By Susan Kendrick

Whether you are writing a brilliant message inside your book, or packaging your book to sell on the cover, the same basic writing principles apply. Be clear and vivid. Talk to your readers, not at them. Be conversational yet concise. And, above all–use good grammar to make it all work.

In my last post I showed how a recent client of ours worked with us and the rest of his team to create his book cover. Now meet another member of your book-publishing team, your book editor.

Editing is a critical step because professional feedback is crucial. For both long and short copy–inside your book and out—flow, organization, and grammar combine to make your message shine and give you maximum credibility as an expert in your field.

Check out Barbara McNichol’s five tips to instantly improve the way you write by thinking like an editor.

Please click here and digest these five tips, featured in this blog that explains how book covers can grow your business.

Reprinted from www.onlineuniversities.com/blog

Behind most great works of literature, classic and contemporary, is a hardworking editor. Not only did he or she have to approve the manuscript for publication, it also required revisions and grammar and spelling check to make the final product as readable as possible.

Not every book on the shelves is a winner by any stretch of the imagination, of course, but editors are just as responsible for printing absolute treasures as they are eye-gougingly egregious offenses against all things bright and beautiful in this world. Students hoping to pursue a career in the literary arts should do their best to connect with the bountiful resources available online. Professionals from across the industry frequently take to the internet in order to educate the world on how literary works come together.

Rather than anything comprehensive, the following list seeks out an eclectic selection of blogs pertaining to multiple aspects of the literary industry, including nonfiction.

Editors and Editing

1. How Not to Write a Novel: Howard Mittelmark and Sandra Newman wrote an amazing instruction guide for aspiring novelists, and carried on the greatness to their supplementary blog.
2. Evil Editor: Humorous and enlightening, the Evil Editor shares some of the more egregious literary offenses preventing publication.
3. Editor’s Blog at Writer’s Helper: Future editors of the world would do well to see how one professional goes about dishing out advice to writers and would-be writers.
4. W Editor’s Blog: Perfect for those wanting to edit both physical and online magazines alike, this behind-the-scenes look at fashion reporting offers up one (albeit fluffy) conduit for research.
5. Editor’s Blog at the Bradenton Herald: Journalism students eager to learn about what goes into editing and managing a local paper and website will probably appreciate Joan Krauter’s detailed insights.
6. Editors Weblog: Presented by the World Editors Forum and the World Association of Newspaper News, this resource plunges into everything journalists need to know about keeping a daily periodical running as smoothly as possible.
7. Editorial Anonymous: This children’s book editor shares triumphs and tragedies inherent to life in the publishing industry while simultaneously dishing out fabulous advice.
8. Read Roger: Horn Book editor Roger Sutton blogs about the daily minutiae of this career path as well as his opinions regarding the latest literature news and development.
9. Nonfiction Book Editor: Editors and aspirant editors with a preference for working on nonfiction literature might find Barbara McNichol’s blog a nicely educational read.
10. Query Shark: The query letter is one of the most essential components of a manuscript submission, and fledgling editors should know what a competent one entails.

By Barbara McNichol

You never know when someone may contact people on your testimonial page. What are they saying about you?

I eagerly detoured from my planned projects last week after receiving a “Barbara McNichol” Google Alert that commanded my attention. Lo and behold, I learned that my website made an elite list of 26 Small Business Websites You Can Trust—the only Editing site on the list. It included categories from Article Distribution Service to Domain Registration Service and Publicity/PR Expert to Website Analytics.

On April 27, SiteProNews.com ran a post originally written by David Jackson, a marketing consultant who did the research to come up with the 26 Websites. (Here’s David’s complete article.)

David explained his motivation and process of investigation this way: “With so many scams and rip-offs prevalent on the Internet, I decided to compile a list of small business websites you could actually trust and rely on.

“In order to compile my list, I surveyed hundreds of small business owners and asked them which small business services they used, trusted, and would recommend.”

The websites that received the most votes in each category made the grade. His two main criteria were:

• Proof of Customer Satisfaction. The service had to have legitimate, verifiable customer testimonials.
• Stability. The website had to have a verifiable online track record of at least three years.

How did he prove the Customer Satisfaction claim?

David explained in an email to me, “I randomly verified the testimonials of the selected sites to make sure they were indeed legitimate. That’s right. I actually contacted at random people who provided testimonials via email.

“I asked them what they liked and didn’t like about a particular company. I only contacted those companies that provided a website address. It’s been my experience that any testimonial signed Sara J., Anytown USA is usually bogus. That’s why verifiable contact information on a website is so important.”

As David emphasized, “If a company is asking you for your business and you can’t find any contact information, that should be a huge red flag.”

 The lesson for me—and every business owner with a website—is this: What I write on my site gets noticed—and so does everything I do to satisfy my clients.