Editing and Publishing books
May 30, 2009
I’ll be listing my five favorite books on editing and publishing, but I want your comments:
Can you name your five favorite books that help you with editing?
My most preferred editing book is a tiny little grey book, Elements of Style. I refer to this book more than I will choose to admit to anyone. I would almost say it is my life preserver… otherwise my editor would be more annoyed than she is.
This has also made my life easier since it’s such a compact book.
5 Comments
PrettySiren
Admittedly, I can’t name five books I refer to when editing. I’m pretty good at spotting iffy or awkward wording, but if I have a question about grammar (which is rare, but still), I usually refer to my English 111 textbook — it never fails.
But I’m very interested in what you and others have to say about it. I like to keep an open mind, and I would definitely like to learn about the resources out there.
Rebecca
Another good one, though read it with an open mind, is how to write and sell your novel.
With this one, you need to be careful since the gems are within the chapters.
Georganna Hancock M.S.
APA, MLA, AP stylebooks, Scribner’s Handbook, and Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary. And Roget’s.
That makes it a six pack!
Rebecca
I lvoe my MLA handbook, it came in so handy with my non-fiction writing
Becky
I’m very fond of “Self-Editing for Fiction Writers”. It’s helped me a lot – however it’s primarily a book about editing, but you seem to be talking about copyediting (at least from the books you’ve mentioned). I don’t really have a favoured book for that. I have a favoured friend instead.