The Editing Podcast

Denise and Louise talk to Laura Poole, a professional copyeditor who specializes in working with university presses on scholarly non-fiction, mainly in the humanities. Laura discusses the importance of fact checking. Listen to find out more about: What a copyediting service includes When fact checking takes place in the editorial process Fiction: place names, historical accuracy, idiom, dates, ety...

Denise and Louise talk to Maya Berger, a professional editor who works with Young Adult and children’s fiction, speculative and science fiction, and romance and adult fiction. In this episode, we focus on writing and editing erotica. Listen to find out more about: Why authors shouldn’t fear approaching an editor Why erotica deserves the same editorial rigour as any other genre The rise of romance...

Denise and Louise talk to Beth Hamer, a professional proofreader and the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading's conference director. Beth chats about how to organize a successful editorial conference. Listen to find out more about: Responding to feedback Refining the delegate experience  Benefits of attending the annual SfEP conference Choosing a venue Choosing speakers  Progr...

Denise and Louise discuss how to use quote marks (or speech marks) in writing ... and when not to use them.  Summary of the Show What are quote marks for? Should I use straight or curly quote marks? Should I use single or double quote marks? Where does the closing quote mark go in relation to other punctuation?​ When not to use quote marks Editing Bites ‘How to punctuate dialogue in a novel’:...

Louise and Denise discuss writing and editing for the web with guest Erin Brenner. Listen to find out more about: Why working with web content is different from writing for the page In which programs should we create content for the web? Pre-upload checks on the writing Pre-upload checks on metadata links, and alt-text Quality control: self-editing versus third-party professional help How many edi...

Denise and Louise talk to Jen Hamilton-Emery, co-director of Salt, one of the UK's premier independent literary publishers. Listen more to find out about: The Salt story: awards, authors and publishing goals Author retention Indie publishing and the digital revolution The submission process The author–publisher relationship The publishing process Rights, sales and royalties Print runs Re...

Denise and Louise discuss how to manage the transition from one editor to another. Listen more to find out about: Why authors change editors Planning ahead and giving notice Whether the editor should get involved in sourcing a replacement Checking T&Cs and cancellation policies Information and tools to share with the new editor Editing Bites The NCW Podcast (National Centre for Writing): http:...

Denise and Louise offer some quick tips on formatting your Word file ... final tidy-ups to get your file in shape, and that accord with mainstream publishing standards. And there's a free PDF that includes all the search strings we talk about! Editing bites Wildcard Cookbook for Microsoft Word : Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/2KFh39H. Amazon US: https://amzn.to/2KJrVDi Word Tips: https://wordribbon.ti...

Denise and Louise talk about 10 editing macros that will save you time and improve the quality of your writing. Listen to find out more about: Macros how they work in Word CatchPhrase CitationLister and CitationListChecker CompareWordList File Cleaner FullPointInDialogue and CommaInDialogue MultiSwitch PerfectIt ProperNounAlyse SpellingErrorLister VisibleTrackOff4 Note: 12 June 2025: CitationListe...

Denise and Louise talk about adverbs, and how to use or remove them purposefully. Listen to find out more about: What Stephen King said about adverbs Adverb use versus adverb abuse Definition of an adverb with examples Definition of an adverbial phrase with examples Adverb red flag #1: the double tell in narrative Adverb red flag #2: the double tell in dialogue Adverb red flag #3: the double tell...

Denise and Louise talk with Daniel Heuman, founder of Intelligent Editing and developer of PerfectIt – consistency-checking and style-enforcing software for editors and writers. Listen to find out more about: What PerfectIt does Who uses PerfectIt What’s new with PerfectIt 4 Using the onboard styles The PerfectIt 4 interface How to access PerfectIt on PC and Mac How much a subscription costs and w...

Denise and Louise discuss four different kinds of writers and how identifying what kind you are can help you work out the kind of editing that’s the best fit for you. Listen to find out more about: The confident writer The nervous writer The reluctant writer The impatient writer Editing bites ‘How to proofread your own writing – 10 tips to clean up your writing’: http://bit.ly/2ZtmpJ9 ‘Is proofrea...

Denise and Louise discuss how to prepare your book file for editing ... whether you're doing it yourself or working with an editor. Listen to find out more about: When to do interior layout Where to do your editing Whether to edit in a single document or multiples Using styles Font choice Colour choice Paragraph design Spacing Defining headings Page numbering Section breaks Pictures and images Tab...

Denise and Louise discuss how long it takes to complete an edit – whether you’re doing it yourself or working with a professional – and how to plan ahead. Listen to find out more about editing time in relation to: Word count Project complexity Level of editing undertaken, including referencing, style-guide adherence and fact-checking Publishing imperfect written content Working with agents Collect...

In this episode of The Editing Podcast, Denise and Louise discuss location and whether where your editor lives actually matters. Listen to find out more about location in relation to: Local, regional and national knowledge Face-to-face meetings University policies Spelling, idiomatic and dialectical variance Pronunciation problems Communicating with global audiences Refining searches for editors F...

Denise and Louise attended the 2019 ATOMICON digital marketing conference. During one of the breaks, they recorded a chat about book editing and marketing, accompanied by pink pineapples and women on stilts! Listen to find out more about: Why editors and authors should attend marketing conferences Stepping outside your comfort zone and learning new skills Branding, using audio and video to grow yo...

In this episode of The Editing Podcast, Denise and Louise discuss how to find an editor if you decide you want professional help. Listen to find out more about: National editorial societies Google and other search engines Writing networks Social media Refining your search by subject/genre specialism: editor portfolios Refining with sample edits Refining with testimonials Editing bites Writers’ and...

In this bonus episode of The Editing Podcast, Denise and Louise talk to Kenda Macdonald, a behavioural marketing specialist and CEO of Automation Ninjas. She is also the author of Hack the Buyer Brain . Summary Indie publishing Finding and working with an editor Respecting and retaining author voice The importance of author/editor trust Working with beta readers Using negative feedback to write be...

In this bonus episode of The Editing Podcast, Denise and Louise talk to Tim Lewis, host of the Begin Self-Publishing Podcast and author of tree time-travel novellas (Timeshock series), three fantasy novels (Magpies and Magic series), and Social Media Networking . Summary Benefits and challenges of working with a professional editor who’s also a family member Trust and personal relationships Constr...

In this bonus episode of The Editing Podcast, Denise and Louise talk to Kia Thomas, a fiction editor and the author of Wings. Summary Indie publishing Choosing what level of editing to do yourself and what to get help with, based on skills Getting feedback: Identifying whether the story works The challenges of self-editing: Length of book, writer tics and repetition Trading favours with other prof...

In this bonus episode of The Editing Podcast, Denise and Louise talk to Simon Raybould, a presentations trainer and the author of Presentation Genius . Summary Mainstream and indie publishing (PDF and print on demand) Benefits and challenges of working with a mainstream publisher: Transaction vs growth orientation; positioning; formatting The writing process Working with editors: Using family and...

In this bonus episode of The Editing Podcast, Denise and Louise talk to Antoinette Oglethorpe, a leadership development and career management specialist, and the author of Grow Your Geeks . Summary Hybrid publishing with a publishing partner: Rethink Press Using beta readers prior to revision Overcoming anxiety regarding editorial feedback The role of the editor: Support, improvement and coll...

In this episode of The Editing Podcast, Denise and Louise discuss the order of play for the different levels of editing, and some ideas about how you can keep costs down. Listen to find out more about: The different levels of editing The order of play – when to do what Who else can help – beyond the pro editor Planning ahead Getting comparative quotations for the job Honing story craft Manuscript...

In this episode of The Editing Podcast, Denise and Louise discuss page proofs and how they fit into the editing process. Listen to find out more about: Tangled terminology and how proofreading means different things to different writers and editors Designed page proofs vs raw-text files Defining page proofs Where proofreading and page proofs fit into mainstream publishing industry’s production pro...

In this episode of The Editing Podcast, Denise and Louise talk about style sheets, and how they’ll help you keep track of the key themes in your book, and ensure consistency along the way. Listen to find out more about: Style sheets – what they are and why they’re useful What to include in your style sheet Which types of written content benefit from a style sheet Style sheets for authors and edito...