Sept. 2013 links.

Writing resources for getting writers thinking about the craft of writing, from Rose Fox of Genreville fame.  (Which mutated into a subsection of Publishers Weekly's blog PWxyz when I wasn't looking.)

From Rose, I got Ursula Vernon's post about Three Gray Fandoms.

To which I say, YES.  SF is getting older, and the young people I see are mostly the kids of the other fans I know.


11 Things Happy Authors Don't Do by Rachelle Gardner.

20 Great Writers on the Art of Revision -- Mark Twain, Dorothy Parker, Raymond Chandler, Neil Gaiman, Stephen King...

From Apex Books:  Books. Lots of Books. And a Magazine.

Training: So You Want to Be an Editor.

This being September, my c/e anniversary month, I suspect more c/e and freelance info will be posted.  Keep an eye out...

Starting with the Editors' Association of Canada (EAC 2011) and So You Want to Be an Editor because So You Want to Be a Wizard is still one of my favorite Diane Duane books.

Make sure you look at that first link carefully...  I'd say that 90 percent of freelance editors still make the lower median wage.


Copyeditor Training Parts 1 (Various Courses), 2 (Other Options), and 3 (More Choices) by Erin Brenner.

KOK Edit (Editor-Mom) adds her views on training -- check her list for many colleges and associations and their editing courses.  Here's how to join the Copyediting-L list to learn more about other copy editors' thoughts on Editing or experience?

She also has the priceless Copyeditors' Knowledge Base.


Does Training Matter? What Publishers Say about Proofreading and Editing Courses by Louise Harnby, proofreader.  Also from Louise Harnby: Proofreaders-to-be: Loving Books Isn’t Enough.

Are Editors Born or Made? by Amy Einsohn [PDF].

Ebooks, libraries, and... ebooks' Netflix?

The Netflix for books is here, it’s mobile, and it makes Amazon look old

Now that's something interesting!

Alas, only for iThings thus far.  But it's new.  Give it time.  I hope it sticks around.


Cory Doctorow: Libraries and E-books

I really recommend reading Cory's posts over at Locus.  This one in particular, since it's about ebooks, and how the publishers need to work WITH libraries.  They aren't the enemy.  Libraries are the friends of both publishers and readers.

If you want to know more about helping libraries here in the States, check out the ALA's Authors for Library Ebooks site.  If you read at all, have any favorite authors, do go look at that site, please!

Look for this badge and help authors and readers encourage publishers to help us all keep reading.

You're better than you think.

Thanks to Christie Yant for pointing this out!

A day in the life of women in SF.

The magificent @HelBell adds more context to @seananmcguire's words: A day in the life of women in SF http://t.co/WZ90INmpI0
— Christie Yant (@christieyant) September 5, 2013

We need a different world.  We need to make it happen ourselves.  All of us.

Freelance copy editor training.

The importance of training:

Buyer beware!

CPD:  Training counts

Why train?


If you're interested in freelance editing, you should look into training.  I really can't stress this enough.

Some publishers won't hire freelancers without training or certification.  In the USA, we have the Editorial Freelancers Association; they offer online courses.  Other organizations exist, but I check EFA courses first.  The EFA's invaluable.


Margaret Aherne talks about Advanced Copy-Editing

What a publisher looks for before hiring you as an editorial freelancer

[Links broken.]

Many thanks to the SfEP and PTC, who provided these links originally (barring the EFA link, of course).

It's my freelance anniversary.

This month marks my sixth anniversary as a freelance copy editor.  Many highs and lows, certainly, but it's still just perfect for me.  I love my career choice.


My rates will update today to match the EFA's, which are currently at $30.00/hour for basic copyediting.

Note that I won't suddenly raise them in the middle of a project.

The Backup Ribbon in fandom.

I wasn't at Worldcon 2013 [LoneStarCon 3] but I have seen some of the Tweets.

This is what the great Saladin Ahmed posted.

If you're being harassed at #worldcon and I'm nearby, say "Hey! Saladin!" I'll run interference. I look like this. pic.twitter.com/WCq888SrX6
— Saladin Ahmed (@saladinahmed) August 30, 2013

This is the Backup Ribbon project.  I love it.

I especially adore the "large friendly letters" part, but I love all of it -- concept and execution.  This is a brilliant idea.