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Posts Tagged ‘proofread’
I rejoiced the day Write Like You Talk Only Better came out in print. Sure, I still had to convert for Kindle and other e-readers. But how hard could that be, especially after I had carefully combed through the text to prepare for print? Plenty hard. Harder than it should have been. Harder than it will be for you if you apply my three tips.
But first, let’s return to the story. I started with Kindle because the print version was already at parent company Amazon.com. I hoped there would be more coordination in blurbs, reviews and such. No way.
Dysfunctional Amazon family
In fact, the customer reviews I had been so thrilled to see on Amazon.com did not travel across to Amazon.ca, where the paperback magically appeared a few weeks later, along with an advisory that it could take a couple months for delivery. Clearly, Amazon is not thriving because of its smooth extended marketing family. Never mind. To purchase, go to Amazon.com, not.ca, even if you’re a Canadian like me.
Most of the instructions from Kindle Direct Publishing for formatting the text were pretty clear. The devil was in what they left out.
Corrupt style
My problems began because I was working from the text for the print edition. When the first print proof came back with smooshed titles and heads, I had made them look nicer. Thank goodness for that earlier print training about kerning, orphans and all that stuff many people who work mostly online never learn.
But my fiddling left me with wrecked styles, so I had to go back and redo all the titles I wanted to include in the automatically linking Table of Contents. Tedious and time-consuming but tolerable. Then things got wild.
When I was happy with the text in Word, I had to convert it to a filtered web file, then a mobi file, then check it in the Kindle previewer. Of course, I found big problems, such as margins that leaped out of position for a few paragaphs and the need to shorten heads to fit a single line on a narrower page. Plus the inevitable million small details.
I resisted the urge to polish my copy, though I am keeping track for the next edition of this living book.
Back to basics
I could fix the wee bugs on the web page, but not the big creepy crawlies. Unfortunately, I started out making the small changes on the web version, only to have to return to Word. Then I had to re-do the small stuff in Word all over again. Sometimes I forgot or could not read my hand-written notes. The result was countless drafts in both formats. And a few tears. I’ll know better next time.
Then there was the issue of heads at the bottom of pages, something you would never see in rigid print or endless web pages. But because readers can adjust the font size on e-books, and therefore the page endings, you can insert breaks only at the end of chapters.
I could have reduced the problem by deleting some heads, but chunking how-to copy this way makes it easier for readers to digest. Readers must continue to rule.
Still, the dragging subheads looked uncomfortable. I could hear my designer gagging across the phone lines every time she spotted one. Because I have a Kobo, which I purchased way back when Amazon was too backlogged to ship Kindles to Canada, I had seen this many times on professionally edited and formatted e-text.. As the medium evolves, I hope they figure it out.
Elves and experts
Some people asked me why I was doing this myself when I could hire Amazon elves to perform these services for a very reasonable price. First reason: because the book is self-published, it has to look flawless and professional. I’ve seen too many that looked like they were produced by amateurs. Second reason: I wanted to understand what is involved so I can advise others.
Before I can consider myself more expert than elf in this publishing revolution, I have so much to learn and do. Now that the Kindle version is up, I’m going to work on the formats for Kobo, iPad and other e-readers. I’m still fine tuning my multimedia promotional extravaganza, Learn to Write Like You Talk Only Better in Two Minutes. Then there’s all the guest posting, traditional media outreach and other marketing plans.
Three tips
Before my head explodes from thinking ahead, let me pass along the three formatting tips for people who are self-publishing books for e-readers:
- Stay organized; stay sane.. You will keep finding problems and many can’t be fixed in the web filtered version. Go back and revise everything in Word or the equivalent you’re using . Revise each carefully catalogued draft that way, then convert the web and mobi formats, then preview. Fortunately, the converting process is very quick and easy. Keeping rinsing and repeating until you hear the angels sing. I had seven drafts optimistically labelled as final, with numberals to keep me on track.
- Get comfortable with your e-reader and think about how you read with this unique medium. Some conventions, such as justified right margins, can be ignored. Many can’t.
- Remember that all your pages will be much narrower than the printed ones. So keep your heads short. And be on the lookout for leaping margins and other madness.
I expect that other people will have different issues. Maybe you’re better organized than me; perhaps you have not been schooled in the ancient art of type. So please share your issues and solutions here. We all have a lot to learn from each other.
Forget all those rules you learned at school. Take aim at the big ones that still matter.
People who rely on spell check too much often mix up words that sound the same but are spelled differently. If you want your readers to understand you and think you’re smart, you must avoid sound-alike traps.
Although there are way too many to list here, here are some of the common ones:
accept except
affect effect
alternate alternative
boarder border
cite site sight
complement compliment
chord cord cored
council counsel
coarse course
discreet discrete
elicit illicit
epic epoch
farther further
heard herd
insight incite
peak peek pique
pedal peddle
principal principle
storey story
than then
verses versus
If you want to stop embarrassing yourself and confusing your readers, write a list of words you have confused and tape it prominently in your work space. If you are the slightest bit confused about any of the words on this list, start with them.
When you have a smidgen of doubt, check that you’re using the correct word by highlighting it and clicking on spelling & grammar or research in Word or the equivalents on other word processing programs. It takes only a few seconds, much less time than we used to spend hauling the fat dictionary off the shelf and leafing through.
Once you’ve caught yourself a few times, using the correct one will become automatic. Then you can cross it off the list. As long as you haven’t had to add too many new ones, you will feel good.
Don’t get me started on sound-alike pronouns, as in its and it’s, which I dumped on here.
You may not be aware of these slip-ups. So when a sound-alike mix-up is pointed out to you, usually by a baby boomer and anal person, don’t be defensive. Thank them. Add the words to your list.
Do you have any to add to mine?
Thanks to Graham Ballantyne for the photo.
Business people often don’t scrutinize their writing, just as I don’t closely examine my wrinkles.
But if you want to look good, you have to face the mirror and figure out what to improve. Fortunately, it’s usually easier to minimize writing flaws than to erase the lines of time.
To help, I’m working on a writing self-assessment tool. Give it a try.
Copy the 10-question quiz that follows. Give yourself 10 points if you agree with the first statement, 1 if you agree with the second or pick a number to represent where you fall between the two.
For example,
1. I know the main point I want to convey. 10 points
I’m not sure about what I want to get across. 1 point
Hypothetical you: I have a few points in mind. 5points
Add up your answers for a score out of 100. If you need help figuring this out or have some suggestions to improve this quiz, please share your comments below.
10 quick questions
1. I know the main point I want to convey.
I’m not sure what I want to get across.
2. I know exactly who I want to connect with.
I’m writing for everyone.
3. I know how I’m going to make my point.
I will write until I feel like I’m done.
4. I know that most people read through what I’ve written.
People don’t seem to finish reading my stuff.
5. I know the difference between its, it’s and its’ (10 bonus points if you catch the trick).
I get confused about words that sound similar.
6. I know that people understand what I’ve written.
People don’t seem to get me.
7. I use terms understood by the people I’m writing for.
I expect people to look up the words they don’t understand.
8. I easily adjust to different readers and media.
I always write the same way.
9. I check carefully for typos, grammar errors or missing
words.
I count on spell check to find my mistakes.
10. People respond to what I’ve written.
I don’t know how people respond to what I’ve written.
Photo credit: Ananth
If you want to communicate clearly, you don’t need to remember all those boring grammar rules. In this tenth most popular post of 2010, I took aim at the most common and important ones you need to remember.
I’ve always known that clear writing was behind much of what’s good in this world. We need to understand each other. Often we do that through the written word.
An article earlier this week in the Globe and Mail quotes a report about a Windsor, Ontario hospital where two cancer-free women were given mastectomies because of inaccurate tests and other problems.
On top of concerns about medical and management issues, the authors insisted that “reports need to be complete and readable. Inconsistencies, ambiguities or significant typographical errors can lead to misinterpretation by clinicians, treatment errors and miscommunication to patients.”
The next time someone fails to grasp the importance of clear writing or thinks all I do is “add spin,” I’m sending this link.
I thought about it again, this morning when I was reading comments in the IABC (International Association of Business Communicators) Linked discussion about why business communication is so awful and how we can improve it.
Natalie pointed out that “there’s no obvious ROI because poor writing doesn’t generally sink ships. It just alienates customers and prospects…produces unsuccessful proposals and reports…and creates hugely inefficient organizations. Not to mention all those unknown missed opportunities.”
If unclear hospital reports can contribute to surgical mutilation, there’s every chance bad writing could lead to much worse, not just in hospitals.
I’d love to start collecting examples of when unclear writing sinks ships. Do you have any you’d like to share?
If the war on bad grammar were fought by the military, we’d start with the biggest, easiest targets.
Despite long lists and big books devoted to bad grammar, the enemies of clear communication remain at large, everywhere from executive memos to television news crawl to school report cards.
The good news is all you have to do is take aim at these two similar targets to look instantly smarter.
Neither of these targets can be hit by spell check. Both of them lure in the innocent by sounding just like something they’re not.
Confusing possessives with contractions
Its and it’s
Your and you’re
Their and they’re
If you are writing the possessive form of it, you and they, remember there are no apostrophes, a punctuation mark that should always be approached with extreme caution.
Or ask yourself if you could instead say it is, you are or they are. If you could, then add the apostrophe. If not, leave it out.
Homonyms
Many people mix up words like then (next) and than (compare) or were (past), wear (clothing) or where (adverb).
If you’re even slightly uncertain, check. Here’s a list.
Got that? Words that sound the same or similar are often punctuated or spelled differently, in order to make the distinctions that help us communicate.
Don’t fall for the oral disguise.
Come back tomorrow and we’ll aim for the next two juiciest targets: me, myself and I and that, which and who.
I spent much of my weekend glued to the television, watching the amazing coverage of the G20 summit protests in Toronto. With multiple cameras and reporters zipping between action sites, displayed on split screens, I felt as close to the action as I wanted to be.
City Pulse news (CP24), a feisty neighborhood channel, was backed by its relatively new owner CTV, a large Canadian network. The result was an in-your-face local perspective, partly directed and supported by citizen journalists, backed by big-time resources.
I switched to the competition a few times, but saw mostly CBC anchors safely ensconced in their studio or regular programming on Global. CP24 was the accident I did not want to keep watching, but couldn’t resist.
News as spectacle
Let me admit I’m one of those people who is mesmerized by TV news theater like CNN’s Shock and Awe light show. Thanks goodness, I’m not a soccer fan, or I would have had to toggle between protests and World Cup matches.
As soon as I saw the first scuffle of protesters and police on Friday evening, I was hooked. I worried about my twenty-something nieces, two of the thousands of people planning to peacefully march for worthwhile causes.
When all hell broke loose on Saturday, with those sinister, masked Black Bloc anarchists, I was bounced from Anne and Stephanie in the studio to Farrah, Omar, Craig, Naomi, Lisa, Austin and a huge cast of reporters on the scenes.
Strumming while Toronto burns
Probably the most dramatic was on Saturday evening when one live screen showed a police car blazing, with no cops in sight, while another displayed hundreds of armored police arresting protesters at Queen’s Park. As was suggested later, our provincial capital, the officially sanctioned site for the peaceful protests, had been infiltrated by the bad guys who were trying to deflect attention with their fiery antics.
On Sunday, one of the protests came to within a couple miles of my home. But seeing as they were directed at the temporary detention center, ironically the former filming site for a cop drama, I didn’t worry about the angry hordes coming closer.
The coverage became more about arrests than free speech zest. Commercials and replays replaced much of the live action. So I was relieved to pry myself away from the television, to prepare for my G20 barbecue summit (tag line: make food, not protest).
I don’t want to go into the big questions of good versus bad protesters, police, free speech, the role of the G20 or the ego and wisdom of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. If I started writing about these, I probably would not stop until the Korean summit, where I will not have a ring-side seat.
How social media played
But I would like to add my two cents about social media. No doubt this was the most photographed and videoed summit ever. I saw more cameras than banners raised. Many of the participants were not even protesting. They came to witness and record history. Had it not been for the rain, citizen journalists might have outnumbered police.
Flickr is bursting with amateur photo and video, many better quality than the professional shots.
If the police did, as some of the hundreds arrested insisted, use unnecessarily force, they will be held accountable. Think of how the world would have remembered Black Sunday or Kent State if citizen video-journalism had been alive. Think of the grilling World Cup officials will get with that bad ref call caught on countless cameras.
On the other hand, most of the Twitter coverage was banal. The Twitter feed displayed on CP24 was mostly solid citizens thanking the police for protecting our city. Not much more from the locals I follow on Twitter.
I’m sure many CP24 elves were busy behind the scenes, sifting through and verifying the social media tidal wave, which they selectively featured.
Herd protesters and media
Of course texting, Twitter, Facebook et al were critical means of herding protesters and media to the next action site. But beyond that, I couldn’t see a profound impact.
Then just before I sank into sleep Sunday night, I couldn’t resist one last look. A university student was talking via cell phone to CP24, while the screen displayed a Facebook photo of him shaking hands with the prime minister.
Sammy explained how he’d just come down to take photos, but ended up corralled into what he called “a human box” by police no doubt eager to end the weekend’s mayhem but unwilling or unable to cart more bystanders to the overflowing detention center. His camera and phone were damaged by the heavy rain. Wet, tired and cranky, he just wanted to go home.
Ah ha. The peaceful protesters and the violent anarchists were expected. Sammy and his friends were the new news story.
This morning I was glad to see no one was seriously injured and our city survived mostly intact.
And I’m glad that I got to watch, from the safety of my couch, such a spectacular, yet authentic unfolding of history. Our peaceful city will never see anything like this again. Neither will our media coverage.
It’s ironic that I’m even attempting to post about proofreading. I am bad. Make that proofreading-challenged.
My brain switch flips off when I’m supposed to be proofing my own writing. I gloss over those little mistakes that can make me look unprofessional.
I also have trouble proofing other people. I struggle to restrain myself from rewriting so I can focus on typos and technical mistakes. Or I simply get bored and skim, instead of paying the strict attention that proofing demands.
Contrary to what many people appear to assume, spell check does not eliminate the need to proofread. It sucks people into a false sentence (oops, I meant sense) of complacency. It lures them into the trap of confusing the word they intended with a similar-sounding, correctly spelled word.
However, I have come up with some strategies to compensate for my proofreading disability. I hope they help you too:
1. Have a picky person read your content. Picky cats don’t count.
2. Print out your copy.
3. Pay special attention to common confusions.
4. Be on the look-out for sound-alike words.
5. Check your links.
1. Have a picky person read your content.
It’s best not to rely solely on friends or blog buddies, especially if you’re working on a big important assignment. If you can afford it, hire a professional or find a picky person in your office.
If you’re more comfortable in the creative right side of your brain, you urgently need the balance of a logical, left-brained person. Ideally, you need someone who gets a kick out of finding your mistakes.
Let them know their corrections are welcomed. Do not be defensive. If it helps, let them feel superior. They are, when it comes to this valuable task.
If you’re detail oriented, your writing may contain fewer flaws. But you probably still gloss over minor glitches. Everyone needs to proofread. Most of us need an objective, picky proofreader.
Don’t assume you can’t afford a professional proofreader. Most are quite a bargain.
Tell your proofreader what your consistent style is. For example, be specific about when you use upper case in titles. Refer them to the style manual you use.
Review what your proofreader has caught. Even professionals overlook the small stuff sometimes. Don’t be too smug, as many of them can be sensitive about even the smallest miss.
Don’t use proofreaders who insist on using a different style guide from the one you have chosen or who want to edit, unless that’s what you want.
2. Print out your copy.
I will copy content from blog or other software that doesn’t let me print, find or replace and paste it into Word just so I can proof this way. Printing gives you a much-needed change in perspective from reading on the screen. Find and replace help prevent me from repeating mistakes.
Are you listening, WordPress developers?
Read your print copy to yourself, as slowly as you can. Then read it out loud.
This is especially important if you choose not to use a proofreader. It’s the best way to catch tiny preposition flubs such as a missing “of” or “on.”
For extreme proof reading, grab your buddy and read each word out loud, back and forth, from the end to the beginning. Yes, backward so your mind can’t automatically correct.
3. Pay special attention to common confusions.
The most common involve confusing “It’s” (contraction of it is) and “its” (possessive); “you’re” and “your” and “they’re” and “their.” Don’t forget to search and replace to avoid repeat errors.
4. Be on the look-out for other mixed-up sound-alike words.
People often misspell other words that sounds like each other. These include hear and here, then and than, affect and effect or loose and lose. Google homonyms if you want to look at some lists.
Note the sound-alikes you confuse. Print a list and stick it to your wall for future reference. With practice, the correct words will flow naturally.
Mistakes like these not only make you look stupid, but can also make your writing more difficult for readers to understand. So take them seriously.
5. Check your links.
I am amazed at how often people resend me group emails because the original link was incorrect. I’m starting to wonder if some marketing people do this on purpose so they can contact everyone again. Please stop. It just looks sloppy and wastes my time.
After the fact
One of the best things about writing for the web is the ability to fix mistakes. Some people enjoy alerting you to them. So thank them and get on it right away.
Don’t resend an email or print piece unless the mistake is toxic. You don’t want to draw attention to mistakes that most readers will miss anyways.
While our tolerance for typos and other mistakes has risen with the web, don’t forget that it’s a competitive world. If you want to stand out and look like a pro, make your writing as goof-free as you can.
P.S. Comments pointing out my typos and mistakes are always appreciated.