First, we just want to say that there were so many wonderful entries this year. Each writer brought something unique to the table with his or her work. There were many manuscripts that we didn’t get to pick that we still wish we could read. We truly wish we could have …
To those who participated in our Write Your Own Adventure contest, thank you! It certainly wasn’t easy to pick only a few books out of all the stellar entries we received. Every entrant was thoughtful and imaginative in answering our questionnaire, and each writing sample we read was well crafted …
It seems like there’s a lot of name-calling going on in the publishing industry today. Publishers, agents, and self-publishing enthusiasts are at odds, touting the benefits of their own services while discounting the others. Who should writers trust when seeking publication? The answer is about as complicated as the publishing …
Today there are more options to getting your book published than ever. Figuring out which route is best for you is a lot like a Choose Your Own Adventure story: no author travels the same path, and there are as many roads to publication as there are writers. Whether your …
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To those who participated in our Write Your Own Adventure contest, thank you! It certainly wasn’t easy to pick only a few books out of all the stellar entries we received. Every entrant was thoughtful and imaginative in answering our questionnaire, and each writing sample we read was well crafted and engaging. Here are some highlights and trends that emerged from the contest. … Continue Reading
First, we just want to say that there were so many wonderful entries this year. Each writer brought something unique to the table with his or her work. There were many manuscripts that we didn’t get to pick that we still wish we could read. We truly wish we could have given everyone a free editorial consultation. Thank you so much to everyone who shared their work!
Drum roll, please…
It seems like there’s a lot of name-calling going on in the publishing industry today. Publishers, agents, and self-publishing enthusiasts are at odds, touting the benefits of their own services while discounting the others. Who should writers trust when seeking publication? The answer is about as complicated as the publishing industry itself. There is no right way to be published, but certain methods work better for various authors and each path towards publication has its own advantages and disadvantages. It’s time to put some nasty rumors about publishing houses, agents, and self-publishing to rest.
I love to play Scrabble. Probably like many writers and literary buffs, I enjoy Scrabble because it gives me yet another way to use my extensive vocabulary. It appeals to my love of words.
The problem is I almost never win.
Today there are more options to getting your book published than ever. Figuring out which route is best for you is a lot like a Choose Your Own Adventure story: no author travels the same path, and there are as many roads to publication as there are writers. Whether your goal is to pitch your book to a publisher, acquire an agent, or self-publish (digitally or conventionally), we want to help you find the route that best suits you and your writing, so we’ve designed this writers’ contest to do just that.
This year, 2012, is a leap year, and not just in the sense that this February has a 29th day. This could be your leap year, the year when you make a leap and accomplish those writing goals you’ve been hiding in your closet.
Making a leap can be scary. But the whole reason we have goals is to accomplish great things, improve our lives, and fulfill our grand potential. What is the leap you’ve been wanting to make? It could be publication, finding an agent, or simply finishing your manuscript.
As any successful resolution keeper (they’re rare, but they exist, believe it or not) will tell you, the key is taking small steps. Many small steps = one big leap.
As editors, our job is to help authors reach their full potential, and we have a list of small steps you might want to consider taking in order to make your leap this year.
It doesn’t take an industry insider to realize that publishing is evolving. The advent of e-readers and digital publishing has shattered traditional definitions of “book” and “publisher,” and the possibilities for writers seeking publication are more diverse than ever before. Digital hasn’t killed paper-and-ink books or brick-and-mortar publishing houses, but it has opened more doors for aspiring authors.
Pitching to a publisher, working through an agent, and self-publishing are all viable options that have been successful for a number of authors. Not sure which path to take yourself? Take these three shining examples, who all went in different directions in their journeys toward publication.
Valentine’s Day is all about celebrating love. As writers, editors, and readers, we know that one of the most important relationships is the relationship between a person and a book. It’s not that we’re crazy about paper, ink, or binding (though some of us might be)—it’s that we love a good story. Why do we have classics? Why have the same stories been told for thousands of years? And with newer books, what is it that causes us to read them and become attached? There’s something that draws us emotionally to them, linking us to them forever. What is it?
What makes us fall in love with a book?
With both of us juggling multiple projects right now, it’s been particularly hectic around the studios at Cogitate these days. Plus, we’ve been working extra hard on some exciting events for this spring—when the book season here in the Rose City really blossoms. Given all that’s going on, we decided we needed some help around the office to get it all done. So, we’re proud to announce that we’ve taken on two editors to assist us: Ariel Price and Miranda Rabuck.
We are pleased to announce the recent publication of a book we both worked on earlier this year called Impossible Loves, a collection of essays by Erin McNellis, out this month in paperback from Paper Rock Tiger, an emerging press based out of Seattle. Henry copyedited the manuscript and Gretchen handled the permissions for the publisher and created a customized house style guide for its editors.
All in all, the book was not only fun to work on, but also fun to read. McNellis is purposeful with her prose, and focused with the intent of this book: “Nearly every paper in my academic career has the secret or not-so-secret message of ‘please, please try to love one another,’” she writes, “and I think it would not be exaggerating to say that many, if not most, works of art have exactly this message as well.”
The book doesn’t disappoint either; it’s a delightful, engaging, insightful yarn that weaves through a tapestry of topics, including: the morning wisdom of Richard Hugo, the self-sacrifice of Simone Weil, the extinguished selfhood of the Bhagavad Gita, the libertinism of Georges Bataille, the tragic Grizzly Man of Werner Herzog, the weasels of Annie Dillard, the orchards of Pablo Neruda, the author’s own experience at Burning Man, and ultimately, how love (really and truly) is the (terrific and terrifying) answer.
As editors, readers, and writers here at Cogitate, we’re concerned with the integrity of the news and entertainment many consume every day. We’ve always advocated for critical consumption, and there has never been a more important time than now to be aware of the sources of our daily info and entertainment diets because today most of our media is controlled by one of six companies. To understand the modern lay of the media land, here is a helpful graphic below from Frugal Dad, which very elegantly demonstrates the state of media consolidation in the United States:
Of all the non-fiction authors we’ve worked with over the years, writer Susie Pearl has one of the most buoyant, can-do attitudes we’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. She’s always happy, and this is why we’re so over the moon about the recent news that her upcoming book made the cover of The Bookseller in the United Kingdom, a true coup for any writer, and for us too—because like Vidal Sassoon says, “If you don’t look good, we don’t look good.” Well, Susie, darling, your book looks really good. And as two editors who’ve already had a sneak peak between the covers, we know it reads just as well.
There are a number of reasons to get a reader’s report. You may not be in a writers group, book club, or MFA program, for example, so access to honest readers and constructive criticism may be limited. You may be getting ready to pitch a number of agents and need your query letter reviewed. You may have already written a smashing query that’s getting gobs of requests for partials but no bites and need an editor to read your sample chapters to make sure the writing is meeting expectations. Or you may be at the end of a major rewrite and in need of a professional opinion on how to prepare your book for a publisher. Regardless of where you are, if you’re beginning to ask yourself what direction you should be going in with your manuscript, our reports can help you figure where to go editorially. [...]
Not everyone knows how to write a query letter or what material to include that will automatically snag the attention of that agent or editor you’ve been fishing for. What’s great about a query letter is that it forces you to articulate your work in an interesting and succinct way. It helps you know your book better. In our reviews, we help isolate and define the essence of your work. What’s the demographic? What are the titles it’s most like? How is your book different than what’s already out there? These are just some of the vital questions that need to be addressed in your query letter, and we can help you answer them. [...]
You did it; you penned a book or have the perfect idea for one, but a lot of writers don’t realize that the content you put into your book proposal is some of the most crucial material your book will have supporting it throughout the editorial and publishing processes. After all, as a writer, you first have to sell your book to an agent, and that agent has to sell it to an editor, who must sell it to marketing and publicity. Then marketing and publicity have to sell it to the sales department, who in turn must sell it to chain and independent book buyers. And so on and so on, until it ends up on your readers’ bookshelves. A strong, well-structured book proposal significantly increases your chances of seeing your book through this whole process. What a lot of people don’t know is that sometimes you don’t have to write an entire manuscript before submitting a proposal, which can save time, blood, sweat, and tears in the long run. [...]
Many different walks of life have hired us to ghostwrite for them, and in each case, we’ve had varying degrees of involvement. Sometimes we’ve been hired to edit and clean up a rough draft, and other times we were hired to do most of the writing based on an outline provided by the author. For some projects, a substantial amount of research is required, like taping and transcribing interviews. One non-fiction project took a full year to research, write, and edit for a client, for example. On the other hand, we’ve completed projects as short as press releases for book launches. [...]
Developmental editing more radically addresses the content of a work: the way material should be presented, the need for more character development, how the voice should be handled, and so on. Since editing of this kind may involve total rewriting or reorganization of a work, it should be done before submitting to publishers and agencies. [...]
Copyediting, sometimes called line editing, requires attention to every word in a manuscript, a thorough knowledge of the style to be followed, and the ability to make quick, logical, and defensible decisions. This type of editing is usually undertaken when a manuscript is being prepared or has been accepted for print or online publication, but this is not a hard-set rule. The full scope of copyediting falls into two orders of concern: substantive and mechanical copyediting. [...]
Proofreading is the last major stage of the editing process. As always, reading and consistent marking remain essential. When we proofread, we read word for word, noting all punctuation, paragraphing, capitalization, and italics, and ensure that any editing has been correctly interpreted. We also watch for the kind of errors missed by computer spell checkers and grammar bots: like double-checking word breaks, hyphenation, typeface, font, heads and subheads, set-off material, page numbers and running heads, illustrations and tables, page length, table of contents, article or chapter titles, footnotes, index, cross references, half title and title page, jacket copy, spine, and overall sense of appearance. [...]
We are pleased to announce the recent publication of a book we both worked on earlier this year called Impossible Loves, a collection of essays by Erin McNellis, out this month in paperback from Paper Rock Tiger, an emerging press based out of Seattle. Henry copyedited the manuscript and Gretchen handled the permissions for the publisher and created a customized house style guide for its editors. All in all, the book was not only fun to work on, but also fun to read. McNellis is purposeful with her prose, and focused with the intent of this book: “Nearly every paper …
Of all the non-fiction authors we’ve worked with over the years, writer Susie Pearl has one of the most buoyant, can-do attitudes we’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. She’s always happy, and this is why we’re so over the moon about the recent news that her upcoming book made the cover of The Bookseller in the United Kingdom, a true coup for any writer, and for us too—because like Vidal Sassoon says, “If you don’t look good, we don’t look good.” Well, Susie, darling, your book looks really good. And as two editors who’ve already had a sneak peak …
As anyone can tell, I work on a large number of Pride & Prejudice continuations. One of the authors whose novels I have the absolute pleasure of working on is Sharon Lathan. Her Darcy Saga series is growing all the time, and the most recent, volume 5, The Trouble with Mr. Darcy, is now available from Sourcebooks. I can continue to flog you all with details about how great this series is, but please just take my word for it and pick them up asap! In other recent news, I did want to mention that the lovely Portland RWA chapter, …
Jill Mansell is making some waves. Not only is her newest book, Staying at Daisy’s, fresh out in the US, but her novel Miranda’s Big Mistake is #12 on the New York Times ebook bestseller list and #86 on the USA Today bestseller list this week! I had the honor of proofreading the US edition of Miranda’s Big Mistake. I also got to do the proofreading for the US Staying at Daisy’s and the copyediting for the US edition of Take a Chance on Me, which won the Romance Novelists’ Association’s Pure Passion Romantic Comedy Prize! [...]
The inestimable Ciji Ware’s sixth novel, out from Sourcebooks Landmark on March 31, is historical fiction inspired by the female architect Julia Morgan and the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. And I copyedited it! It’s a lovely and amazing read, for historical fiction and women’s fiction fans. It’s also a wonderful book to mention along with the announcement that I will be speaking to the Rose City Romance Writers (the Portland chapter of the Romance Writers of America) in April! More on that to come! [...]
A lot has happened in the past month, causing me to neglect the dear blog. In the past four weeks, I had a nasty cold that held on for at least two of those weeks, both parents came to visit, I worked on no less than five editing projects, and a number of books that I worked on were published. In particular, I copyedited a novella collection that will come out from Sourcebooks this winter, which gave me the opportunity to not only work with two authors I’ve sincerely enjoyed working with before, but also gave me the chance to work on a novella for the first time (pretty much the same as other fiction, only, you know, shorter) and work with a debut author on her Pride & Prejudice re-imagining (which is also a kind of A Christmas Carol re-imaging—very cool). [...]
This week, I’m finishing up a proofreading job for Sourcebooks Landmark by the talented Wendy Holden, and it occurred to me that this amazing author’s first book to come out from Sourcebooks Landmark (though previously published in the UK) is coming out in April. So, yes, I did actually proofread Beautiful People for Sourcebooks, but that’s not actually going to stop me from buying this book and placing it on my shelf as well. Chick lit has become a derogatory term in recent years, and though some remain embarrassed to love anything in this genre, I embrace it, especially when it is populated with flawed yet lovable heroines, shallow villains whose downfalls give you delightful schadenfreude, and witty dialogue. [...]
I proofread and fact-checked David Hofstede’s Obsessed With TV for Becker & Meyer. The book contains over 2,500 trivia questions on television shows, icons, awards, and general knowledge. It also includes a cool computerized module embedded in a corner of the cover that allows gamers to compete against themselves or friends. Published by Chronicle Books. [...]
In Elemental Love Styles, Dr. Craig Martin defines the romantic character–leanings of the four elements and explores how each type interacts with themselves and their partner. I was the copyeditor on it for Dr. Martin’s publishing house, Beyond Words/Atria Books. The great thing about this editing job was that the author and editors before me did a wonderful job getting the manuscript ready, so that made my work much easier.
