There are certain feelings that every editor is bound to experience: the joy of making a great catch, the frustration of dealing with a difficult project, the excitement of taking a selfie with a favourite punctuation mark — wait, maybe not that last one. That is, unless you’re Bespectacled Editor, …
Happy summer, readers! The Editors’ Weekly is taking a break for the rest of August. It’s time to enjoy the last weeks of summer — and of summer reading! Have you read any great books lately? This summer, I set myself a goal of reading only Canadian literature, and it’s …
Dear readers, We’re so pleased to announce Laura Bontje as the new managing editor of The Editors’ Weekly. A freelance editor in London, Ont., Laura specializes in fiction editing, with a particular focus on children’s literature. She is also the author of the forthcoming picture books Was It a Cat I …
When a client comes to me for editing, one of my first questions is how they hope to publish. Why? Because an author who is self-publishing will use freelancers for each stage of the editing process, whereas an author who secures a traditional publishing contract will receive additional editing through …
Laura will be co-presenting “Introduction to Picture Book Editing” at Editors 23: Editors in Real Life, taking place from June 17 to 18 at Toronto Metropolitan University. Conference registration is limited, so reserve your spot now! Do you want to know the trick to keeping it together when freelancing with …
As a freelance fiction editor, I find it incredibly rewarding to help an author shape their story or find their voice. And as an author, I know firsthand how transformative the insights of a strong editor can be. But professional editing can be expensive, so what do you do when …
If you asked 10 editors how they approach sample edits, you’d probably get 10 different answers. Some editors charge for sample edits, some offer samples for free and some don’t do sample edits at all. Some editors begin on page one, and others edit an excerpt from the middle. So …
Picture books: the artwork is so integral that it’s part of the name. But unless you’re working with an author/illustrator, editing a picture book usually means analyzing a text-only manuscript. For contemporary picture books, the illustrations are more than adornments; they’re a critical part of the storytelling. At the manuscript …
Editing a first-time author calls for a blend of sharp-eyed clarity, cheerleading and hand-holding. What if the author is also an editor? As part of a series of blog posts featuring conversations between author-editors and their editors, The Editors’ Weekly asked two editors to reflect on their experience of working …
Some of the best book and podcast recommendations come from fellow editors. In a continuation of our summer series, we’ve asked two more members of our blog committee to share their latest picks. Sue Bowness Sue is the director of communications for Editors Canada, a freelance writer and editor at Codeword …