Thursday, July 03, 2008
Realization
Labels: editing
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Healing Scriptures, 2nd ed.
Healing Scriptures, 2nd ed.
Great news! After 2 years in the production phase, Healing Scriptures has arrived in its glossy paperback format. Mom and I first put this book together 7 years ago from all the scriptures she collected on health and healing as my brother and I were growing up. The original book was in workbook format, printed at a local printer with a color copy cover, featuring a sunset photo taken here in Jacksonville. We comb-bound every book by hand and sold them at a couple very small church book stores and online at our site, HealingScriptures.com.
Soon, the comb bindings started turning--so attractive--and we ran out of copies. Reprinting them at OfficeMax, which we did several times, was hardly worth the expense. We finally decided to re-design it one last time, like a real book, and my good friend Robby Rhoden offered to do it for free.
Then life intervened, from every direction. His wife had their second child, and he struck out on his own in graphic design. Our other business demanded holiday attention. We couldn't find the right printer. The costs of reprinting were skyrocketing. Copyediting within our family of editors added months. Figuring out how to apply for an ISBN number... The list goes on. In fact, I completed the website re-design to reflect the book over a year and a half ago! In the meantime, all we had to offer our site visitors was an e-book of the old version.
Finally, things settled down and the book took shape. After requesting estimate after estimate from a few harried printers each time the page count changed, expecting to pay several thousand dollars for books that would resemble programs and have stapled spines, we stumbled on BookMasters. Not only were their prices infinitely better, but the product was exactly what we wanted--a soft-cover, bound book.
After a few more hoops, the book is here and we're so proud. Another improvement--we used to send out little black-and-white, laser-printed bookmarks, cut by hand by yours truly, with each book. Yesterday, our new Moo MiniCards arrived in 7 designs, each one of the sunset designs from our site, with a scripture on the back. 
Here are all of our super vendors, to whom I'm so grateful:
Robby Rhoden
BookMasters.com
Moo.com
If you do have a small book project, BookMasters is definitely worth checking out. I'll be using them at least twice more this year for a family cookbook and for a freelance editing client who is printing a book of his poetry and prose for his 50th birthday.
Labels: business, editing, photos
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Referencing Madness
Think about it.
Haphazard authors, late reviewers, non-compliant assistant editors...all these can be overlooked most days. But there is one nemesis that I hate above all others, whether I am writing or editing:
REFERENCES
My sworn blood enemy. If references were a person, I would demand it find its second, choose a weapon, and give me satisfaction.
The problem with references is, they are like algebra problems with calculus answers: the example in the book/instructions is rarely as complicated as the reality. And thanks to The Internets, which is otherwise my friend, references continue to get more complicated and no style manual seems to be able to keep up, particularly in the medical field.
Unfortunately, the medical field is my primary line of interest. It seems as though an undercurrent of desperation to hold on to "real" sources leads to a the neglect of creating a proper form for New References. I can understand the frustration and desire to do so, but the truth is, the future is here. I might not need such examples for a bona fide medical article, but my boss is an Editor in Chief whose current interest lies in Web 2.0's effect on the medical field. I am tasked with formatting the references, and each time feel that I am simply without a net. Who knows if they are truly correct?
My current project includes referencing the following:
4 journal articles
1 book
Wikipedia
2 online academic libraries
O'Reilly's blog
2 online serials
An online learning program
A PDF fact sheet
There is one example for this particular journal's use of online sources, and it refers to a paper journal that is also cited online. Wouldn't we all be so lucky.
Of course the theory behind references is logical--not only does it ensure the source is genuine but the citation makes it findable to future scholars. It's simple enough, but when every journal has its own charming way of presenting said reference and proceeds to hit writers over the head with every little colon and semicolon, one has to wonder if such an exercise is truly helpful or a way of weeding out authors that evolved past the anal-fixation phase.
This is always what I fear. And so, I fixate, pleading to Professor Google to give me an answer. But I am denied.
As much as I love the clever little college writing workshop fact sheets that dot the Web, they are not even close to American Medical Association style. Furthermore, most of the true authorities on style insist on keeping their wishes offline and in hardback books, which is counterintuitive to today's usage, not to mention counterproductive as new publishing formats emerge constantly. I mean, do you want me to use your style or not?
Instead I find myself devising a formula based on tons of examples, not unlike creating a new recipe, spending several days on reference sheets but never knowing if the final product is sufficient.
Seriously, references should be stopped.
Labels: editing
