What It Is (posts below left; rate sheet, client list, other stuff below right)

My name is Bob Land. I am a full-time freelance editor and proofreader, and occasional indexer. This blog is my website.

You'll find my rate sheet and client list here, as well as musings on the life of a freelancer; editing, proofreading, and indexing concerns and issues; my ongoing battles with books and production; and the occasional personal revelation.

Feel free to contact me directly with additional questions: landondemand@gmail.com.

Thanks for visiting. Leave me a comment. Come back often.

Sunday, February 28, 2016

Thanks for Nothing, Messrs. Merriam and Webster

Herculean

often not capitalized : of extraordinary power, extent, intensity, or difficulty

*Herculean tasks*  *Herculean proportions*

Friday, February 26, 2016

You Just Can't Leave a Comment Like This Hanging

Also, some continue to insist upon full adherence to all cultural mortuary customs that may involve sexual contact.

[QY: Please clarify the phrase, "mortuary customs that may involve sexual contact."] 

Thursday, February 25, 2016

How Obscure Are These Authors?

Google, which could probably find my keys, busted my chops for being one letter off in the spelling of a name -- and the name was about five syllables.

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Saying "Plate of Shrimp" Is So Much Easier

The lattice of coincidence. Who shows up again?

Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator

Saturday, February 20, 2016

Getting Some Things Off My Mind

Semicolons:

1. The length of the text near it has nothing to do with whether a semicolon should appear.
2. Unless it's a proper noun, the word following a semicolon should not be capitalized.

Corporate personhood: So, is this phrasing now correct? IBM, who began operations . . . 

Flat Earth society
: Please don't write, "across the globe."

Both: I once received a manuscript from a university press in which the managing editor had skillfully stripped every unnecessary instance of "both," which was most of them. I find that I can usually do the same.

Words that drive me crazy: bespoke, quotidian, salience.

Citations: You can't have Spring 2012 and n.d. in the same listing.

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

"Brown Shoes Don't Make It"

What doesn't make it in this case is citing a relative's unpublished manuscript.

Bonus points for readers who can identify the source of the title quote. Webz search verboten.

Leave me a comment with an answer, or an insult, or a special favorite you want to hear. Gets lonely occasionally here in blogland.

Monday, February 15, 2016

Today's Gripe

Although as an indexer, I'd be perfectly delighted, because I've never worked with a publisher that didn't include such pages in the billable page count.

But, why, o lord, is it necessary to have 11 pages of Works Cited for 24 pages of text? I wonder if some of these scholars aren't being paid by the citation. I also wonder where they are leaving room for original thought.


Wednesday, February 10, 2016

In School, We Just Called Him "Eye Chart"

Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator

+++

You know, I've probably made this same stupid joke before on this blog. Not only would I not be surprised, as I know I've come across this name before, but I'm too lazy to search for it. Some things bear repeating.

Monday, February 8, 2016

The Head Family

(l-r) Chuckle- (Zooey, the Rorschach dog) and Knuckle- (Franny, miniature Basset par excellence and Land on Demand mascot):


Wednesday, February 3, 2016

This Is More Like It

Two sports books delivered yesterday. For proofreading. One I've already copyedited. The other . . . uhhh . . . buddy, if you're going to bother putting together an incomplete style sheet, have the common courtesy to at least alphabetize it?