If you’re a writer or an English major who aced every spelling and grammar quiz in school, you might think to yourself, “Hey, I’m pretty good with words. I understand punctuation, possessives, and present participles. I would make a fantastic copyeditor!” And you could very well be right. But before you dive headfirst into this profession, it’s important to know that for a good copyeditor, grammatical know-how is just the tip of the iceberg; successful copyediting requires a number of additional skills that have nothing to do with whipping out that red pen to correct a dangling modifier. This post outlines some essential copyediting skills that are completely unrelated to grammar and spelling.
Email Like a Professional
By Jordana Beh
Over the course of the year, along with learning how to market books, I’ve picked up a few tips about how to market yourself. After all, the hiring process (which we are all heading toward!) is usually just marketing your skill set to an employer’s needs. One of the keys to success in the quest for employment—whether finding a new job or retaining your current one—is undoubtedly professionalism. It’s almost like good design; it’s recognized by a few when it’s good and noticed by all when it’s not. So, I think it’s time to get down to brass tacks and talk about professionalism and email.
Emails are the bacon fat clogging my productivity levels, and I bet they are clogging yours too. Sticking to the successful formula of the Four Cs of Copyediting, I’ve come up with my own Four Cs of Emailing.
The Top Five Emails NOT to Send To Ooligan
By Frances Kane and Melina Hughes melinareads
As the publisher’s assistants at Ooligan Press, we serve as the first point of contact between the public and the press. In this role, we manage the Ooligan email accounts, and so we answer a number of questions—some of which we wish we didn’t have to. So here are our top five emails NOT to […]