Dragonheart Writing and Editing

06/21/2022

I'm beside myself with glee for Jerry Fabyanic, who took the Colorado Authors League prize in the prose collection category. I had the pleasure of editing this book, and I'm working with Jerry right now on volume two, which will be out late summer or early fall. Every award is a big deal to an author (I know from my own experience), so whether or not you personally know Jerry, feel free to give him a cheer here.

10/29/2021

I loved working with Karmen Berentsen on her book Learning to Fly, and I’m thrilled that her Amazon release of it yesterday netted a #1 new release in one category and was close to the top in a couple of others. When good books do well, we can all smile.

08/25/2021

Client Jerry Fabyanic, author of the award-winning book of fiction Sisyphus Wins, will soon have a new book out, this time a nonfiction book of essays titled Food for Thought. Jerry took the time to think about potential endorsers of the book and sent out the un-proofed manuscript to those agreeing to do it right about the time I was sending the manuscript off to be proofread.

What came back was twenty-six endorsements from fellow authors and others of note. That is a lot of endorsements. It's a great book. It deserves those endorsements. But there are also some lessons here.

First talk with your editor about endorsements and give thought to who you might like to approach early on. Second, make sure you have the kind of quality, professionally edited book that people will want to endorse. Third, yes, you can send it out to those willing to take a look before proofreading, providing it has been well edited. Just let those you're sending it to know that it hasn't yet been proofread. They may even catch a typo or two that the proofreader misses.

When you think about and act on endorsements at the right time in the book production process (and give the endorsers a reasonable deadline for getting back to you), your chances of getting endorsements back soon enough to use them in/on the book are improved.

In Jerry's case, interior layout is complete except for endorsements and the back cover is awaiting the couple of endorsements that will go there. Then it will be on to printing. No major amount of time has been lost waiting for endorsements.

But we can only use a couple of edited endorsements on the back cover, so what will we do with the rest? This is an important consideration. Never limit the number of endorsements you go for to the number you will have room for on the back cover. You can use every endorsement you get. The endorsement page(s) in a book is the first thing you see when you open the book--before the half title page and title page. Take care in how you order them. (This is something I work on with my clients.) But if they are usable endorsements, they will be of value to you.

Do have your editor edit the endorsements. It is important that they be grammatically, structurally, and syntactically correct. Use two or three of the endorsements, in reduced form (again, let your editor help you with this) on the back cover.

Think of other ways you can use your endorsements too. Jerry will be posting them on his website. Because we have so many, I pared down the endorsement text a bit for the book, but he will likely be using them in full (edited) form on his website.

Endorsements can be the little bit of magic that turns a potential buyer into a buyer. Take them seriously and have sufficient respect for yourself and your book to go after them.

Good luck!

07/09/2021

It's been a while since I posted something about memoir writing, but a conversation I had this morning with a fellow writing coach/editor inspired me to offer a few bits of advice for memoirists after they have put some raw text down. I'm not going to address the broader issues of what a memoir is or how to organize the material here, although I may do that in another post if there is interest. Rather, I'm going to cover what's next once you have that first draft and before it goes to an editor.

1) Do self-edit. Don't send an editor your rough draft before you have done some cleanup yourself unless you are looking for writing coaching or developmental help.
2) Don't assume that a grammar/spelling program will clean up your text sufficiently. Some of these programs (and I'd love to name names, but I won't) are problematic enough that I have had to do extensive cleanup work after they have been applied to a manuscript. Learn the basics of grammar, punctuation, and spelling. If you're serious about your writing, consider buying a copy of The Chicago Manual of Style because that is the style manual typically used in book publishing. And question your spelling often. Merriam-Webster has a great (and free) online dictionary. Use it.
3) Memoirs are typically written in past tense. Carefully self-edit lapses into present tense. This is a common error. Often, the writer will recall what happened and put it down in writing as if it were happening in that moment--which means that they are likely to lapse into present tense. This is a bigger issue than just changing verbs from present to past tense. I've had to rework entire sentences and paragraphs to correct tense issues.
4) Don't assume you can copy material from your journal into the manuscript and expect it to be suitable or even good writing. Not only will you likely have the tense issues mentioned above, but the text is also likely to be more rambling, casual, and self-absorbed than is suitable for your memoir. Use your journal to recall events and then write about them with fresh eyes and words.
5) You may know that Poughkeepsie is in New York, but don't assume your reader does. When writing about places, give the reader enough bread crumbs so they can join you there (figuratively). The same goes for names and other specifics.
6) Avoid leaving important things hanging. Never make readers mumble to themselves, "And?" If the incident or event was important, bring it to conclusion or resolution, or at least let the reader know that it was never sufficiently resolved.
7) Look for time line issues. If there are gaps or events out of order, deal with them in your self-editing.
8) Watch for words you have a tendency to overuse. One client of mine used the word "just" over two hundred times in their manuscript, and very few of them were needed at all. There were about a dozen other overused words in that manuscript as well, and most were unneeded adjectives and adverbs. Catch these as you self-edit.
9) If you want to change names and places, do that before editing by professional editor if at all possible. Can they be changed in editing? Yes. But you always run the risk of having names and places you thought were changed still in the manuscript (even when the find/replace function is being use). The sooner you make those changes, the more opportunities there will be to find errors during editing and proofreading later. Never try to make those changes after proofreading.
10) If you get nervous about what an ex, family member, or former boss may think about some of what you say and want to tone down your text, either do that before it goes to a professional editor or have a conversation with your editor about it. Last-minute changes in text put your manuscript (and the eventual printed book) at risk of errors and problematic passages. (And do talk with a literary attorney if needed if you are concerned about defamation or libel.)

I have just scratched the surface in this post. Feel free to post questions about self-editing your memoir draft.

And keep writing!

04/15/2021

My colleague and friend, Cheryl Callighan, is coordinating the Nonfiction Authors Conference, a conference put on yearly since 2010 by author Stephanie Chandler, who has also founded and is CEO of the Nonfiction Writers Association. This year's conference will be presented virtually May 5-7.

There will be some good speakers including Martha Beck and don Miguel Ruiz, and speakers will cover many areas of nonfiction writing/publishing including writing, pitch to agents, sales, brand, author website, and marketing.
Some discounts are in place that expire the 23rd, so if you're interested, check out the conference at

Interactive Webinar-Based Presentations. The Nonfiction Writers Conference (NFWC) is a 3-day event featuring live presentations by industry experts, Q&A with attendees, and plenty of downloadable materials. You can attend the live webcast by computer, mobile device or phone.

02/25/2021

I've given you six questions to ask editors before you hire one. Here are another three (with a few sub-questions):

7. What do you charge for and what do you provide gratis?
First and foremost, do they provide a sample edit, and if so, do they provide it for free? Many (probably most) editors will do a sample edit, and many (like me) provide it at no cost.

Beyond that, find out if they charge for short email exchanges and brief telephone conversations. If they do, you may be reluctant to be in touch with them to get questions answered or parts of the process clarified.

Specifically ask if they charge for going over the edits once the manuscript comes back to you. This is too important a step in the process to skip. Because of that, I (and some other editors) don't charge to go through the edits to clarify points and answer questions, providing that discussion doesn't go on for many hours.

If they farm out the proofreading (a good idea), ask if they charge for their time in going over it once it comes back.

8. What does the editing process look like?
The answers to this question will tell you how they expect to work with you and what the back-and-forth aspects of the process will be. It will also give you a sense of the process time line so you can fit it in to the overall schedule of getting the book edited, designed, and printed.

9. Can you refer me to interior/cover designers and others needed in the process of getting my book published, and do you stay involved in the process after the editing has been completed?

Some editors (I'm one of them) will essentially project manage the process for you. Others don't. If you are a first-time author, it can be extremely helpful to have someone who will guide you to others who need to be a part of the process (designers, printing experts, e-book converters, etc.).

02/08/2021

Last week I gave you the first three questions to ask book editors before you hire one. Here are questions four, five, and six.

4. How do you edit?
Some editors use the track changes function in Word. Others, like me, use the highlight function, strikeover function, and other Word features. Still others may use something else.

5. What form does the manuscript need to be in when it comes to you?
Some writers prepare manuscripts in Google docs or even Pages, and some have already converted their manuscript to pdf. But the vast majority of editors want the manuscript in Word--Microsoft Word or Word for Mac--because it has the most robust editing functionality and because the manuscript usually needs to be in Word before going to the designer for interior design.

Typically, the editor will want the manuscript in Word, double-spaced, and in standard paragraph form (the form you usually see in books with indented paragraphs and no spacing between paragraphs), not block paragraph form (blocks of text with no paragraph indentations and spacing between paragraphs).

Good editors will also want it in Times New Roman because that font consistently translates well and is not compromised when the manuscript is put into a design program. Other fonts will often have some compromised quotation marks and apostrophes when put into a design program. Know that you can choose whatever font you and the designer agree on once it is in the design process, but preparing the manuscript in Times New Roman is best.

6. What is your rate?
Editing rates are usually based on what the editor charges hourly. How that translates to any given manuscript depends on how much editing the manuscript needs. This is one (but not the only) reason many/most editors offer to do a sample edit, often at no cost. It's all based on how many pages can be edited in an hour and then extrapolating from that to estimate what it might cost to edit the entire manuscript.

Proofreaders may have an hourly rate or may charge by the word or page.

Some follow-up questions may include how do you receive payment (check, credit card, Zelle, etc.) and do you require partial payment before you begin the editing process?

We're not done yet! More questions in my next post.

02/02/2021

Hiring an editor? Here's what you should ask them before you hire them.

At last month's C**A meeting, I hosted a roundtable at which I gave questions an author should ask editors they talk to before hiring one. It's too much content for one post, so I will give the first three questions here and continue on with more in my next post.

1. Do you edit fiction, nonfiction, or both?
You may also want to ask them if they have specialties within those categories.

2. What type of editing do you do?
There are three basic forms of editing: mechanical editing, substantive editing, and developmental editing. Mechanical editing involves applying a style guide on grammar, punctuation, spelling, and other style elements, as well as some work on syntax.

Substantive editing includes the elements of mechanical editing plus organization, presentation, and completeness of content; flow; syntax, tightening; and rewriting if needed.

Developmental editing can include everything from manuscript review to helping the writer pull together and execute the manuscript.

Proofreading is not quite editing, but it does require professional expertise to catch errors the editor missed.

The terms copyediting and line editing are often used by editors, but because they mean different things to different editors, ask the person using one of these terms exactly what is involved in that form of editing. Note: Almost all books need substantive editing.

3. What style manual do you use?
The Chicago Manual of Style is the style manual used in book editing, with rare exceptions, and that should be their answer. If it isn't, probe further. And they should be using the most recent edition of that manual.

That's it for now. More questions to ask of an editor you are considering hiring will be in the next post.

12/09/2020

Yes, it has been far too long since I've posted. I've been busy, but in rare idle moments, I've also been ruminating on things I want to post. Instead of a long post (or several long posts), I'm going to do a series of short ones based on problems I'm seeing in the books I'm reading--written by authors who should know better. So here goes with the first one.

Whenever you are tempted to write "in order to"--as in "In order to feel better, I've been taking long, warm baths."--stop yourself before your fingers hit the keyboard and eliminate the first two words (in order). Rarely are they needed for clarity, and when used frequently with "to," they are so noticeable--in the wrong way--that the reader may actually stop and count how many times you've used the phrase. Otherwise perfectly good writing can be annihilated by that phrase.

Why are you tempted to use it? Because you've heard it over and over coming out of the mouths of people and you've seen it in less than sparkling writing. This is one bandwagon you don't want to get on.

09/02/2020

Recently, a client of mine was encouraged to add some material to her nonfiction book relating what she was writing about to the events of 2020 on the forefront of most people's minds. Fortunately, that client instinctively knew this was not a good idea.

I not only supported those instincts when we talked about that and other feedback she'd been given, I begged her to avoid adding anything about the pandemic. Why? Because doing so would date the book, and she wants her book to have a long shelf life.

It's not that the pandemic isn't important. It is. But if you refer to it as something current and relate it to the main purpose and points to your nonfiction book, your book will be stuck in a time warp--just as the books are that used 9/11 to make a point nineteen years after that tragedy.

There is a place for that writing: blog posts, letters to the editor, magazine articles meant to be published soon, and other venues that are intended to have a relatively short life span. There is a place for it in your upcoming speaking engagements too. But if you reference the issues of 2020 in your book as current examples to exemplify a point, you are unnecessarily dating your message. It will end up where bell-bottoms and leisure suits are.

Clothing styles often make a comeback, but it will be some time before you will be able to reflect on the experiences and issues of 2020 in the kind of historical way that will make the reader stop and ponder instead of making them flip to the copyright page to see when the book came out.

My author decided to stick to more timeless examples, along with those from her own life. And I'll bet her forthcoming book will have the shelf life she wants, in part because of that decision.

07/06/2020

As usual, the work I edit, the books I read, and the postings of folks on lists provide material for my post today.

1. What do the words co-create, re-write, non-fiction, and co-worker have in common? Answer: None of them should have a hyphen. It's cocreate, rewrite, nonfiction, and coworker. W**d out misspellings based on unneeded hyphens. The spelling and grammar correcting function in Word is not going to correct these. Get savvy by getting curious. Wonder if you've spelled a word correctly and then go to Merriam-Webster's online to find out.

2. While you may love, love, love your local news anchor or podcast presenter, don't assume that they get it right when it comes to good usage. Case in point: One of the only ---. You fill in the blank. It is either The only---or One of the few. It is never (and I mean never) One of the only---.

3. Unless you want to confuse your readers, make your readers reread (another word that doesn't use a hyphen) a sentence, or look like/prove that you are a rank amateur writer, stop writing run on sentences, also known as the comma splice sentence. What am I talking about? Read this: I really love editing good writers, David Fuselier is one of them. Here is another: My July 4 concert in the gazebo was a success, Barb Erisman said so.

The comma splice or run on sentence is a sentence that connects two independent clauses without a coordinating conjunction or appropriate punctuation. And the comma is not appropriate punctuation. What is the best way to correct these? Answer: Often, the best approach is to end the first independent clause with a period and make the second one a new sentence. If they are truly closely connected and good flow calls for it, add the word "and" or "but" (whatever coordinating conjunction works) after the comma.

Could you use a semicolon? Yes, but please don't. Most writers overuse and abuse the semicolon. Forget you ever heard of it.

As always, if you have questions or suggestions, email me at [email protected] or reply to this post.

Happy July!