Tag: #publishing

Learning from a Publisher’s Rejection

So, you prepared your proposal (summary of your book idea, where you think it’ll fit in the market, your credentials, and all that other requested info) and submitted it for your dream publisher’s consideration. After your painstaking work, an acquisitions editor (the publisher’s representative) rejects it. How do you handle that?

The following are a few suggestions.

  • Recognize the publisher isn’t rejecting you: A rejection is not a personal attack. It reflects the acquisition editor’s assessment that your book does not complement the publisher’s goals at the time. Sending the acquisitions editor a short message thanking him, her, or them for consideration—or not responding at all—is appropriate; do not berate the publisher’s choice or insult the editor.
  • Look for takeaways in the rejection letter: It may be tempting to simply send a rejected proposal to another publisher, but it will be an exercise in futility if you dismiss valuable feedback. Instead, treat it as a learning experience.
    • Did the acquisitions editor tell you that there isn’t a demand for the topic? Consider shelving the book for a time or re-evaluating the project to see if you can expand it to include more relevant themes.
    • Did the acquisitions editor tell you the project reads like a dissertation? Revise it. This usually means that you as the writer must trim the literature review; consolidate footnotes; and foreground your ideas.  
    • Did the publisher tell you they want you to grow your platform? A lot of prospective authors mistakenly believe it’s entirely up to their publishers to create, grow, and sustain their platform. This is untrue. You as prospective authors should create professional websites or social media accounts to promote yourselves; book speaking engagements, seminars, or workshops (even virtually); or perform other relevant tasks to further your brand. A book will complement this work—not replace it. This also shows the publisher that you will be an active partner.

Once you have incorporated this feedback and updated your book proposal to reflect the changes, send the proposal back to that and other publishers in the field. Know that sometimes making these changes takes months or years.

Good luck!  

Identifying 3 Ways Authors Can Promote Their Books

The benefits of a traditional publisher are numerous. Its advertising and merchandizing partnerships are certainly chief among them. That said, all authors—both self-published and traditional—can help promote their own book.

Authors can:

  1. Update their email signatures and bios to include a link to bookseller—Not only does this advertise that they’ve written a book, it also increases the chance of impulse buys.
  2. Tweet, and encourage peers and friends to post, about the book—Even posting a short but meaningful excerpt raises awareness.
  3. Use the book cover as the background photo on social media sites like Twitter or Facebook or personal websites—I’m especially a fan of this strategy for authors who consult or book speaking events. Attendees will inevitably look them up, so putting the book in a prime spot increases the chance that they’ll see and buy it.

A book that’s seen is a book that sells, so authors should pull out their books whenever and wherever possible.

Submitting Your Proposal (for First-timers)!

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So you’ve finally written your book and compiled a list of publishers whose audience will love it. But what do you send?

Each publisher has its own guidelines—usually found on its website, but send the following and no detail will be left to chance.

  • Cover letter (or email) summarizing your manuscript, your expertise, other publishers you’re contacting, and any competing titles: Pitch your book. Publishers receive hundreds of submissions, so use this time to set yourself apart. Explain what story you’re telling and why you’re the person to do it. Let them know you know about the competition but that your title makes a distinct contribution
  • Marketing plan communicating how you plan to market your book. After all, publishing is a partnership. Writing a book is a small part of publishing. If you want to get your book into readers’ hands, you’re going to have to work. That means you’ll attend launch parties, book signings, meet and greets, professional development events, and so on. There are millions of books on any topic, so publishers want to know what you’re willing to do to get yours into reader’s hands.
  • A sample containing the introduction, first chapters, and a table of contents. I know some writers are suspicious of sending their work out. However, a commissioning editor needs to accurately access how well you execute your ideas and the quality of your writing. Still, some writers think their idea will be ripped off. When in doubt file for copyright of the text through the U.S. Copyright Office (http://copyright.gov) or mail your mom a copy of the manuscript and tell her not to open it.
  • Resume or curriculum vitae that illustrates your expertise. Academic presses want to know you’re qualified, and trade presses want to see what affiliations you have that could support sales and promotion, for examples.

It’s satisfying to get a confirmation that your submission has been received, but honestly, you may not hear anything for weeks or months depending on how many proposals a publisher receives. Just persevere. Keep sending the package to publishers whose audience you’re writing for.

Good luck!

Working During COVID-19

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Like many offices, mine shifted to remote work at the start of the pandemic. That shift is something I’m grateful for and yet, I notice that it creates new challenges. Isolation from coworkers and office resources (printers, mail service, and so on) are chief among them.

The following are ways I’ve been handling this time:

  • Being kind to myself and understanding that business as usual has changed
  • Practicing self-care, which means regular exercise and dog walking to mitigate stress and remain healthy
  • Participating in virtual hangouts to stay connected to my coworkers and other professionals in the field
  • Embracing virtual learning and conferences to stay abreast of industry news and access best practices
  • Being honest with stakeholders like series editors, authors, and colleagues about what challenges—and delays—this time presents

Recounting Four Takeaways From ACES 2018

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To keep my copyediting skills sharp, I was off to the 2018 national conference of ACES: The Society for Editing in Chicago, IL. It was a great opportunity to learn new practices in the industry. The following are four lessons I’m taking away from the event.

  1. Language: Understand that we, the people, choose how we use English, which is one reason Merriam-Webster expands and revises its entries annually.
  2. Bias detection: Follow an inclusion checklist that assumes the writer doesn’t understand why a point is offensive yet do push back, requesting supporting research and consulting an expert. Avoid labels, which means scrutinizing whether an identifier like race is relevant. (You can check out more about that “Is This Biased?” from its handouts.)
  3. Workplace: Build social capital with colleagues, which means acknowledging when a staff person does a great job so that one can build from that good foundation to confront on and resolve an issue. Now this session was geared toward workplace leaders, but I think it works in collaborative settings too.
  4. Overall: Don’t give people an excuse to stop reading.

It’s probably a cliché at this point, but I still believe it: the copy editor is often the last line of defense—checking the accuracy of information before it reaches the reader. Every publication from the corporate office to the newsroom needs reliable copy editors—professionals who are the first readers of a writer’s work. These professionals preserve writers’ voice while checking grammar, spelling, and punctuation; reviewing the text structure and flow; and verifying facts. Why do they do that? Because writers, no matter how educated or experienced, immediately lose credibility among readers when they spot errors or are confused by the text. We (copy editors and writers) don’t want to lose our readers; we want our writers’ story to get out.

Conference gear

Laying the Right Foundation (Author Onboarding)

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I read a Harvard Business Review article, “Your New Hires Won’t Succeed Unless You Onboard Them Properly,” that highlighted the importance of proper onboarding for talent retention. The writer pointed out that companies that streamline the steps and interactions needed to make a new hire’s first days successful and welcoming see less turnover. In essence, companies that are intentional about laying the right foundation will receive better results.

Likewise, I think project editors have to be intentional about laying the right foundation with authors. When a manuscript transmits, I reach out via email to the author to make introductions. At that time, I briefly recount what the author can expect during the production process, highlight important dates (like editing review and formatting review), confirm those dates work for the author, and ask if the author has questions about any aspect of the process. In my experience, authors feel good about the process when this occurs. For them, the editor becomes a real person, invested in the authors’ work. For me, I learn how responsive a writer is and whether I need to request modifications to a project’s time line before production begins.

Proper onboarding indeed!

Reviewing the Edit Versus Formatting Review (for Authors)

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Some publishers, including the one that employs me, give authors two reviews during the publishing process. The first—the review of edit—occurs after the manuscript has been developed and copyedited. During this time, the author sees his or her manuscript for the first time since sending it to the publisher. The author should read the file carefully, answering any queries left by the editor. The author should also make any bigger-picture changes he or she has been considering. Now, I’m not encouraging an author to rewrite the book. I’m saying if the writer thinks an additional paragraph or section is needed to strengthen a point, the author should do it now—before the file is formatted.

Once the file is formatted, a.k.a. begins to look like a book, the author receives a copy as an electronic PDF to do the second review, that is to (1) answer any outstanding queries and (2) confirm that the formatting looks like he or she intended, noting any errors. Errors will usually be surface level; perhaps a figure needs to be closer to its call-out or text should be reworked as a bulleted list. Ideally, major rewriting will not occur at this stage. If a lot of rewriting occurs, the file may have to be edited again, which can delay the book’s release.
In both reviews, I encourage authors to read the file carefully. Resolve all editor queries, and ask any questions that come to mind.

Happy editing!

Checking Photos

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Whether editing or proofreading, it’s important to review photos for quality, clarity, and accuracy. Ask yourself:

  • Will the photo be reprinted in color? If so, is a full-color pic used?
  • Is the photo high resolution? I find that a JPEG, TIFF, or applicable format at 300 dots per inch (dpi) reprints well.
  • Is the photo appropriate for publication? With that question in mind—
    • Does the photo contain additional or unecessary people or irrelevant props?
    • Is the lightening good?
    • Is the background distracting?
  • Does the caption accurately reflect who’s photographed or what that person is doing?

The Television Academy had a mishap where actor Terrence Howard was mistaken for Academy Award-winning actor Cuba Gooding Jr. (oops); luckily, tweets are easier to delete than books are to correct. Still, don’t let a bad or inaccurate photo slip through the cracks on your watch.

Happy editing!

Querying Authors: How to Write Queries, When to Write Them

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Sometimes it’s necessary to query authors to clarify an idea or concept. In my opinion, the best queries are straightforward, spelling out exactly what information you need. You want to respect the authors’ time and avoid any chance your request can be misinterpreted. Perhaps the authors said “Research says” or “Studies show”, but they don’t cite any of the research they’re drawing from. Lack of research can cause credibility issues. Readers need to be able to pull up the resources being quoted to verify the information for themselves. I’d leave a simple author query (AQ) like [AQ: Please cite the research you’re referring to, and provide a reference-list entry for each citation].

Note the bold font make the query standout from the normal text. I may also highlight it in yellow. This minimizes the chance that the query will be overlooked during the authors’ review. However, some programs like Microsoft Word offer Comment features that are also effective.

The following are the most common issues I (and I imagine other editors) have to query for.

  • Missing information: Author bios, photos, text, and research
  • Clarifying information: Perhaps the author makes an assertion that can be misconstrued. For instance, an author may say “We have to close the achievement gap in the United States. Minorities are earning four-year degrees at lower rates than other groups.” In this case, I need to know how the author defines the term minority. I’ve heard this term used to describe women, but the National Center for Education Statistics reports that women are earning degrees at higher rates than men, which would make the writer’s point inaccurate.
  • Making suggestions: In my field (education publishing), we want to provide educators with practical, research-based strategies and tools. Occasionally, authors will include sample rubrics or lesson plans in manuscripts. I may ask them if they’d like to make the material free to download on their book’s product page. This (1) provides teachers with an easy-to-access tool they can immediately use with their students, which in turn makes them feel grateful toward us and likely to buy our product again; and (2) draws readers to the book’s page where they can find other titles the author has published . . . which they will then buy.

It should go without saying that any queries should be respectful of the authors, their expertise, and the time they devoted to writing. Not only are they doing a service, they chose to work with you, so your dealings with them should demonstrate gratitude for their choice.

Highlighting 3 Elements to Check During Proofreading

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Proofreading is one of the final hands-on stages of the publishing process. At proofreading, the manuscript will receive a final read through. According to the University of Chicago Press’s (2010) The Chicago Manual of Style (Sixteenth edition), “Proofreading is the process of reading a text and scrutinizing all its components to find errors and mark them for correction.” All components encompasses more than reading the text. Proofreaders should also the following.

  • Verify the table of contents’ accuracy: One of the first things readers will see (and use) is a book’s table of contents (TOC). If it’s incorrect (for instance, it says chapter 2 begins on page 13 but it actually begins on 31), the author’s and publisher’s credibility will be damaged. Readers may ask, “If these people can’t even get a page number correct, what else have they got wrong?”
  • Double check the spelling of proper nouns: Ideally, this should have been done by the author and editor. Yet, oversights do occur; but they don’t have to occur on the proofreader’s watch. Again, obvious mistakes (like misspelling an author or organization name) damage the author’s and publisher’s credibility.
  • Check the accuracy of section headings and running heads: “Running heads—the headings at the tops of pages—function, like page numbers, as signposts” (University of Chicago Press, 2010). Pages shift or figures, tables, or lists are moved during formatting. When this happens, the running head or section headings may no longer reflect the page’s content.

Happy proofreading!
Reference
The University of Chicago Press. (2010). The Chicago manual of style (16th ed.). Chicago: Author.