Line Editing or Copy Editing? Is There a Difference?
Creating a book manuscript involves many steps, from the initial concept to the final proofreading before publication. To a new author, these steps can seem bewildering – especially when we’re talking about editing. If you go online to learn about … Continue reading
Avoid Repetition in Your Writing!
As an editor, on of the most common problems I see in the writing of my valued clients is needless repetition. This manifests itself in either of two ways: Repeating the same idea more than once, or repeating words that … Continue reading
Developmental Editing: It’s All About Baby Steps!
Clients will often send me a finished manuscript of 40,000 or 60,000 words, which, for various reasons, they’re not happy with. A non-fiction manuscript may be outdated, not well organized, incomplete in its arguments, or just plain boring. A novel … Continue reading
Beyond Grammarly – How a Pro Editor Will Elevate Your Book Above the Ordinary
In the past few years, various software applications have emerged that automatically correct basic issues of spelling, punctuation, and grammar. The most popular is Grammarly, an online grammar checking, spell checking, and plagiarism detection platform developed by Grammarly, Inc. First … Continue reading
Should Your Editor Take One of Those Online Grammar Tests?
On the job site Upwork, I recently saw a job posting by a gentleman from France. As part of the qualifications to bid on his book project – which he did not describe in any detail – he wanted all bidders to take the Upwork “English sentence structure” … Continue reading
The Vexing Problem of Numbers – Advice From Thomas Hauck, Author and Ghostwriter
In the English language, we have an alphabet of twenty-six letters. We use these letters to form words and sentences. Each letter is unique; generally, for any given word formed of letters, you can’t substitute other letters without changing the … Continue reading
About paragraph spacing in novels, narrative non-fiction, and most self-help books
Clients often ask me if they should indicate paragraphs with an extra line inserted between paragraphs. (Like this.) It’s the format used in emails, many blogs including this one, and technical books. Here’s my answer. Regarding paragraph spacing in a work … Continue reading
“Crisis Investor” by James Hobart, edited by Thomas Hauck
In “Crisis Investor: Turning Financial Calamities Into Profitable Opportunities Successfully,” James Hobart makes economics understandable, presents historical background information, shows you his (as well as others?) investing principles and concepts, and then creates a formatted step-by-step guide as a tool … Continue reading
Capitalization of Job Titles in “The New Yorker” – Comment by Thomas Hauck, Ghostwriter and Book Editor
Twenty years ago my parents gave me a gift subscription to The New Yorker magazine, and they’ve been renewing it every year. I look forward to receiving each issue, and there’s always something interesting and eye-opening to find in it. … Continue reading
Who Should Proofread Your Book? Advice from Thomas Hauck, Book Editor and Ghostwriter
Advice From a Professional Ghostwriter About Proofreading Every once in a while I’ll edit or ghostwrite a book for a valued client, and once the job is done they’ll ask me to proofread the manuscript. It’s very smart of the … Continue reading