Product Description

Many stylebooks and manuals explain writing, but before the release ten years ago of Elsie Myers Stainton´s The Fine Art of Copyediting, few addressed the practices and problems of editing. This handbook has guided users through the editing process for books and journals, with tips on how to be diplomatic when recommending changes, how to edit notes and bibliographies, how to check proofs, and how to negotiate the ethical, intellectual, and emotional problems characteristic of the editorial profession. Now featuring solid advice on computer editing and a new chapter on style, as well as more information on references, bibliographies, indexing, and bias-free writing, The Fine Art of Copyediting, Second Edition offers the same wealth of information that prompted William Safire to commend the first edition in The New York Times Magazine. Complete with helpful checklists for the manuscript, proof, and index stages of book production, as well as an excellent bibliography of reference works useful to the copyeditor, The Fine Art of Copyediting, Second Edition is an indispensable desk reference for writers and editors confronting a host of questions each day. Why use the word "people" instead of "persons"? What precautions are necessary for publishers to avoid libel suits? How can an editor win an author´s trust? What type fonts facilitate the copyediting process? How does computer editing work? For experienced and novice copyeditors, writers and students, this is the source for detailed, step-by-step guidance to the entire editorial process.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #658893 in Books
• Published on: 2002-01-15
• Released on: 2002-01-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

Review

"This second edition documents the updates that have occurred in publishing procedures and editing techniques... the information that Stainton provides can be useful to any editor as well as to any writer." -- Technical Communication

Review

" The Fine Art of Copyediting has been updated intelligently to include the computer age of copyediting while remaining well informed in relaying the basics of the job and process in a friendly way that appeals to beginning as well as experienced editors. I found this concise handbook to be a good and helpful resource." -- Kim Lewis, Executive Managing Editor for WIlliam Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

About the Author
Elsie Myers Stainton, former managing editor of Cornell University Press, is the author of Author and Editor at Work: Making a Better Book, and numerous articles on writing and editing.

Customer Reviews

A Very Useful Book
I'm a fan of THE CHICAGO MANUAL OF STYLE, but this book about "the fine art" is an excellent supplementary help. I'm an old hand at editing and I recommend it highly. Here, thank goodness, is a book to introduce you to the business of editing. I found information on all aspects of the profession. The details on editing procedures and the examples of notes, etc., are particularly helpful. Surprisingly, the concise manual of style in this book tells all you need to know to start right in editing.

Not what the title promises
This book is more about getting along with the people you work with than about copyediting. The author goes on at length about bolstering an author's ego but devotes only a few pages to the symbols of editing and how they are used. There are few examples or exercises. For those who actually wish to learn about the actual job I recommend Copyediting by Karen Judd or Style and Substance by Mary Stoughton. Both are excellent and contain many exercises and examples.

A Wonderful Book with a Refreshing Approach
This well-crafted book focuses on the details of copyediting and as a bonus gives advice on human relationships in the editorial process. Well-written, insightful, concise, and punchy, this compact book provides a novice with the basics of copyediting and is a useful and fun review for old hands. I recommmend The Fine Art of Copyediting highly.