terms “stylebook” or ‘The Chicago Manual of Style’ and wondered what people were talking about. ‘The Chicago Manual of Style’ is to book editors and publishers what the Bible is to preachers. More about that formidable tome in a moment, but first let’s talk about stylebooks in general …

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Does Your Novel Need a Prologue?

If you’re writing your first novel, and if you’ve read a lot of modern fiction, you may have the impression that your novel needs a Prologue. But does it? Many novels come across my desk with a Prologue included that doesn’t belong, that actually lowers the quality of the manuscript. A Prologue is inappropriate when …

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