I've dipped my toe in editing and have had trouble working the best way to work through this process.
I think there needs to be some key assumptions such as format etc.
The first time I tried this was in OO, this second time I tried LO and used the comment tool. to annotate a .docx.
what do people think? please note I've only done this twice ever so any hints and tips would be good.
There are guides out there for editing — I've one for technical editing (useless here) and copy editing, and I've seen ones that cover developmental editing for both fiction and non-fiction.
Are you talking about a guide to help the editor work with the author?
Or a guide for editing, like grammar, process, etc.?
at present, a guide to what different types of editor do for the author, a guide for how to use the tools within popular word processors (Word and Libre) and a guide for how to form a relationship between an author and an editor.
I like the idea of doing a little editing as a way of learning how to spot problems with my own writing. I'm using LO and have recently found the comment tool. Are there other such tools that may be of use in this context. I'd really love to know.
I have decades of computer use, but my skills are all back of house. tech support, Network and server admin and hardware building and fault finding. to name a few. I don't really have that many skills in day to day use of apps or other 'productive' areas. mine are all in management and repair / building.
I think such a guide would be very useful in attracting some new blood in the editor pool by explaining and qualifying different 'types' of editing and how to use the features of apps to go about these processes.
also as a 'feature request' I'd love to see a way of updating the editor list, say a yearly request to confirm status for each editor in the editor page so that those that no longer offer the service or wish to change their profile can do so simply.
maybe by offering clear definitions of types of editor along with the other fields, such as turn ons and offs, etc would be of use.
just throwing it out there as an idea.
also as a 'feature request' I'd love to see a way of updating the editor list, say a yearly request to confirm status for each editor in the editor page so that those that no longer offer the service or wish to change their profile can do so simply.
Currently each editor must confirm their availability once ever two weeks.
If I understand you, then I have the same thoughts. I recently volunteered to beta read a manuscript. The author is super nice, telling me what he wanted me to look for. He emailed the manuscript in two formats.
MY PROBLEM was converting it to a format that fits on my phone. SOL displays fantastic on my phone. Lazeez allows the site to change font and size. I dont know how, but am happy! Most PDF or epub shows too wide for my phone if i can get the font size big enough to read. No way do i want to pester an author on this, so I kept fiddling with OpenOff and got it formatted to a pdf with a page 3.5" wide.
I'm used to the old time method of type it double spaced, print, the pencil mark it up in margins and between double spaces. I slowly got my notes inserted between text AND highlighted in color, hoping it made it easy for the author to find my comments. Then I added my name to the file name, to help the author not over-write my version over his.
Was my "helpfulness" actually helpful? If I understand Freyrs, this may be one area that en editor, proofreader, or beta reader might find helpful.
I have not tried LibraOff. I dont even know what all the functions are, of either program.
Most (not all) PDFs are fixed; they don't 'reflow' to accommodate different display sizes. Some PDFs do.
EPUB, on the other hand, should reflow. I've never seen one that doesn't, even using a variety of phone-based EPUB readers. I suspect one could exist, but I've never seen one.
In my case, your editing style would work well. I exchange Word-format documents with my editors, they use Word's tools with 'mark changes' enabled and send them back, and I edit from there. But, the key is seeing the changes in context, so a marked-up PDF would be just about as useful.
This may be a place where it depends on the writer's communication style. I hand-edit every change into my master copy; I'm not sure everyone does that.
I took a class in copyediting as part of my degree. The text we used (in 2018) was The Copyeditor's Handbook, 3rd edition, by Amy Einsohn.
The professor, who is also a professional copyeditor, also recommend but did not require that students get a copy of a good book of grammar. She recommended The Complete Idiot's Guide to Grammar by Laurie E. Rozakis.
Additionally, all editors should have access to two other resources in as complete a version as possible: a dictionary for your country (note that Canadian & Australian English are different from both British & American) and The Chicago Manual of Style. Students have access to complete versions of these through their libraries, but freelance editors need to make arrangements.
If buying physical dictionaries and style guides, note that we're talking the more complete editions that cost $100 or more.
Additionally, all editors should have access to two other resources
And a third, which is online and free — Grammar Girl.
I would very much disagree. Grammar Girl is a great resource for authors with quick questions, such as whether you should say enquiry or inquiry or the difference between affect and effect. Grammar Girl is not a primary source for information, however.
It's like using wikipedia for research. If you want to look up a general overview of a subject quickly, wikipedia is great. If you're doing research for an article or major setting or plot point for a novel, you need to go to a primary source. Wikipedia is a summary at best.
Authors can get by with a general understanding of grammar as long as they use a good editor, but editors have to know the actual grammar rules inside and out. That's their job. CMOS and a dictionary are primary sources; the handbook and a grammar book are texts for learning the trade. Grammar Girl is a collection of quick and dirty tips for people who don't actually know the full rules.
Grammar Girl is not a primary source
I remember meeting the people at my wife's former company who were responsible for all their publications, everything from newsletters to annual reports. When my wife told them I was an author and I told them Grammar Girl was my grammar resource, they said Grammar Girl was theirs too. Now these people were professionals so they new grammar inside and out. But if they were uncertain about something, they went to Grammar Girl.
I like her because she explains it in easy to understand English. And she's not biased to one style guide. She often says that Chicago says this while AP says that.
My eyes catch some punctuation error, misspelled or miss-used words, misding words, and such, which causes me to pause reading until I figure out what should be there. Another is if quoted conversation bounces back and forth without character ID, to point that I have stop and figure out who is "speaking".
I've learned a few things in business/job communication. Had a job in facility maintenance. The company had a dozen locations around the world. Each day, I had to write an essay on what I did, what problems found, and what I planned to do about the problem, and defending any conflicts with operations.. Copy thrice, one for me to keep, one sent up the maintenance chain of command, third up the operations chain of command, anyone at any level would write critiques of my report, passing it all around. I quickly learned how to write and proofread.
Then got a job as a traveling repair of restaurants. Had to write repairs clearly so that corporate chains could read and agree that the repair is justified to be paid.
Long way of saying, I'm not an editor. But I might be useful to an author. I have seen the editor forum, but not seen the editor list referenced above.
Thanks for "listening".
I have recently switched from OO to LO and the changes are dramatic to say the least. there are many more options in the menus of LO than OO. if I understand OO is almost dead in the water as far as feature updates are concerned.
it doesn't work with the modern formats or support the modern 'tools' like sticky notes comments, a number of text modifier buttons and is easier to move between window orientation (landscape to portrait and back).
as they're both free I would strongly suggest moving to LO and putting OO to bed. not much of a learning curve between the two that I noticed but the expanded feature set of LO makes the swap a no-brainer.
I swapped only a few weeks ago and can now easily do many of the functions I was used to in M$ Word but were not available in OO or were hidden from casual use.
I do use Word on a different computer but find that separating machines for purpose works for my use case. that is separation for privacy and security.
I have found an interesting issue where I sent a file to an editor and it was 'locked' or 'protected' where I could not find out how I had made that change to the document at any time. there may of been an issue rolling over from OO to LO but other than that I could not see any way of accidentally enabling that setting.
the file was only 5 pages but it was still a major inconvenience for the editor to read and comment on. If anyone else has seen similar behavior could you explain how it may of happened and how to avoid it in the future.
I'll definitely look into grammar girl. English is not my first language but it is the one I am most comfortable having worked with it since kindergarten, but I spent most of my energy learning the language rather than learning the lessons of how to use it properly.
as such my spelling and grammar are abhorrent and my vocabulary far outstrips my skills in using said words 'properly'. I can sometimes spend half an hour fighting the spell checker to get to the word I want to paper from my head.
right now my editor(s) are going to be about textual errors in my story, but I'd love to have one or two who can get into the weeds and help with the craft of the story. no one has ruled out doing this but have indicated that that is not in their wheelhouse as an editor in the general process of writing drafts.
I'd love it if there was a category box where editors can indicate clearly what sort of editing they feel comfortable doing, with clear definitions of what each type of editor is / does.
I do not intend to write pump and dump short stories and would estimate my minimum story length would be in the vicinity of 80-100K words for an initial story arc. leaving room to add to a story down the track with a similar number of words for the substituent works.
This is well into the territory where I need someone to collaborate on my works, at least to a moderate degree. past picking up problems with or suggesting alternate words in sentences. I need someone who can poke at holes in the story and suggest content ideas of where to take either the primary arc or to add / remove sub-plots.
marking these skills / interests may make it much easier to find a match for an author to editor. I may also suggest some sort of reward system for prolific editors so as to attract more people to the pursuit. I can't suggest what these rewards would be as I'm not that familiar with how the Author/Editor relationship works past asking for general help and leaving it up to the pair to form a relationship on their own.
There's a difference between 'protected' and 'locked' files. Protected files are deliberately 'locked' to prevent editing.
See https://help.libreoffice.org/6.3/en-US/text/swriter/guide/protection.html on how to turn of the protection.
Locked is different. When you open a file in LibreOffice it creates a hidden file that prevents the file to be edited by another user while you have it open. In older versions sometimes that lock file was not removed when you closed the file resulting in a 'locked' file you can't edit anymore. The lock file is created in the same directory as the document, with the name ".~lock" or something like that in the file name. I'm on Linux and don't know if it's the same on Windows. Use Explorer to navigate to the directory where the file is. You should be able to switch the view so it also shows hidden files. If the lock file is there, delete it and you should be able to edit the file if you open it again.
What you probably did without knowing is that you send both the document and the lock file to your editor resulting in him not being able to edit the file. It's also possible he has a lock file from a previous file that causes it to lock the new file. He might have to search and delete the lock file.