Editing / Usage

As an editor who works primarily for the Canadian market, I am amazed at all the subtle differences that separate Canadian and American English, and how difficult it can be to keep track of them. Even the work of seasoned Canadian authors often contains inconsistent spellings of certain words. In fact, some Canadian readers may be unaware of all the differences between American and Canadian English.   First off,...

Editing / Grammar

In last week’s blog, Camille mentioned her disdain for the use of the word “impact” as a verb. You’re definitely not in a one-person battle, Camille. I, and surely many others, wholeheartedly agree.   I had an experience with this word several years ago while I was watching the Academy Awards ceremony. A young starlet approached the microphone to present the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature. She...

Usage

I have a 2-year-old son, and every day I find joy in the way he makes meaning of his world through words. Often I am just so pleased that he’s managed to express himself with words, rather than tantrums, that I don’t bother to try to turn his heartfelt statements into “proper English. ”   I remember quite distinctly one of his first complete sentences. It was a dreary day...

Writing / Writers Support Group

When a writer shows her/his work to someone and asks them to read it, there is the inevitable dread that she/he might hear those infamous words, “This is your first draft, right?”   This phrase can be said in two distinct ways. If the person reading your work looks at you and grimaces as she says, “It’s your FIRST draft, RIGHT?” what she really saying is, “This is your first draft,...

Editing / Grammar

Crash blossoms: Headlines Gone Wrong Shealah Stratton   What’s a crash blossom, you ask? Ben Zimmer wrote an article about the phenomenon in the Language Section of the New York Times in early January 2010. He provided an insightful look into the construction of newspaper article titles and how the removal of “little words” can result in a headline that is often cryptic, confusing, or humorous when it’s not meant to be. ...

Editing / Usage

During my third year at university, the professor of one of my copy-editing courses began her first seminar by listing the names of several useful style guides. These were the books we were expected to get our hands on if we truly wanted to become well-read and informed editors. She, of course, mentioned every editor’s staples: The Chicago Manual of Style, the Canadian Press Stylebook, and the MLA...

Copyright And Permissions

September 2015 We are reposting this blog from 2010 because the issue of copyright is still relevant, and the research challenges we faced with our project that year is one that we have encountered several times since. At that time, we were clearing photo permissions for Blood, Sweat and Tears by David Cleighton-Thomas (Penguin 2011). Searching for the Photographers TEC permissions editors just spent several weeks trying to identify photographers of...

Editing

  I get excited about proofreading. I approach a project as I would a puzzle or a game. The challenge for me is to find as many errors as possible, much as one would find the words in a word-search puzzle. I get a kick out of finding typos and spelling that is applied inconsistently. Even though I’ve taken on a variety of different roles in my...

Editing

When people ask what I do, it’s not uncommon for my response "I'm a copy editor" to elicit a blank or confused expression. Outside of the publishing world, the various roles that editors play (acquiring, managing, producing, and copy editing the written word) are often regarded as a big, mysterious mass. Many think that one person is involved in all the processes listed above. For this reason,...

Event

  On Saturday June 19, TEC editors Shealah, Nadine, and Jennifer Day (our on-call fiction editor) attended Fiction in the Age of e-Books, a debate presented by Luminato at the Isabel Bader Theatre.                                                      The moderator was Scott Stossel, the deputy editor of The Atlantic. He also sat on the panel as a representative of “the editor. ” The remaining panellists represented three other groups involved in fiction:   ...

Event

On June 18, after eight months of development, countless meetings, writing and rewriting and writing some more, The Editing Company launched its new website.                                                                                                                                       Like so much else in the world of writing and publishing, this was a tremendous team effort.   Thank you to the team here at TEC – Shealah, Nadine, and Camille – for taking the time out of your busy schedules for meetings and discussions, for writing,...

Event

On Saturday June 5, TEC editors Beth McAuley, Jennifer Day, Nadine Bachan, and Shealah Stratton attended the Meet the Presses Indie Literary Market, a showcase of small publishing houses from across Canada. The market was held in Toronto at Clinton’s Tavern located at Bloor and Clinton, one block east of Christie Pits Park. Tables snaked through the back room (an established concert venue), lined with presses ranging from well-known...

Publishing

We like to keep up to date on all the innovations and debates constantly swirling around our community. E-Books and e-Book technologies have been at the forefront of literary news lately, and we have our own two cents to add. The bookless library: A great idea, or one big digital headache? Stanford University has announced a massive re-visioning of the school’s Physics and Engineering libraries — they are going paperless....

Writing

The Editing Company is introducing a new support package for writers. Currently in its trial run, The Editing Company’s Writers Support Package is a comprehensive approach to the writing process, offering feedback, community discussion, and inspiration to writers at all levels of experience producing works in all genres. TEC knows that a writer needs four key elements when she/he is working on a manuscript: structure, constructive feedback from a...

Event

On April 24, The Editing Company attended the National Ballet School’s book launch of The Ballet Class: A History of Canada’s National Ballet School 1959–2009 written by Norma Sue Fisher-Stitt. TEC editors Shealah Stratton and Beth McAuley worked with Professor Fisher-Stitt on this informative and engaging history. The NBS is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year and The Ballet Class was released to coincide with the alumni reunion weekend...

Editing

Welcome! This is the official blog of The Editing Company.   The Editing Company team delivers high-quality editorial services to publishers, businesses, associations, and authors. Our specialties include proofreading, copy editing, and structural editing. We also handle copyright permissions and photo research. We work on fiction and non-fiction books, academic books and journals, anthologies, festival guides, educational texts, and business materials.   Here’s who we are:   Beth McAuley, our Senior...