Even though I’m author and do copy editing on the side still, these pencils are also great for highlighting my textbooks.

Does anyone know where to find nonrepro blue highlighter markers? A publisher I work for often likes this for trailing notes. The nonrepro pencils don’t last long enough.

Thank you, Patty

Of course, some publishers and/or projects require pencil, and in those cases I use Col-Erase Carmine Red, Green, Purple and/or Tuscan Red. I would like to find Violet, but it seems it’s only available in the assorted color sets now. Recently I won an eBay auction for a dozen Venus Col-Erase Carmine Red pencils, presumably from before they were bought by Sanford and obviously a different formula (that or aging the pencils does something to the “leads”). They’re wonderful! They’re both soft enough to erase well and hard enough to hold a point. Sweet! I’ll be disappointed when they’re gone.

He has a lot of experience with different brands of colored pencils and knows whether or not they erase and how well. I’ll try to remember to ask him what he’s using now. I know for a while he used Col-erase red. He hated the Ticonderogas too. I know. I bought him a bunch by mistake once, and we still have them.

Would a set of Laurentians work? Or do those not erase?

When I have to edit on paper, I just use a plain old mechanical pencil with a 5mm lead, and of course a honking great Staedtler eraser. That situation is pretty rare, however.

In the days before Acrobat Pro, I used to have to proofread on paper, marking in three colours: red for copy-editing errors, blue for typesetter errors, green for editor/author alts. It was for this reason that I discovered the wonder that is the Pilot Hi-Tecpoint V5; but what I really needed was some kind of magical erasable ink…

Tuscan Red: My all-time favorite. Perfect.
Violet: I loved this color, even though it can look blackish. Erased well enough. I can’t find boxes of it anywhere.
Purple: When it’s soft, it’s excellent. Have run into harder and softer batches.
Carmine Red: Neck and neck with Purple, but because I’ve rarely run into a hard batch.
Rose: Too hard. Don’t bother.
Brown: Pretty nice, but can be hard to erase.
Blue: Can be fine, but this might not photocopy, so avoid.
Indigo Blue: Same as Brown, even harder to erase, though.
Green: Could be softer. Doesn’t erase so well.
Lavender: Pretty, erases, but not as soft as Purple.
Orange: Lovely and soft, but way too hard to see.
Vermilion: Hard to erase, and looks odd to me.
Grass Green: Hard to see, but soft.

I agree that the colored leads for mechanical pencils are crap. ALSO don’t buy Prismacolor Verithin pencils with erasers. I had to white-out and switch their Crimson Red because it just would not erase and was so dark.

I made the mistake of getting red lead for my Pentel mechanical pencil… don’t waste your money on that either! Hard to get the mark to show up, so brittle it breaks easily, and then it’s impossible to erase!

I do have some Crayola colored pencils I got at Duane Reade when I was in a bind and had left the house without a red pencil. They’re too soft to hold a good point, but I can make do with them in a pinch. But one great thing about them is that they’re almost totally erasable. If you’re copy editing a book where you think you might rethink some decisions, but aren’t making a whole lot of marks, they might be the ticket.