This Crazy Industry

What We Do

2011-06-28T17:34:00.003-04:00

A new commenter, Sym, in a comment to my long-ago post on How to Become an Editor, posed the following excellent question:I'm also aware that editing is so much more than just taking care of sentence flow and typos at that level, but includes the need for an ability to look at the storyline itself and decide where it's too drawn out, where it needs to be beefed up, which characters might need

Editing Out Oppression: Disability and Narrative

2010-07-07T12:34:00.002-04:00

Just two weeks after we discussed oppressive narratives in the context of editing and writing, Lisa Coriale writes in the Tyee about some of the narrative boxes into which she has been unwillingly stuffed:The way people with disabilities are covered is problematic because it suggests attention is merited only when a person with disabilities can be portrayed as a superhero or a victim.Don't feel

Witch Editing Skool

2010-04-25T22:07:00.002-04:00

Because it's come up a few times in comments to Becoming an Editor and in conversation, I'm putting this disclaimer in a separate post.The question in question is some variant on "Should I go to Ryerson or George Brown?"* The answer is "I don't know." The Certificate in Publishing is offered through Continuing Studies at Ryerson University. It's a comprehensive look at publishing in Canada, with

A Horrible Sign of the Times.

2008-10-01T13:04:00.002-04:00

My heart is breaking, and some of my cherished dreams are dying:Oxford closes Canadian dictionary divisionTORONTO - The Oxford University Press has laid off all employees at its Canadian dictionary division in Toronto, shutting down the department due to "changing market conditions," according to a statement released Wednesday. David Stover, the president of the Canadian branch, said the closure

Quotatious!

2007-12-18T14:31:00.000-05:00

A friend asked about how to punctuate with quotations, and since I'm pretty happy with the examples I came up with, I'm sharing them here. As always, comments and corrections are welcome. Also, as always, the OWL at Purdue has done it first and better.We use quotation marks to enclose direct quotations—things other people (who may be published, real, historical, or imaginary) have said. In North

Were it Indeed a Subjunctive ...

2007-12-10T16:20:00.000-05:00

Claudette Reed-Upton's Notes on the Practical Subjunctive is an excellent look at the use of the subjunctive—the verb form that "expresses what you might call wishful thinking"—and I recommend it highly.

Language of Oppression, Language of Respect, and the Etiquette of Written Prose

2007-12-09T01:28:00.000-05:00

Part of an ongoing series of musings about language and oppression, and bias-free* language (or, as I prefer, affirmative language or language of respect).At the beginning of the semester, one of the students in my Grammar for Writers and Editors class asked me whether we were going to discuss "politically correct language" in the course. I checked the outline, and replied, "I tend to prefer the

Outside My Window

2007-09-25T09:17:00.000-04:00

Anyone who works from home is familiar with the perks: flexible hours, the ability to arrange one's office to one's own tastes, complete control over the soundtrack of one's working day (and no headphones!), and generally better comestibles than most publishing offices offer. Of course, all this freedom and flexibility do come at a the cost of, in my case, much less security, and an office that

The Freelance Life, Again, and an Instructive Abomination

2007-09-10T14:57:00.000-04:00

Alas, my time managing the editorial department at the Little Shop of Textbooks has come to an end, rather sooner than I should have preferred. When publishers want editors to do acquisitions, they should either have an established acquisitions procedure, or hire people who have done acquisitions before. At the very least, they should be prepared to tell the inexperienced editor how they'd like

Worse than a Waste of Time

2007-04-19T10:59:00.000-04:00

I'm running away for the weekend, but here's a quick, drive-by post:When James Frey's A Million Little Pieces was revealed to be a work of fiction, rather than the memoir it purported to be, readers respoded with shock and horror. Frey's name was reviled and his publisher, his promoters, Oprah Winfrey, and, well, just about everyone, was called to account for the time and empathy readers felt

Hey! I think I know that girl! I have no idea what her name is, though.

2007-03-26T10:06:00.000-04:00

Heather Corinna gives a good overview of some of the challenges inherent in producing a cover that doesn't make the author want to disown the book:Here’s the thing: your book cover has to somehow do the miraculous feat of pleasing you, the author (and if you’re not the sole author, also any co-authors), your editor, the art department, the marketing department, the publicity department and the

So I'm Supposed to Tell You How Our Book Flerbelsnerps the Wobblejob?

2007-02-06T10:25:00.000-05:00

From the curriculum document:By the end of this course, students willidentify the requirements, including basic equipment standards, preparation (e.g.,warm-up and cool-down exercises, training requirements), and specific safety issues that maximize performance and participation in recreation and sport activities;Somehow, I need to demonstrate, in tabular form, where our textbook enables students

Bad Advice

2007-01-31T15:00:00.000-05:00

Dear Guidance Teachers, Career Counsellors, and other Purveyors of Job-Planning Advice,Stop with the advice to job-seekers and career-planners to cold call random people in their desired careers to ask for information regarding how to get into that field, already! I receive at least one call a week from someone who thinks they want to enter the glamorous world of publishing as an editorial

Publishing 102: Publishing is a Business—Advances, Royalties, and Costing

2006-11-06T17:02:00.000-05:00

It's time for another Basics of Publishing post! Cue the frenzied crowd. This started in response to James D. Macdonald’s true but less than explicit statement over at Making Light: I see that faux-statistic that 70% of books don't earn out, therefore 70% of books don't make a profit all over the place, and it's equally false all over the place. Publishers start making a profit on their books

Miss Snark Sets Everyone Straight

2006-11-02T17:10:00.000-05:00

It seems that Miss Snark's mailbag has been unusually full of imperfect submissions. So she's setting people straight, with some advice about submitting and writing that anyone who is submitting a manuscript or writing anything that they intend to publish would do well to study, memorize, apply, and copy onto their bathroom walls so that they must consider the wisdom of Miss Snark. Not being

Did I Say Write That? I'm Sure I'd Remember!

2006-11-01T15:20:00.000-05:00

Jim Crace was fascinated to discover that his latest novel Useless America was available via Amazon. Especially since he had no memory of having written it.During the few minutes it took me to access Useless America's details on Amazon's web pages, the novel's sales rank jumped from 70,301 to 69,844. It jumped another 60,000 places when I submitted my own order. Sadly, sales have tailed off a bit

Technorati Profile

2006-10-31T18:41:00.000-05:00

TCI has a Technorati Profile.It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Important Note to All Authors

2006-10-31T14:41:00.000-05:00

Make your will.Neil Gaiman has explained why this is a good idea: While you may not care about your possessions, consider what may happen to the rights to your work after you die. Having your literary executor named in your will helps your survivors respect your wishes with respect to your work.Neil's also provided a form that U.S. authors can use to create their own wills. Canadians, consider

And Then There Were ... ?

2006-10-30T17:17:00.000-05:00

I'm a bit behind on noting this: Educational publisher Nelson Thomson is selling off its textbook division. Or, as the biz-jargon-laden report on CBC says, Thomson is undertaking a sweeping revamp, and completing its "transformation into a provider of high-value electronic-based 'workflow solutions.'"This leaves the number of publishers providing core materials for the elementary, secondary, and

I Don't Think This is What PublisherDude* Means When He Says Our Books Should Be Bullet-proof

2006-10-24T12:45:00.000-04:00

A candidate for State Superintendent of Schools has proposed giving used textbooks to students to use as shields in case of a school shooting:"People might think it's kind of weird, crazy," said Republican Bill Crozier of Union City, Oklahoma, a teacher and former Air Force security officer.You don't say.Crozier and a group of aides produced a 10-minute video Tuesday in which they shoot math,

From the Mailbag: Publishing Is Weird (Publishing 101, with Helpful Digressions)

2006-10-23T15:33:00.000-04:00

I had an e-mail from an old acquaintance asking for some basic publishing information, which highlit some of the common bits of mystification. Since my response was ... erm ... comprehensive, I figured, I'd share. I have an editing/publishing industry question for you from a friend of a friend, and I hoping that you can at least point him in the right direction.The guy's an artist and musician

Reed Elsevier and the arms trade

2006-08-23T16:14:00.000-04:00

Via Making Light comes a piece of disturbing news:Reed Elsevier is a publishing company with an arms trade problem. While the bulk of their business is in scientific, medical and educational publishing, they also - through their subsidiaries Reed Exhibitions and Spearhead Exhibitions - organise arms fairs around the world. These include events in Brazil, Taiwan, the Netherlands, Singapore, and in

Bringing it In-House: Chronicles of a New Managing Editor

2006-06-19T17:00:00.000-04:00

A couple of months ago, I left both the Textbook Mills and the Freelance Lifestyle for a new job as the managing editor of a small textbook company. After fifteen years in the business, my new employer thought he should have an editorial department in-house, and hired me to start it. He furnished me with a big desk, a sexy laptop computer, a minion junior assistant, and the formatted, unreviewed,

M & S Being Subsumed?

2006-06-02T08:40:00.000-04:00

Do McLelland and Stewart's close marketing and publicity ties with Random House weave ill tidings for independant Canadian publishing? Doug Pepper, president of M&S, (quoted here) says no:“We decide on the books we want to publish, how much we want to pay for those books, how much we price those books at, how many to print, how many to reprint, how long to keep it in print. All of those decisions

My New Literary Hero: David Bodanis

2006-05-18T12:20:00.000-04:00

From yesterday's news: David Bodanis, author of Electric Universe—How Electricity Switched on the Modern World and recipient of the 2006 Aventis Science Book Prize has pledged the £10,000 prize to the family of David Kelly. From the Grauniad:"Science is all about truth. There's one realm where a lot of people feel that truth hasn't come out and truth is known but it hasn't been acknowledged," he

"A problem arises, however, when every book is touted as 'brilliant.'"

2006-05-04T17:39:00.000-04:00

"This Book Will Change Your Life" examines "the reckless art of book blurbing," in all its hyped-up, hyperbolic, hyper-adjectival glory. Some of the examples cited:Adverbs describes adolescence, friendship, and love with such freshness and power that you feel drunk and beaten up, but still want to leave your own world and enter the one Handler’s created. Anyone who lives to read gorgeous writing

...But I bought a little black dress, and everything!

2006-05-04T14:23:00.000-04:00

Apparently, by the time I got here, the day of the book party was over: And while they certainly still take place — giving writers and editors a chance to eye one another warily across crowded rooms — book parties are decidedly not what they once were. "I think they're practically passé, book parties, don't you find?" said Nan Talese, the publisher of Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, whose mellifluous

P & L for the Uninitiated

2006-04-26T13:58:00.000-04:00

The redoutable Anna Genoese has undertaken to explain Profit & Loss calculations for trade books to the masses.Some background: When an editor acquires a book, he or she sits down with a spreadsheet that calculates the costs for the book and the likely profit to figure out whether the book might actually make any money. Since a large number of variables go into this calculation, it's not an

Because I am a Sheep and Sheep say "Baaa!"

2006-04-20T13:01:00.000-04:00

...and because I respect the work that the fine folks at Making Light, Writer Beware, Preditors and Editors do, I am linking to the 20 Worst Agents list. It's a fine list. A lovely list. A list with more than 20 names on it, because some of the alleged agencies have changed names several times. This is, of course, not to say that agents are to be avoided. Agents are necessary. Writers need them

More on How to Get into This Crazy Industry

2006-04-20T11:59:00.000-04:00

Anna Louise answers the perennial question:Q: How does one get started in publishing? (question from jadzia325)A: One gets started in publishing by moving to the city The Company Of Your Dreams is located in, and submitting your resume. If you want to work for Tor, you come to the New York area. If you want to work for a company out of Boston, move to the Boston area. If you want to work for a

The Lexicographer as Keeper of the Word Store

2006-04-20T10:43:00.000-04:00

Via TCI's favourite linguablogger, Language Hat, Erin McKean (whose job is cooler than mine) blogs on lexicography—namely, on how words get into the dictionary:Think of the dictionary as less of a Social Register for words and more like a word general store. I am the manager of the word general store. Do I stock only words in my size? Only in the flavors I like? Only the words I wish people would

Shall We Conference?

2006-02-09T12:47:00.000-05:00

What is wrong with “confer”?Proofreading an education textbook, I learn that students should “conference” with their teachers regarding the topics for independent research projects. I am now faced with a quandary. I know that the field of education is rife with jargon, buzzwords, and neologisms, and that it bends words, attributing particular meanings to old words: in this book alone we have

all the way down typography

2006-02-09T09:59:00.000-05:00

I’ve noticed a trend in cover typography here at the Textbook Mills: a conscious avoidance of capital letters. If avoiding excessive capitalization, is called "down style," then this might be called all the way down style (atwd for short?).That’s right—no capitalization. Having noticed the trend here, I've started paying attention to cover typography in bookstores and at other

Harlequin and NASCAR, Sitting in a Tree...

2005-11-02T21:49:00.000-05:00

Harlequin is introducing a new line.From the CBC:'Racy' writing: Harlequin to publish NASCAR-themed titles A licensing agreement announced Wednesday with NASCAR will see Harlequin publish a variety of NASCAR-branded "women's fiction" titles. The novels, by some of Harlequin's bestselling authors, will have plotlines centering on NASCAR and will bear the NASCAR brand on their covers," the

Freelancers of the World, Unite!

2005-10-14T12:44:00.000-04:00

The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada is forming a union of freelancers.This is important news for everyone in the publishing industry -- production people as well as editors, and in-house staff as well as freelancers. There has been no strong movement towards unionization within the Canadian publishing industry for a decade or more, and that's unfortunate.Relative to their

Hanging up the Hard Hat and Unrolling the Dredging Net

2005-08-23T17:03:00.000-04:00

I have resigned from the Comma Mines. I hung up the hard hat just before my vacation, and will embark on a freelance career. In consquence, in addition to posting on weird industry stuff, language, books, editing, and anything we think even remotely relevant to the industry, I'll be posting semi-regular reports on my new, shiny, exciting, not to mention terrifying freelance career.Freelance

"Commas are a sign of weakness"

2005-07-20T17:42:00.000-04:00

I'm very nearly certain that some of my writers and some of our clients went to the same training ground as the O. Pine, who, in his breathtakingly stunning Tech Writer's Style Guide neatly sums up the prevailing linguistic wisdom in the field.On bulleted listsThere is simply no way to include too many bulleted lists. Bulleted lists make everything clear, because it takes a complicated sentence

Dispatches from the Comma Mines, part 3

2005-07-15T00:36:00.000-04:00

A textbook project that came in quite late, incomplete, on impossibly tight deadlines, and written by authors who didn't understand the publisher's requirements has been consuming my life and time. Rachel and I worked until close to midnight tonight, trying to meet tomorrow's impossible deadline. It's going to be quiet around TCI for the next little bit.But, other people are writing interesting

Electronic Publishing

2005-06-28T09:46:00.000-04:00

One of the industry tropes right now (and probably for the past ten years, but I haven't been paying attention that long), is the recurring "How can we make any money when books can be published electronically for free?" question.A sensible article in the Book Standard looks at publishers and authors who think, rather "How can we not?"Major publishers have been releasing online excerpts and

Losing my Faith in Humanity, One Manuscript at a Time

2005-06-21T23:45:00.000-04:00

At about the time I began this post (yes, I'm behind in my blogging. Too many escapades.), Teresa, in an instance of serendipity, posted some more slushpile-inspired advice for authors.Teresa's read a lot more manuscripts than I have. I'm relatively new to this industry, and reading manuscripts is a small part of what we do at the Comma Mines. I don't read slush. I read proto-slush. Then I

Gems

2005-06-16T16:22:00.000-04:00

Because it's nice to share your toys:A Glossary for Every GlottisVia CE-L: The Electric Eclectic—a compendium of online glossaries. From accounting and anthropomorphemics through educationese, oceanographics, and Yiddish, to Zeus.Very handy.Grammar GlossaryWhile we're on glossaries, Get into Uni has a nice Grammar glossary.

Don't Switch that Dial

2005-06-16T16:05:00.000-04:00

As you may have noticed, we're making some changes. Yes, that use of the present progressive is deliberate—we're not done yet. Blogger's templates are giving both of us an education.As we argue about typefaces, colours, contrast, light-on-dark vs. dark-on-light, we keep finding new things to argue about, and we keep discovering that we don't know how to do what we want to do. I'm certain

A Flotsam's-eye View

2005-06-07T11:12:00.000-04:00

We're back. We've mostly recovered, unpacked the inevitable free books and divvied them up with our fellow comma miners, sorted through the rolodex of new contacts, and soaked our sore feet. The Comma Miners have survived BookExpo.Adjectives like "big," "vast," "busy," and "crazy" apply. We did not find, as Publisher's Lunch did, that B.E.A. was "more personal

Upcoming Appearances

2005-05-24T18:37:00.000-04:00

Yours truly will be representing the 'umble freelance editor on Saturday, May 28, at the Writers' Union of Canada conference at a panel entitled "A Carnival ofCommas: Dispatches from the Grammar Wars," with Alison Gordon, Russell Smith, and moderator Doug Gibson. Next weekend, they're shaking the comma dust off me, and we're going to wander the halls with the throngs at BookExpo. The weekend

The Comma Mines: Extracts and Dispatches

2005-05-24T16:41:00.000-04:00

Once again, I'm down in the comma mines. These days, I'm pumping the raw prose through the initial processing stages.While I'm trapped down here, ensuring a steady flow of prose and ideas through the cogs, I'll send dispatches and extracts for the amusement of any loyal readers.Fact-checking: The Big LeaguesFact-checking is one of my favourite editorial tasks. I'm a born arguer, hole-poker,

Adventures in Parallelism

2005-05-17T11:23:00.000-04:00

From the department of "There's a Name for That?!" comes one of my favourite editorial errors: the Floating Conjunctive Both.Mark Liberman cites this example fom the May 15, 2005 NYT article by Ian Fisher and Laurie Goodstein, "Pope Names American to Be Guardian of Church Doctrine."Acting both symbolically and consolidating his young rule, Benedict XVI announced today his first major public acts

Untapped Markets

2005-05-16T16:45:00.000-04:00

Penguin Books, India, is tapping into a new market.Penguin, one of India's leading English-language book publishers, has taken what it describes as an "unprecedented" decision to print books in Hindi in a drive to reach more readers. The firm hopes to tap the vast market of Indian book buyers who are not comfortable reading in English, while simultaneously searching for new Indian talent

What Was Rule #1, Again?

2005-05-02T13:58:00.000-04:00

Several people have noticed Macmillan's new acquisitions scheme. In fact, we're kind of late in discussing it (it's been busy at the Comma Mines.)Some folks at Making Light, are unimpressed.Greg is unconcerned.I don't share his nonchalance.If it [Macmillan] decides to accept a novel for the list, terms are unnegotiable; no advance will be paid, though writers will receive 20% of royalties from

"The Most Unheralded Job in Publishing"

2005-04-20T17:32:00.000-04:00

Adam Langer on copyeditors: "They perform one of the most important jobs on manuscripts, saving authors from their misspellings, their grammatical errors, their logical and stylistic flaws, and yet, their efforts remain largely anonymous."I mean, really, when was the last time you saw a copyeditor credited on a book jacket? Every now and again, an author will thank the copyeditor, in the

Everyone's Third Choice Wins

2005-04-19T19:11:00.000-04:00

A nicely balanced WaPo article on book prizes—the Pulitzer, the Booker, and the like. It captures a lot of the ambivalence I tend to hear about prizes: they boost an author's profile, give librarians and bookstore employees something to recommend, lend strength to a publishing program, and sometimes baffle everyone involved: Publishers love winning prizes because a strong backlist is their bread

Frazzled Editor

2005-04-19T12:49:00.000-04:00

A Magic, The Gathering card for us! Hooray! Behold the power of the red pencil—this card affords the bearer "Protection from Wordy" [**ED: Should there be a noun after "wordy"? What does it modify. Pls. clarify.***].Notwithstanding the missing noun, I could use some of that right now. via Making Light.

Happy (Belated) Birthday English Spelling

2005-04-13T11:13:00.000-04:00

Friday was the 250th anniversary of the publication of Dr. Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language, nine years after the Good Doctorand therefore of modern spelling.The Guardian has a nice bio. of the Good Doctor, "An established man of letters, famous for his epitaphs, his parliamentary debates, his translations of the Odes of his favourite poet, Horace, numerous essays written for the

A 'dandy' fallacy?

2005-04-12T19:03:00.000-04:00

An article in the Scotsman bears a headline proclaiming Research finds a Dandy way to help young boys improve literacy. Apparently, giving boys comic books to read will encourage them to read more.Research published yesterday revealed that while 17 per cent of boys aged between seven and 11 do not read books outside school, 60 per cent regularly read comics.The survey also revealed that just 5

Where the Big Kids Play

2005-04-11T13:31:00.000-04:00

Publisher's Lunch turned me on to the litblog co-op, a collective of the "leading literary weblogs" created "for the purpose of drawing attention to the best of contemporary fiction, authors and presses that are struggling to be noticed in a flooded marketplace." Their mission: a quarterly selection of one underrepresented, literary jewel (i.e. a work of "serious fiction") to recommend to the

Becoming an Editor

2005-03-26T09:46:00.001-05:00

Because it comes up frequently in my various editorial forums, I've decided to put all the tips I have for breaking into the editorial profession in one place.Disclaimer: Because there’s no single definable path to professional editorship, it’s entirely possible that none of these observations or tips apply to your situation. I’m writing from my experience. Please feel free to add your own in the

Newsflash! People Buy Books Their Friends Recommend!

2005-03-03T13:03:00.000-05:00

They also buy books from authors whose work they've enjoyed before!It's official now. There was a survey and everything. Notwithstanding Richard Curtis, and the editors who look for "packages" to promote, notwithstanding all the fancy promotions and publicity campaigns, "nothing sells [a book] better than the recommendation of a friend or relative."So here at Comma Central we did a deeply

Print is Dying, Blah Blah Blah

2005-03-02T13:25:00.000-05:00

Richard Curtis, on "the shift to a new publisihing paradigm": A generation that defines books as material objects is giving way to one that regards them as quanta of digitized information. This new culture thrives on the vivid colors of television and videos, the frenetic interactivity of email and messaging, the emotional stimulation of video games and of

Great Linguistic Debates

2005-02-23T14:26:00.000-05:00

We're working overtime in the comma mines right now, and haven't had much time or energy for dispatches, but when a new data source for the great soda vs. pop controversy came to my attention, I couldn't resist sharing it. Especially since it offers the extremely scientifical conclusion that "People who say pop are cooler." via the really smart folks at CE-L.

Sex and CanLit

2005-02-14T18:43:00.000-05:00

I always appreciate it when I meet a non-Canadian who knows something about Canadian literature. There are usual several minutes of gushing, comparing notes, and then a sudden, awkward pause."No," I invariably must proclaim, "I have never lived on an isolated farm, nor have I had sex with a bear, a dead body, or a relative. No, I don't know why so many of our novels are like that."This article, a

Dispatches from the Comma Mines, part 1

2005-02-08T16:23:00.000-05:00

It's been a busy fortnight at Comma Central, and promises to be a busy February. Adventures with Errant Authors Book A, which is undergoing a complete redesign, goes to press in two weeks. The author is travelling in the southern hemisphere, sending us grumpy, unhelpful notes from Intenet cafés in Patagonia, Antarctica, and other points south of 40, and threatening us with penguins, but not

The Paradox of Successful Self-Publishing

2005-02-01T11:52:00.000-05:00

Self-publishing seems to be increasingly prevalent in news and gossip of late. Quill&Quire had an article in December 2004, "Adventures in self-publishing," which highlighted several successful Canadian self-publishing ventures, such as Recipes from the Road, published by The Cooking Ladies (Phyllis Hinz and Lamont Mackay) through Hushion House. The Cooking Ladies, veteran food columnists, did

Scambusting with SFWA

2005-01-31T11:59:00.000-05:00

This is PublishAmerica, proud "traditional publisher." This is SFWA. Quoth John Scalzi "Don’t annoy science fiction writers. These are people who destroy entire planets before lunch. Think of what they’ll do to you." John Scalzi is wise.This is what happens when SFWA decides to test the veracity of PublishAmerica's claim thatEach day, an average 78 new authors who are looking to find a book

Copyediting the Great American Novel

2005-01-26T01:38:00.000-05:00

...But behind these horn-rimmed glasses, there's a woman dreaming big dreams. I won't be stuck standardizing verb tenses in business documents my whole life. One day, I will copyedit the Great American Novel. Every editorial forum I frequent has posted the Onion Someday I Will Copyedit The Great American Novel. It's on the wall of the office. Approximately seven people forwarded the link to me.

Why Are So Few People Talking About This?

2005-01-24T18:12:00.000-05:00

Seeing this, over on Language Hat, and realizing that nobody else was blogging it inspired this weblog. From the New York Times: Pearson Education, the publishing company that owns the copyright to the Dick and Jane reading primers, has filed a lawsuit against a division of Time Warner in Federal District Court in Los Angeles claiming that the book "Yiddish With Dick and Jane" violates

Another Voice in the Chorus

2005-01-24T15:11:00.000-05:00

Eventually we'll figure out how to get a blogroll up. In the meanwhile, Over on Niel Gaimain's blog, Teresa Nielsen Hayden answers queries concerning agents from Niel Gaiman's mailbag, and in the process compiles a pretty comprehensive directory of useful information about publishing on the web. Over on her own weblog, Teresa expands her answer, and bewails the overwhelming amout of truly bad

Hyphenating Like Bunnies

2005-01-24T13:50:00.000-05:00

What better for TCI's inaugural post than an inside look at copy editing for skin mags? Via Salon.com—you need to subscribe or click through their lame ad. to read the article, but for those of us whose editorial quandaries are more pedestrian in nature, Is "Doggie Style" Hyphenated? deals with problems that sound both astonishingly familiar and weirder than we usually get: [Orgies] were the