The Editing Podcast

Louise Harnby and Denise Cowle talk about why audio is such a great medium for editors who want to build brand trust and grow their businesses. Listen to find out more about The popularity of audio content Stability during playback Native hosting on websites Voices as unique brand identifiers and trust builders Audio as an accessibility tool that allows communication with a diverse audience Why it...

Louise and Denise talk to Barry Award-nominated thriller writer John A. Connell about moving from Berkley (Penguin USA) to independent publishing. Listen To Find Out More About: Being a Hollywood camera operator ... Jurassic Park , Thelma and Louise , and NYPD Blue Getting a publishing contract with a major press The Mason Collins series When publishers are no longer invested Moving to independent...

Louise and Denise chat with Brunella Costagliola, a specialist military writer and editor, about what makes a compelling military story. Listen To Find Out More About: What makes a good military book Style guides for editing military books Common problems authors face when writing military books Fact-checking resources for military writers Contacting Brunella Costagliola Email: brunella.costagliol...

Louise and Denise talk with fellow editor Maya Berger about editing erotic fiction. Listen To Find Out More About: Does adult fiction need editing? Sorting out the language: pornography versus erotica Editing in your comfort zone Common problems authors struggle with Sub-genres and good-fit editing Evaluating an author's work Contacting Maya Berger Email: maya.berger@gmail.com Website: What I Mean...

Denise and Louise discuss the growth of audio in the book world, and how using sound creates reader engagement and helps build a fan base. Listen To Find Out More About: Narrating a sample chapter Creating free audio content that's usable Host a live sound event Broadcast an interview Encouraging sign-ups with your voice Starting a podcast Captivate: podcast hosting, stats and audience growth Edit...

Louise and Denise discuss whether working with a specialist editor is necessary for all books and every type of editing. Listen To Find Out More About: Fiction versus non-fiction The type of editing Subject/genre Editing bites and other resources Storycraft: The Complete Guide to Writing Narrative Nonfiction (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing), Jack Hart ‘The Secrets of Story Stru...

Louise and Denise talk about 18 blogs for authors and editors that offer guidance on various aspects of writing craft. Listen to find out more about: ALLi blog : Alliance of Independent Authors Ann Handley blog Articles : The Writer’s Digest Articles : Tim Storm, Storm Writing School Bacon Editing blog : Claire Bacon Bookbaby blog Lisa Poisso, Editor and Book Coach blog : Lisa Poisso Denise Cowle...

In this episode of The Editing Podcast, Denise and Louise answer questions about how to run and grow an editing and proofreading business. Listen To Find Out More About: Increasing organic lead generation Assembly Bill 5 (AB5) and the impact on freelancers in California The benefits of working with publishers, packagers and project-management agencies Content marketing: Solving clients problems Fa...

Denise and Louise answer questions about how to run and grow an editing and proofreading business. Listen To Find Out More About: When editorial projects don't arrive with us on time ... how to manage it and how to prevent it Dealing with burnout and procrastination How to get fiction work with indie authors Making time for marketing Increasing efficiency Contracts, and whether email is sufficient...

Denise and Louise chat with book coach and editor Lisa Poisso about honing story craft before embarking on expensive structural and line editing. Listen To Find Out More About: Story basics - the Plot Accelerator  Why developmental/structural editing comes after book coaching Genre, viewpoint, tense, character motivation and conflict, plot and subplot, and character arc Book mapping, and avoi...

Louise and Denise talk to technical writer and editor John Espirian about content marketing, editing and bringing a book to market. Listen To Find Out More About: Content DNA - the book Developing the book's concept: The shape of you Writing the book Tackling the editing process Cover design and branding The benefits of a foreword Content marketing, and why it works Social media focus and email-li...

Denise and Louise discuss how to use exclamation marks. Listen To Find Out More About: What exclamation marks look like Functions: Surprise, emphasis, volume How many to use Social media use Reasons to omit them: web, business academic copy Balancing use and abuse Editing bites How to Fix Your Damn Book , by James Osiris Baldwin, CreateSpace, 2016 Purdue OWL https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/purdue_owl.h...

Denise and Louise discuss the grammar police, how to manage them, and why they're nothing to do with professional editing. Listen To Find Out More About: Who are the grammar police? Social media and the grammar police Pedantry versus professional editing for style, preference and flow Writing style: Business, academia, web copy, creative non-fiction, fiction Conventions and standards versus rules...

Denise and Louise talk with guest Sea Chapman about constructed languages, or conlangs. Listen to find out more about: What is a constructed language, or conlang? The different types of conlang Tips for writers who want to include conlangs in fiction The rules of play Base languages sometimes and conlang creation Resources mentioned in the show Email Sea Chapman (sea@seachapman.com) for handouts f...

Denise and Louise discuss em dashes, or em rules, and how to use them in fiction and non-fiction writing. Listen to find out more about: Parenthetical use Indicating a new speaker Indicating omission Profanity Showing faltering speech Conveying end-of-line interruptions Editing bites The Magic of Fiction , Beth Hill ‘ Start here: How to self-publish your book’ , Jane Friedman Ask us a question The...

Denise and Louise explain what a comma splice is, why you should usually avoid it, and how it can add clarity. Listen to find out more about: What a comma splice is Commas, lists and why splices confuse readers When editing out comma splices would spoil rhythm Anaphora Editing bites The Emotional Craft of Fiction , Donald Maass The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language , 3rd ed., David Cr...

Denise and Louise discuss en dashes, or en rules, and how to use them in fiction and non-fiction writing. Listen to find out more about: Parenthetical use Indicating number spans Placement in dialogue interrupted by narrative description Linking in adjectival compounds Showing faltering speech Indicating a relationship/alternative Profanity Editing bites Masterclass The Conscious Style Guide Ask u...

Denise and Louise chat with editor Sophie Playle about developmental editing and critiques for fiction authors. Listen to find out more about: An overview of what developmental editing includes Critiques as big-picture evaluation Who benefits from developmental editing and critiques Where developmental editing and critiques fit into the editing process Whether an author needs to hire a specialist...

Denise and Louise demystify (and stand up for) one of the most misunderstood pieces of punctuation – the semi-colon. Listen To Find Out More About: What the semi-colon looks like Separating two independent clauses Subjects and predicates Weighting and parallelism Comma splices Separating items in a list Emojis Objections to the semi-colon Resources related to the show National Centre for Writing’s...

Denise and Louise chat with guest Tim Storm about the concept of unearned writing, and how to craft prose that's authentic and plausible. Listen To Find Out More About: The writer’s responsibility to the reader and the story Story events and character reactions in relation to plausibility and authenticity Salvation events Unnatural character realizations Contrived plot turns Thematic insertions or...

Denise and Louise chat about 4 features of written language that are often thought to be Americanisms but aren’t.  Listen To Find Out More About: -iz- spellings serial commas em dashes which/that in restrictive relative clauses Mentioned In The Show Lexico/Oxford: ‘The Differences Between British and American Terms’ Lynne Murphy on British and American English (video) Free PDF booklet: Verbs...

Denise and Louise talk with linguist Rob Drummond about grammar pedantry, peevery, youth language, and non-standard language in context. Listen To Find Out More About: Correct or conventional – a linguist’s perspective Better versus standard Zombie rules, and what we can ditch Youth language – dumbing down English or enriching it? Young people's language in relation to identity and language change...

Denise and Louise talk about how to use question marks in fiction and non-fiction according to convention. Listen To Find Out More About: Direct questions Indirect questions How-to statements Idiomatic phrases and question marks Double punctuation Uncertain dates and date ranges Indicating uncertainty Mentioned In The Show But Can I Start A Sentence With “But”? by Carol Saller Making a Point: The...

Denise and Louise talk about 10 things writers need to tell an editor when they get in touch for the first time to discuss a project. Listen to find out more about: Word count File format Genre or subject Other rounds of editing The type of editing required Intended audience and where you’re publishing Time frame What else you’ve written Whether you can send a sample How you found your editor Ment...

Denise and Louise talk to Jenny Slater, an in-house editor with Newgen Publishing UK. Newgen is a project management agency offering editing, proofreading, typesetting and indexing for publishers. Note: Denise and Louise have no affiliation with this organization. Newgen exhibited at the 2019 SfEP conference at Aston University, and it was the perfect opportunity to find out more about how they op...