Writer – Editor – Blogger
Posts tagged Product Quality
Marketing: Editing Your Work
Jun 29th
This is the second post in 3-part series on crafting your work for the marketplace. See the previous post here.
What does editing have to do with marketing? Well, since the quality of your product will affect its “saleability,” you need some quality control measures. Publishing houses just don’t have the resources to do extensive edits on the mountain of submissions they receive. They routinely reject manuscripts that are shot through with spelling, grammar, and usage errors. So—don’t handicap yourself by submitting your work without thorough proofreading and editing.
Self-editing is the only way to make sure you submit your very best work, short of hiring a proofreader. Here are a few of the methods I use to edit my articles.
- Use the features of your word processor. I use MS Word 2007 which includes a plethora of editing helps that go way beyond the standard spellchecker. Settings appear on the Microsoft Office Button menu under Word Options, then Proofing. You can choose grammar and style as well as readability statistics. My last post on this blog rated 7.0 on the Flesch Kincaid readability scale. That means the reading level is 7th grade. Check here to find out how this is calculated. If you use a different word processor, explore your help section or search online for help on how to use the features you have.
- Perform a screen edit. The spelling and grammar checkers will not catch some errors. For example, I recently caught an error where “pane” was used instead of “pain.” Spellings of people’s names are rarely in the spell-check dictionary. As you read through your work on-screen, sometimes it occurs to you that you should re-order a sentence or shorten run-on sentences. Reading out loud can help you catch awkward constructions, too.
- Print a hard copy. Once you’ve corrected the errors you’ve found, it’s time to print it out. This is a good time to let the document sit overnight, if possible. I was taught to “let it rest” in my high school English classes, and it’s one of the most useful things I learned there. Mark the errors you find on the hard copy. Read it aloud again, and mark revisions to transfer to the electronic file.
If you think this might be more time-consuming that the original writing, you’re right. A familiar writers’ adage is “writing is rewriting.” Resist the temptation to send your first draft after you’ve run the spellchecker. A thorough self-edit might cost you some time but it will earn the editor’s attention when you submit.
Online Helps:
Product Quality
Aug 13th
This post updated 6-1-2010.
The first step in developing your marketing plan is to define your product. Once you’ve identified your specialty, you’ll need to compare your product to competitors’ products. When you try to sell your articles, books, or editing services, you will be competing with others for customers. A piece of writing has product features that publishers (and the agents who serve them) expect to see in work they buy. While there are many sub-categories, the publishers look for content relevant to their target market, writing that needs little editing (style), and writers who adhere to their stated guidelines (professionalism).
Content
Look to Writers Market or Sally Stuart’s Christian market guide to be sure you are submitting your work to a publisher that wants your subject matter and genre. If you don’t have the market guides, sometimes you can find writers’ guidelines by searching for a publisher online. Of course, you have to know the name of the publisher. In the Christian market, you must consider theology also. The various denominations have very different views of doctrinal issues, especially if your work is nonfiction.
Style
Different markets use different style guides. If you write or edit for magazines, you need to know Associated Press style. Book writers and editors should be thoroughly familiar with the Chicago Manual of Style. There are preferred dictionaries for the different markets, too. The recommended manuals for the secular or Christian markets are listed in Kathy Ide’s editing course.
Book publishers (or authors of books or short stories that will be included in books, fiction or nonfiction):
- The Chicago Manual of Style (15th edition, published in 2003), online subscription available for $35/year, new print edition coming soon.
- Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (11th edition, C 2003), also online. The dictionary search is free, and premium services include access to the unabridged dictionary and Encylopedia Britannica.
- The Associated Press Stylebook, updated every year. Online subscription for $25/year.
- Webster’s New World College Dictionary (C 2004)
Some Christian publishers (books or articles):
Academic writing may require the use of one of the following guides:
- A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing) by Kate A. Turabian.
- Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.
- MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers.
If this list is not familiar to you, now’s the time to check out these resources. Choose the ones that are used for the genre you have chosen as your product. Writers who want to be published cannot rely on their knowledge of English from high school or college. You stand a better chance of selling your work if you know and conform to the style guides the publishers use.
Professionalism
Every publisher has established guidelines instructing you how to submit your work. Some publishers only take submissions through agents. Agents often have their own guidelines for submissions from prospective clients. Here’s an example. Regardless of whether you’re selling direct or through an agent, nothing screams “amateur” like a submission that does not adhere to guidelines. If you won’t take the time and effort to submit your work in the requested format, you’re telling the publisher or agent that you might have a problem following directions. You are selling your writing, but you are also selling yourself as a professional. Always, always, always…adhere to the guidelines.
Next post: Promotion: First, A Tagline
