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Do you know any ways of making tedious copy-editing-editing better? Please share them. As an editor I have to deal with copy-editing that can be anything from helpful to infuriating and I’d love to know how to improve it.

And, actually, you *can* change the way you feel about things; it’s the basis of therapy and helpful conversations with friends. Sometimes it’s venting, sometimes it’s coming to a new understanding; often it’s growth. There’s a scene in pretty much every Crusie book that shows it happening (in Bet Me, when both Min and Cal are shown by friends how the other one feels about the bet) and it’s part of what makes them such great books.

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You may also wish to tell her that the Chicago style manual is the style in Chicago, but that is NOT the style all over the world. I’ve noticed that different countries and regions have style variations, even within the USA. A writer from Maine has a different style to a Californian or a Texan writer.

After reading this I’m not so sure I want to go from being a small time author in electronic format to a big time author in print, as I’m not sure I could handle such hassles.

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But on the other hand, before the printing press, it was not uncommon to see the same word spelled several different ways. So may be printing presses and copy editors and prissy rule makers aren’t always such a bad thing.

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To all of the readers who are so sure that insure and ensure have distinct meanings, I challenge you to find where it says so in an American dictionary. I’ve looked it up and asked other people multiple times and never got any clarity before the comments in this blog post. Most people I know use them interchangably and, due to the Ensure vitamin drink for seniors, usually choose insure. Until reading this post, I had never spoken to anyone who thought there was a difference, and I’ve asked. Of course now that one knows, one would have to choose correctly or go with “make sure” as someone wisely suggested. So to get it right: insure is to buy a policy against potential harm and ensure is to make sure something happens?

Finally, to all you copy editors out there: please tell all the other copy editors that adverse does not equal averse. I am averse to the copy editors’ adverse changes to characters’ voices. Roughly 50% of the romance novels using adverse use it incorrectly and it tweaks my very last nerve. I’ll just stay right away from effect and affect, which engineers can’t seem to get right to save their lives or their assertions. Feel free to copy edit this entry at will because I’m sure it’s a nightmare.

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No, sorry, I was trying to see how the CE did it, if she had accidentally done a search & replace as for so, it would explain a lot. Which would mean she didn’t mean to make you crazy for 144 pages.

I think your idea about the post its is the best idea. I’m so sorry you have to go through this.

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back to the last post…

I was a proofreader and a CE for over fifteen years and this person is not doing their job correctly. My professor taught us that any time you had to make the same correction more than three times, you queried the author. You asked them why and you cited your arguments on the other side.

Example: Ms. Crusie, I noticed you use ensure and insure interchangeably. My OED says they are not synomyms. Are you using a different reference?

Ms. Crusie to CE: Yes. Don’t change it.

And you do it that way because CEs are underpaid and they are cheaper than the author. YOU DON”T MAKE MORE WORK FOR THE AUTHOR. It is the author’s book and the author gets final say for anything that’s questionable.

The author does not get to use their for there. That’s wrong. But anything that’s style, author’s call.

Now, in the CE’s defense. This is not an easy job. There are writers who think their every word is gospel and I wasn’t even editing fiction. The CE speaks for the reader who is coming new to this book. The CE points out what is rough or confusing or misspelled.

The most important thing for both writer and CE is does it make the book better?

For all of you who are thinking that on your first book, you too will get a stet stamp, think again. A good copy editor/proofreader keeps you from making a fool of yourself. She doesn’t let you send someone to the Episcopal chapel in England. He doesn’t let you use faze for phase (or insure for ensure ).

She lets you know that the puppy in chapter two is now a kitten in chapter twelve. Or that George became Gerard somewhere around page 116.

Jenny, quick question. Do the copyeditors work on digital or hard copy? Are these changes possibly a universal replace? I’m thinking of the “as” to “so”

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So no, I don’t think you went over the line.

Now back to the original subject. I have been a proofreader and a CE and this person is not doing their job correctly.

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