Comments on: My Start in Publishing

By: Ken

Ken — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 16:04:41 +0000

My background is hardware/programmer/technical writer/proofer.
As an Englishman in Florida, I’m convinced that Webster and curious pronunciation conspire to create the fun spelling environment over here. That and a cultural ethos that really doesn’t care. That said, we love and secretly admire the way you abuse French.

I’ve seen nitch and nich for niche. Your resume is the cruise control button; you probably sent your résumé, but resumé is the normal US pronunciation, and common misspelling. Don’t get me started on crayp, lonzeray and chays lounge…

By: Deanna Hoak

Deanna Hoak — Tue, 12 May 2009 00:15:00 +0000

Thank you, Katherine! I’m glad you enjoyed it. :)

By: Katherine

Katherine — Mon, 11 May 2009 20:21:10 +0000

Thank you for all of this.

I currently work at a very small non-profit poetry press called Ugly Duckling Presse in Brooklyn doing sales and marketing, although I would prefer editorial eventually. =) It’s a pleasure come across you today.

Katherine

By: Deanna Hoak

Deanna Hoak — Wed, 06 May 2009 15:56:13 +0000

Hi, Kerica. Yes, a copyediting test is usually a selection of text that you have to edit just as you would a manuscript. They then judge you on what you marked and what you missed.

Best,
Deanna

By: Kerica

Kerica — Wed, 06 May 2009 15:05:41 +0000

(edit them, not it… sorry)

By: Kerica

Kerica — Wed, 06 May 2009 15:04:13 +0000

Nobody has commented here in a while, so I hope somebody will still respond…

What exactly is involved in a copyediting test? Do they just send you some pages and let you edit it then see if you marked it the way it should have been marked? Or is it a test with questions you have to answer?

By: Poison Ivy

Poison Ivy — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 12:39:47 +0000

When I started in the business, I was a very good proofreader and soon advanced to be a copy editor. Then I began reading manuscript submissions, and the constant contact with bad spelling and atrocious grammar–that had to be left alone, and preferably, merely skimmed–turned me into a lousy proofreader and a lazy copy editor. I even have trouble now with the correct spelling of certain words that I once knew cold, because so many writers do not spell them correctly.

So I would warn you not to mix editorial imperatives. Work that is directed at content is very different from what is directed at technical form.

And yes, the best copy editors are often conned into rewriting the incoherent sentences of authors who know a topic but not how to write. But that is line or substantive editing and should be paid, openly, at a different (and higher) rate.

By: deannahoak

deannahoak — Sat, 22 Apr 2006 15:50:58 +0000

Yeah, two self-employeds would be tough. I actually had a self-employed insurance before I married that was very reasonable and was fine for standard care, but it would have really sucked if something truly major went wrong.

I haven’t had a problem making enough money to live on, but making a living is about more than money. Despite the fact that my rates have gone up too, they still aren’t commensurate with what I would have had I spent twelve years in the same corporation, working my way up to ever-higher levels. And for many people, the isolation of freelancing is too much to take.

I love copyediting, but the most difficult thing I face in it is that I’m always very hungry for new challenges and seldom have them anymore. I know copyediting backward, forward, and upside down. Even when a project comes in that’s a lot of work, it’s something that I already know how to do. If anything ever leads me to go in-house again, it will be the desire to learn and practice new skills.

By: editgirl

editgirl — Sat, 22 Apr 2006 09:33:28 +0000

Whoops, that “anonymous” post was me. I thought I was logged in.

By: anonymous

anonymous — Sat, 22 Apr 2006 09:32:40 +0000

I suppose it helps that where I am (central NC), the cost of living is fairly low, so making enough to live on isn’t *too* difficult to achieve. I’ve been making a living working from home for nearly a decade. A lot of people DO freelance on the side. It also helps that my rates, like my skills, have more than doubled since I started.

I would agree on the health insurance thing, but until recently my husband was *also* self-employed, and be both paid handsomely for our own health insurance. In fact, he won’t be covered by employer insurance for another month, but WOW that will certainly help our finances! :)