The Difference between You and John Grisham

A client recently sent me a business book to edit that was disorganized and full of repetition. It jumped back and forth between topics. It was in this shape because he had written it piecemeal over a period of years. If he had begun with an outline (or table of contents) and had written to that, the book would have ... Read More

How to Reduce the Money You Pay Your Book Editor

People are usually surprised at how much professional book editing costs. A lot of time goes into any book edit, but the time and cost are greatly reduced when the writing is polished. When authors take the time to make their manuscript the best they can make it before sending it off for editing, that shortens the hours the editor ... 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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How to Get Endorsements for Your Book

You’re almost through writing your novel or nonfiction book, and now you’re thinking about getting some endorsements . . .  those wonderful little plugs for the book that authors display on their book’s back cover. But what should an endorsement say, who is qualified to give it, and how do you get a qualified person to give you one? Who ... Read More