Today's pet peeve

 Which might also have been a pet peeve 10 years ago.

For Chrissakes, if you're on page 160 of a 165-page book, I don't want to be reading about things you're still going to be talking about.

Copyediting query boilerplate

For copyediting that type of volume, presuming no complicating factors, my rate is $4.75/page, with a page defined as 265 words. The project rate based on that word count, then, would be 128 pages (34000/265) @ $4.75/page = $608.

Complicating factors would be, for example, line editing to the point that many/most sentences need restructuring -- or extensive reworking of documentation such as notes or bibliography, which probably wouldn't apply here. But if I thought reassessing the rate was necessary for any reason, I'd let you know before I went too far down the road.

The process is pretty simple. I'd ask for one-month turnaround from date of receipt, and no payment is necessary until the job is complete. You send me a Word file, and I return to you three files:

1. The edited manuscript with all the changes indicated/tracked.

2. The same document with all the changes accepted. This would be the working document going forward.

3. A style sheet for the book, indicating editorial and spelling decisions, style and consistency notes, and so on. 

The manuscript will likely include some queries for you, and I prefer to handle those with Word's comments feature (the little balloons in the margins), if you'd be comfortable with that. If not, I can always present them as inline queries [QY: like this.]. Your call.

Occasionally I'll have need to contact an author at some point during the process with, for example, some repeating issue that I want to make sure I don't miscorrect. Doesn't happen that often -- and I know authors are always available for questions -- but typically it seems that once I receive a manuscript, unless I'm running late (ugh), the next time you should expect to hear from me is with the three files above, followed by an invoice. 

I think that's it. If you have any other questions, please let me know.

Thanks again.

Changing My Mind

I'd posted this back in spring 2020.

Newsroom quandary: Should ‘black’ be capitalized?
No.
You're welcome.

Am I allowed to change my mind? I have. Black, Brown, White, Blue, I presume (police).

Mid-manuscript revelation at some point.

And I'm coming back here. I think.

Google Docs: Damn

 Working in a Google Doc now for a national nonprofit.

1. Commenting in auto-notes allowed!

2. For the footnotes, when URL is present, a pop-up appears asking if Google Doc should replace it with the title of the site! Of course, the pop-up is a pain in the ass for my purposes, but damn.

Will AI replace copyeditors and proofreaders? Dunno. Will it replace cockroaches?