looks ok, but not terribly helpful for me, It is probably excellent for someone employed by a publisher and dealing with authors and the nitty gritty of type of font, letters on a page, etc.
As a freelance copy editor, I think there are more helpful books out there for mehopefully, As a novel writer I found a few of the chapters really useful, some interesting, and about a third of it was either for newspaper editors or is outdated by technology.
The last book I read was The Elements Of Style, and while I would call that a book for writers, The Elements Of Editing is for editors.
It's been useful to get into the mind of an editor for my own selfediting and also for working out how I want to proceed with the editing process.
It's also great to get another opinion on writing and I especially enjoyed reading Plotnick's defense of the passive sentence, I skipped over the parts that are outdated, But those parts that are about editing are still relevant and informative, The information is concise and wellexplained, The criteria for editing manuscripts, in particular, is definitely going on a postit note that will have a permanent place beside my computer monitor as I edit.
It was also a fun read and gave me quite a few laughoutloud moments,
The author and publisher should consider revising the contents for modern desktop publishing, Everything else is gold. Good primer on editing skills, First half of the book is full with general tips that hold to this day, Last few chapters are outdated, Four to five for the first half of the book, but the second half on design, photography, and electronics is outdated, I wish there was a newer edition, Plotnik is a delightful guide to the issues of editing, Would love an updated version of this This is a great text when it comes to understanding the basic structure of editing, If you are looking for something that talks about grammar mechanics, this might not be the right book, Very little time is spent on actual grammar, Rather, the book breaks down some key journalism terms while presenting a few cautionary tales,
Notes:
A discussion on the various forms of defamation and libel, This book discusses who is unable to seek damages against a media outlet based on their occupation, Though presidents, judges, or servers of the public congress, etc, . . may enjoy absolute privilege from defamation, the press only has qualified privilege when reporting quotes from such figures,
No damages can be awarded if defamatory material can be proved in front of a jury
Arthur Plotnik is an arch stylist, which made this book at least partly worth reading.
Originally published inand apparently never revised in subsequent editions like its namesake, The Elements of Style, which is now in its fourth edition, this book, needless to say, has become quite dated.
It's hard to imagine, for example, in the era of digital cameras and laser printers, that an excursus on halftones remains necessary for editors.
Likewise the relatively lengthy exposition onmm cameras, I'd hoped for something different,
Still, I enjoyed the use of some forgotten editorial terms from my high school years does anyone ever need or use a nonreproducing blue pencil these days.
And, as I said, Mr, Plotnik's style is a pleasure to read, In the final analysis, I suppose, the most succinct thing I can think of to say about The Elements of Editing is that it is of historical interest.
The bones are still good, but much is adorably antiquated, A great introduction for new editors, Although this book included brief, good advice about sensitivity to audiences and authors and the importance of nearcompulsive attention to everything from the first invitation to an author to write an article for a magazine, for example to the last potentially defamatory statement, heading, and semicolon, the book is outdated and I decided to recycle it.
It is outdated in terms of copyright and defamation law to some extent, But it is distractingly outdated in terms of the editing processes used today, which are almost totally online in wordprocessing programs, The author discusses the pitfalls of typesetting and the use of Video Display Terminals, which are no longer with us, at least not in their former incarnations.
It would be lovely if an experienced editor would update this book for the twentyfirst century as a companion to the stillrelevant Strunk amp White's The Elements of Style.
Plotnick does explain well the need to be flexible in respecting the author's voice and avoiding "Miss Thistlebottom's hobgoblins" of usagealways good to be reminded of those things.
While I'm not particularly interested in ever becoming an editor, I have done some work lineediting, and with the amount of writing I've been doing, I soon hope to have dealings with someone bearing the earned title of 'Editor'.
Though a few sections of this book were hopelessly outdated The chapter on Information Retrieval, in particular there was still a good bit of information to be gleaned in helping someone like me understand the process and motivations of my future editor.
As some authors and editors seem to have a tenuous relationship, I'd prefer to go into the industry with empathy toward someone who is employed to improve the quality of my work.
I enjoyed the wit and general skill of the author in conveying a range of applicable information and scenarios, as it kept the book from being as dry as I'd expected.
The chapter on troubleshooting was enlightening, though I'm not sure that the laws mentioned are up to date, The twopage exhaustive definition of a book editor at the beginning of chapterwas an amusing bit I think anyone could appreciate, And I was particularly grateful for the emphasis in understanding that an editor ultimately is an advocate for the readers, not for the author.
What kind of person makes a good editor:
“When hiring new staff, I look for such useful attributes as genius, charisma, adaptability, and disdain for high wages.
”
What does an editor do:
“An editor's job is to shape the expression of an author's thoughts, not the thoughts themselves.
”
All told, I wish they would release an updated edition! This could continue to be a valuable tool among those dealing with the literary industry.
Despite being published in, much of thispage book remains relevant today, Arthur Plotnik is an outstanding writer with a skill at using words in unexpected ways that get his meaning across while delighting and surprising the reader.
Some of the chapters are out of date, but others are indispensable and filled with advice unseen anywhere else, Serious writers and all the authors I know know StrunkampWhite's "sitelinkThe Elements of Style," aka The Little Book,
Few authors and no writers I know have heard of sitelinkArthur Plotnik's The Elements of Editing and, while not what I'd call required reading, it is definitely useful reading.
Plotnik's The Elements of Editing is about the jobs of editors on the publishing end, This book will not help you edit your own work at least not much, I did find some useful information in it, but I'm just that way, I'll find useful things everywhere, It's a developed trait and strongly recommended,
It will help writers and authors better understand what editors do and why some editors reject your work with a form letter and others write a glowing acceptance and ask for more.
It will help writers and authors get a feel for an editor's day and what's required to put out a regular magazine, journal, anthology, newspaper, book, and basically any form of regular media.
Most importantly, it'll help authors and writers recognize
a good editor from a bad editor not to mention recognizing the unhandiwork of a machine editor.
Avoid them in publishing.
You can find more on my sitelinkblog,
This was published inso many of the chapters are dated, but overall, the book is still full of relevant advice, The editorial process hasn't changed much, A pleasure to read Plotnik is pretty funny, This one's a keeper. .