Resources & Recommendations

These are the resources we're most familiar with because they're in our neighborhood. We welcome suggestions of other sites that would be of interest to developmental editors. Please send them to info@authoreditorclinic.com.

Editing Classes and Resources in the Pacific Northwest

Northwest Independent Editors Guild www.edsguild.org
Certificate in Editing, University of Washington www.pce.uw.edu
Certificate in Technical & Professional Editing, Bellevue College bellevuecollege.edu
Editorial Freelancers Association www.the-efa.org (some classes are held in Seattle)

Writers Organizations, Classes, and Conferences
in the Pacific Northwest

Hugo House www.hugohouse.org
Mountain Writers Series and Conference www.mountainwriters.org
Pacific Northwest Writers Association www.pnwa.org
Port Townsend Writers Conference www.centrum.org
Seattle Bookfest www.seattlebookfest.com
Whidbey Island Writers Association www.writeonwhidbey.com
Willamette Writers www.willamettewriters.com
Wordstock www.wordstockfestival.com
Write on the Sound www.ci.edmonds.wa.us
Writing It Real www.writingitreal.com
The Writer’s Workshop (in-person and online classes in Seattle) www.thewritersworkshop.net
The Writers’ Workshoppe (shop specializing in books for writers in Port Townsend, Washington) www.writersworkshoppe.com

A Few Other U.S. and Canadian Sites for Editors

Bay Area Editors’ Forum www.editorsforum.org
Editcetera www.editcetera.com
Editorial Freelancers Association www.the-efa.org
Editors' Association of Canada/Association canadienne des réviseurs www.editors.ca
Professional Editors Network www.pensite.org

Sites We Like

Author Magazine www.authormagazine.org
Booklife Now http://booklifenow.com
Chicago Manual of Style Online Q/A www.chicagomanualofstyle.org
Grammargirl http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com
Will Write for Chocolate www.inkygirl.com

Books Our Editors Recommend

Editing and Style

The Writer’s Portable Mentor: A Guide to Art, Craft, and the Writing Life, Priscilla Long (Wallingford Press, 2010). The sections on improving language and becoming more adept at creating interesting sentences and rhythms are highly useful, both for writers and editors.

Developmental Editing: A Handbook for Freelancers, Authors, and Publishers, Scott Norton (University of Chicago Press, 2009). Geared somewhat more to academic and trade nonfiction books than literary and commercial fiction and nonfiction, this is nevertheless an excellent book to study, with its focus on working with authors.

The Subversive Copy Editor, Carol Fisher Saller (University of Chicago Press, 2009). A nice little addition to your standard texts on copyediting, this book isn’t a style manual but offers advice on working less adversarially and more productively with authors.

Artful Sentences: Syntax as Style, Virginia Tufte (Graphics Press, 2006). Less a how-to grammar, more a library of examples from James Joyce to Susan Sontag that show "how sentences work and what they can do."

Memoir and Fiction

Writing the Memoir, Judith Barrington (Eighth Mountain Press, 1997). In addition to being a very clear and concise overview of various issues connected with the memoir, the book has an appendix on legal aspects of writing about real people.

Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Renni Browne and Dave King (second edition, HarperCollins, 2004). Very useful, with many examples of problems that writers typically encounter.

Write Away: One Novelist's Approach to Fiction and the Writing Life, Elizabeth George (Perennial Currents, 2005). There are many books about fiction writing by authors on the market, but this is a particularly workmanlike and succinct guide to writing realistic novels, with particular emphasis on creating suspense by linking scenes and chapters together. It's one I'd suggest to beginning novelists and mystery writers.

Gotham Writers’ Workshop Writing Fiction (Bloomsbury, 2003). A handbook put out by the popular writers school in New York and online. Each chapter focuses on a different element of the writer's craft--character, plot, point of view, theme, setting, description, voice, and dialogue.

The Scene Book: A Primer for the Fiction Writer, Sandra Scofield (Penguin, 2007). A great book about writing fiction but particularly useful for editors working with authors to create more tension, suspense, and interest.

One of the best sources for How-To books on the various genres, particularly those that require strong plotting and a respect for the conventions is Writers’ Digest www.writersdigest.com, which has a huge online bookstore.

Inspirational Books for Authors and the Editors
Who Work with Them

Art and Fear, David Bayles and Ted Orland (Image Continuum Press, Santa Cruz, CA, 2001). There are lots of books to give writers hope and ideas, but this small volume is genuinely useful and emotionally grounding.

Agents

Get an Agent (Writers’ Digest Guide, 2010). A special issue of the magazine, which may be ordered separately.

How to Get a Literary Agent, Michael Larsen (Sourcebooks, 2006). Larsen is a well-known Bay Area agent.

How to Write a Book Proposal, Michael Larsen (Writers’ Digest, 2004)

Jeff Herman's Guide to Book Publishers, Editors, and Literary Agents: Who They Are! What They Want! How to Win Them Over! (Sourcebooks, 2009) is regularly updated.

Along with books, there are also classes and websites devoted to learning to write query letters and pitch book proposals. Since agents move on and requirements change, it can be helpful to keep up via magazines such as Poets and Writers and Writers’ Digest. The latter has an online blog about agents as well as online updates to its annually updated Guide to Literary Agents.

Publishing and Self-Publishing

Again, a big topic and a field that’s always changing. Some may shudder at the idea of buying one of the Dummies or Complete Idiot’s guides, but if you and/or your author starting from scratch, such guides offer a decent overview of the industry and are issued in new editions more often than other books. The Dummies series also has a book on self-publishing. Another book on traditional publishing that’s a perennial seller is How to Get Happily Published, by Judith Applebaum (Collins, 1998), though some of its advice may be out of date these days.

Guidebook for Working with Small Independent Publishers, Terry Persun (22Press, 2010). Persun offers a kinder, gentler approach that will appeal to any writer considering going with a small or independent press.

Dan Poynter’s Self-Publishing Manual: How to Write, Print, and Sell Your Own Book, Dan Poynter (Para Publishing, 2010) and Dan Poynter’s Self-Publishing Manual, Vol 2: How to Write, Print, and Sell Your Own Book Employing the Latest Technologies and Newest Techniques. Dan Poynter (Para Publishing, 2010). The first volume has detailed information on setting up a publishing business, producing a book, and the all-important business of finding markets and distributors, getting reviews, and managing fulfillment. For authors who are serious about self-publishing, it’s crucial that they understand the challenges of getting their books out into a crowded marketplace.

Poynter’s second volume is worthwhile taking a look at because this self-publishing guru from way back discusses many new technologies. If you have authors interested in publishing novels on their iPhones this is for them. His marketing ideas might be useful for some authors as well.

For authors going the self-publishing route, many resources now exist to help them choose from among different production options, from print-on-demand (using digital printing techniques) and short-run printing (digital production or offset presses), to books published only online or via PDFs. Some production companies also offer marketing help. POD sites to look at for an overview of what’s available include Virtual Bookworm, CreateSpace, Lulu, and iUniverse. eBook publishing sites to look at include Smashwords, PubIt!, and Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing. Some bookstores around the country offer digital printing on the Espresso Book Machines. And for short-run printing options, see Gorham Printing for a good example of a Washington State printing business that offers excellent customer service. You can request their booklet, A Guide to Book Printing and Self-Publishing, for free.

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