Announcing the Winners of the 2024 Goodreads Choice Awards! View the winners across all 15 categories now!

Goodread's readers' favourite books of the year have been announced. Particularly pleased by the winner in the history and biography category! www.goodreads.com/choiceawards... #amreading

Copyright: Publishers in Guadalajara Cheer the End of Internet Archive Suit Plaintiffs Hachette, HarperCollins, Wiley, and PRH joined the Association of American Publishers in seeing the court dismantle 'controlled digital lending.' …

A win for copyright - Internet Archive loses: publishingperspectives.com/2024/12/copy... #publishing #amediting

What a lovely milestone, @suzannearnold.com 🐈

Book review: Networking for Freelance Editors | Apt Words Review of Dowdle and Ruggeri's Networking for Freelance Editors Workbook: Practical Strategies for Networking Success. Did I like it? Read on...!

More bloggy goodness - the last of this season. I'll be back in September. The CIEP has retired this review I wrote of Dowdle and Ruggeri's 'Networking for Freelance Editors' so I updated it and popped it on my blog: aptwords.co.uk/networking-b... #AptWords #amediting #freelancing #bookreview

How do copyeditors work? 4 key principles | Apt Words What are the key principles that good copyeditors work to? #1 Do No Harm, #2 If you’re not sure, check, #3...

New blog post! I introduce four principles that good copyeditors apply in how they work (rather than the technicalities of what we do to the text). #AptWords #blog #amediting #amproofreading aptwords.co.uk/4-key-princi...

Ah, but so do I! A damn sight more useful... 🤣

Why you need and how to work with a book indexer: a guide for authors In which I make the case for the indexing profession and describe how authors can work with indexers to get the best results

Should an author index their own book? Maybe but often not. So here’s my Society of Authors article: ‘Why you need and how to work with a book indexer: a guide for authors’. See also a trained professional like me for more. We’d love to help. #IndexSky
baindex.org/2021/01/29/w...

6 tips for writing your first scholarly book | Apt Words Your first scholarly book is rather different from an article, not least in scale! Here's some help in 6 handy tips.

New bloggy goodness! My new post is aimed at scholarly authors switching up a gear from articles to their first book. I give my top six tips to help them make that transition.
aptwords.co.uk/6-tips-for-w... #AptWords #authors #amwriting #amediting #firstbook

So great to see you in the index, too, @ayeshachari.bsky.social!

Copyedited for the first time - what should I expect? If it's your first time being copyedited, it can feel scary. Here's what to expect...

My new blog post is specifically for scholarly authors new to being copyedited (even more specifically, those in the humanities and social sciences). Lots of resources to help you orient yourself, too! #AptWords #amwriting #amediting aptwords.co.uk/copyedited-f...

Why is copyediting important? | Apt Words Copyediting is important in producing accurate, reliable text that the reader can trust. Read on…

I'm back with a new blog post, looking at why copyediting is important when getting text ready to publish: aptwords.co.uk/why-is-copye... #AptWords #blog #emediting

@geckoedit.bsky.social is going to be stoked by the dedication, eh, Kath? @ivacheung.bsky.social! And, of course, your usual brilliance 😃

Customer service for freelancers - and for their clients Both freelancers and clients have responsibilities for customer service to produce thriving relationships. Here are three things you can do. #1…

Bloggy time! Great customer service isn't just for freelancers - it's for our clients, too! No, I don't think this is controversial! aptwords.co.uk/customer-ser... #amediting #blogging #AptWords

1 copyeditor, 60 life lessons | Apt Words I'm a copyeditor. Here are 60(ish) life lessons I've brought with me into my editing life - we all have experience we bring with us. Here's a glimpse into mine

What experiences from your life do you bring to your current work? Here's mine: aptwords.co.uk/copyeditor-6... #AptWords #lifeexperience #amediting

Image of certificate of completion for Sue Littleford, Non-fiction Development Editing course.

I said a month ago I'd been to the first in the webinar Non-fiction Developmental Editing course with the CIEP. Today, we had the last webinar! Really good course and if you can get on the next delivery (April, I believe), do! (Well, only if you're interested in the subject 😉) #amediting #AptWords

Handling comments in Word | Apt Words If your Word documents get clogged up with comments and you can't see what's what, this will help you.

The final part of my mini-series of blog posts for authors who have to work with tracked changes is out - and I'm looking at handling comments. #AptWords #authors #Word #comments aptwords.co.uk/handling-com...

I had fun yesterday going to the first webinar in a training course from the CIEP on developmental editing in nonfiction. There's homework! And three more Tuesday mornings of thinking deeply about texts with 14 other editors. I'm with my people 😃 #amediting #amlearning #nonfiction

Working with a tracked changes file | Apt Words Find out how to approach working with a file full of tracked changes, when you need to accept or reject changes, or make further changes. Plus a handy trick!

New blog post! The third in my series on working with tracked changes is now out. I'm looking at how an author might tackle the job when sent a file full of tracked changes, & instructed to work through them. aptwords.co.uk/working-with... #authors #trackedchanges #amediting #AptWords

Navigating Tracked Changes in Word: a quick guide Being faced with a file full of tracked changes can be scary. Let me get you started…

The second article in my mini-series on tracked changes is out! I'm looking at which buttons to press to navigate around tracked changes, & accepting/rejecting edits. This is aimed at authors who are faced with a tracked changes file & are aghast! aptwords.co.uk/navigating-t... #amediting #amwriting

Well - this has made me very happy (and very surprised):
Wordle 948 2/6
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4 reasons not to track every change in Word = better results It's not necessary to track all changes in an edit, but some are essential, so track changes selectively for better results

New blog post! Why I think tracking every single Word change is counterproductive: aptwords.co.uk/tracking-cha... #amediting

Thanks! And oh, absolutely! In a group of editors I see most weeks, I'm notorious for telling people to master saying no! And I say no a lot more than I say yes. Amazingly, people aren't offended and my career hasn't suffered 👍

Thanks! Glad you liked it 😀

What does it take to be a good copyeditor? 8 qualities... My list of 8 qualities that go to making a good copyeditor. Humility? People skills? All this and more! #1...

Here's my first blog post of the year, on what it takes to be a great editor, beyond technical competence. Do you think I missed anything? aptwords.co.uk/8-qualities-... #amediting

6 things Mark Twain didn't say about editing Mark Twain is often cited as saying things he actually didn't. Here are a few that almost certainly aren't his! #1…

Final blog post this year - I like to do an occasional 'famous quotes' one so here's Mark Twain. Ish. aptwords.co.uk/mark-twain-n... Season's greetings, and wassail! 🎄 #amediting #blogpost #freelancing

No - thank YOU, Draftsmith people, for letting me get in early! 😄

Oops! Should have said #amediting #editingcommunity #writingcommunity #authors

Draftsmith: a new writing and editing tool - review Draftsmith is a new tool to support writers refine their drafts, and editors unlock awkward text. Here's my review…

The new writing and editing tool Draftsmith launched yesterday from the folks at @perfectit.bsky.social I got the chance to give it a whirl ahead of launch and here's my review: aptwords.co.uk/draftsmith-r...

Well, that can happen when you're startled... 😉

Indeed! Just because you've hired a copyeditor doesn't mean you have to have all the tasks a copyediting can do, nor all of them at the same level as other people. Your copyeditor should respond to you & your text. I've just finished a book with very intensive editing for language - as copyeditor.