Posts tagged ‘editor books’

Any book that encourages writers to think more like editors is a good bet–this one gets strong reviews from Publishers Weekly and Library Journal. Thinking Like Your Editor could make the difference for a new writer trying to land that first book proposal. This one’s not for magazine or blog writer/editors, it’s aimed squarely at the book writer.

So what’s this doing on EditorWriter? It’s our belief that any book explaining the editorial mindset is a valuable resource for people who want to make the leap from writer to editor or editor/writer. There’s a lot of initial self doubt that can come with your first journey towards editing someone else; it’s good to have a few references to help you understand what your colleagues in the industry are thinking when they get to work on other people’s writing.

And this book makes a good gift from a kindly editor to a new book writer…a gentle nudge in the right direction is never a bad thing.

The Editor’s Toolbox is a reference volume for editors. It’s aimed mostly at those working in print, but the book doesn’t stop with basics like grammar and spelling issues–emphasis on proper fact checking and proper layout principles make this a more well-rounded print guide.

Can online writers learn anything from this book? There’s certainly nothing wrong with applying the same fact checking and layout concepts where appropriate. In fact, I think many websites could use with a bit more thinking time in the visual presentation–perhaps a move towards more print-based visual aesthetics could be a good thing.

In spite of the Amazon Kindle and other gadgets which intend to put the axe at the root of the trees of the print industry, print isn’t in its deathbed quite yet. This book should prove valuable to anyone with a vested interest in keeping print alive in the early days of their editing career.