Comments on: Doing Our Best

By: Font, yet again at Deanna Hoak

Font, yet again at Deanna Hoak — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 21:51:55 +0000

[...] There have been quite a few posts commenting on the best fonts for manuscripts lately. Jay Lake posted in favor of 12-point Courier New (which, by the way, I have talked him into), and then C. E. Petit posted that there is no universally “correct” way of formatting, and then Cheryl Klein praised and linked a number of my posts, including the one on helping your copyeditor, but noted that she doesnâ€™t particularly like Courier. Additionally, I know that some agents set things in Times. [...]

By: Heraclitean Fire » Links

Heraclitean Fire » Links — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 11:18:41 +0000

[...] Doing Our Best at Deanna Hoak “Several people have requested that I write about what they can do to make the copyeditorâ€™s job easier…” (tags: copyediting publishing writing) [...]

By: deannahoak

deannahoak — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 06:12:08 +0000

I’d read that article before–it’s a very good one.

It can be very difficult for authors to find a copyeditor with whom they’re compatible–one who strengthens their weaknesses without weakening their strengths. Some copyeditors get so caught up in minutiae that they’re unable to see the story as a whole. I always recommend to authors that if they find a copyeditor they really like, they stick with him or her if at all possible.

By: pegkerr

pegkerr — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 05:46:23 +0000

A good copyeditor is worth weight in gold.

See my post here on this topic.

By: sylviavolk2000

sylviavolk2000 — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 19:43:03 +0000

Many, many thanks for putting this online. I’m friending you right this very minute (in the presumption you won’t mind). I knew much of this, but now I know WHY.

By: deannahoak

deannahoak — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 18:32:44 +0000

You’re welcome. And feel welcome to friend away. :-)

By: dr_pretentious

dr_pretentious — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 17:27:09 +0000

I found you via and . This post is a treasure. Thank you for being so generous with your experience. I hope you don’t mind if I friend you.

By: deannahoak

deannahoak — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 12:36:06 +0000

You’re welcome! I’m glad you found it useful. I’ve always been one of those people who wants to understand the “why” and not just the “how.” :-)

By: tharain

tharain — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 12:08:36 +0000

Thanks for this. Excellent post.

I perform both functions, actually, in that I write my own stuff, and copy edit for others. Copy editting makes me very conscious of keeping my MS clean, and causes me to beat my head against the desk when others don’t. I’ve had pretty good luck in the latter, though.

By: annathepiper

annathepiper — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 11:31:13 +0000

Hi there! I’m an aspiring author who saw your post linked to by , and I wanted to come over and say thank you for spelling this stuff out. I already knew the standards for how to format my manuscripts, but it’s very helpful to have a solid explanation as to why this format is best. So thank you very much! :)