Gecko Edit

Today I found the four-leafed clover of punctuation, in the wild... Lucky if, as this one is, it's used correctly.

When I'm editing, I often come across the mistaken belief that you can use single quotes for air quotes, or other reasons, while using doubles for dialogue. The only time you should ever mix and match single and and double quotes is in times like this, when you have nested quotes happening.

If it's US English, or some UK books, the outermost layer should be double quotes. In standard UK style, singles are preferred. This book is the UK edition of Tahir Shah's In Arabian Nights. If it was the US edition, it would be ” ' ”! It's common to add a thin space between them to keep it easy to read.

I've been a bookworm since I picked up my first book. I've always wanted to work in publishing but for some reason I thought the only way to do it was through an internship with a big publishing house, and that seemed wildly unattainable. Instead, I took every course I could get my hands on (BA Lit, CIEP, EFA, PEN, ACES, and more). Five years later, I'm doing exactly what I wanted to be doing: working with brilliant authors on fantastic books. Lifelong dream come true. ❤️

PS - yes that's me, very young to be reading Adrian Mole, and yes I did ask loud, awkward questions about it in public.

Happy new year, from the Gecko Edit department of morale.

A fiction editor's brain is an amazing thing. It's like a giant machine with a switch for every variation in a language that is constantly changing and innovating.

First we set the switches for standard grammar and punctuation.
We consult the style manual that the client has chosen and adjust the switches.
The publisher has some preferences. We flick those switches.
There's a previous book in the series where some decisions were different. We flick those switches for consistency.
Author has expressed several preferences and the publisher is happy with those. We flick some switches.

We hold most of this information in our minds: the common variants and the common preferences, but we also note them down on a style sheet so we can have a clear picture of all the settings for the next book by this author. We pass this style sheet on to the next person so they can set their own machine.

This editor brain is connected to a lifetime of experience communicating with humans and consuming human communication through all kinds of media. It is finely tuned to the way people actually speak. It also has that sensitive "this doesn't feel right" detector, and "I've seen that before" alert. It also has common sense and general knowledge based on fact, and when it doesn't know the facts, it has a repository of trustworthy resources to consult that do.

Having configured our editor brain for the job, we go through the manuscript, comparing what we see to the whole corpus of knowledge and preferences in our minds, considering tone and nuance and the flexibility of fiction, and do people speak that way in this world? Invariably we find something new, some innovation of language or the bendy rules of fiction, and we ask the author "was this deliberate or do I need to adjust my settings?" and then that answer is added to the style sheet. And more switches are flicked.

So of course they think a machine can do this. But the machines they have made have about ten switches to our infinity, and some are a bit wobbly.

They don't even come close to the one in the editor brain.

PS - This editor brain requires a lot of energy and is coin-operated, so we recommend switching it to enjoyment mode while using social media or in casual communication, or while reading for fun.

It's been a hell of a month. But we've survived it.

In November I provided services to twenty different authors. No wonder I'm tired!

This included copyediting a romance novel, copyediting a science fiction novella, copyediting another science fiction short story, and creating alt text for a bunch of books to improve accessibility for readers who would like to enjoy the covers of books too. I also copyedited a medieval fantasy game.

But I also had covid, again, which I'm finally recovering from. Ugh, it sucks. And so today my husband and I are going to take a train and hop a ferry to Spain for a well deserved night away from real life. See you in December!

Working with Erin Brenner has been such a great experience, as I've gotten to see first-hand how top-notch editing is done. Her workflows are smooth, her rates are fair, the team is stellar, and the work is always interesting. Thanks, Erin!

If you're interested in becoming a freelance editor, you absolutely must read the Chicago Guide for Freelance Editors.

Have you been as gripped by the America's Cup as I have been? Well, here's how thinking like an elite sailor can help you get your book published.

https://geckoedit.com/what-the-americas-cup-taught-me-about-publishing

Today I sucked up the nerve (and embraced Malini Devadas's voice, which lives rent-free in my head) to post my rates on my website with a snazzy instant pricing calculator.

You can play with it here: https://www.geckoedit.com/pricing

I really enjoyed figuring out how to make it, from a nerdy coding perspective. Hopefully it will help future visitors to my website to make informed choices, and to get a clear picture of how booking one of my packages can save them some money.

The pricing calculator also includes two new add-ons:
1. Proof correction
If you've already got a designer, or you're using a premade Vellum template, I can apply the proofreading corrections directly to the .vellum file for a $100 flat fee.

2. Bespoke layouts
If you haven't got a designer yet, I'll save you the trouble and the time it takes to send things back and forth by adding a custom Vellum layout into your publishing workflow with me, so at the end of all our work together, you have the final ebook and print files, ready to upload and print. This includes proof correction. And it's only $250.

Get in touch now! I'm currently booking projects for 2025.

My rates are calculated with the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading - CIEP's suggested minimum rates and the EFA's 2023 rates survey data in mind.

I am so looking forward to this presentation, and the workshop at the end. Kate and I have a special surprise in store for participants...

🔹Meet the speakers! – Embracing change.

🔹'What you need to know to start editing games' is presented by Kate Nascimento & Katherine Kirk.

🔹Booking is open until 30 August 2024 for online places at the CIEP Hybrid Conference 2024. Book today! https://www.ciep.uk/events/ciep-conference-2024.html

🔹Tabletop role-playing games have never been more popular. Games like Dungeons & Dragons have hit the mainstream in a big way over the past few years, which is great news for editors as well as players. Editing games is a fantastic way to hone your skills, whatever your level of experience or background. There’s story text, dialogue, tables, maps, illustrations, references, lists, and a whole heap of fun!

In this session you’ll learn more about what’s involved in editing and proofreading games, you’ll meet the types of clients you might find in the world of TTRPGs, and you’ll even be able to put your skills to the test on a game that you can take away and play afterwards.

🔹Kate Nascimento is an Advanced Professional Member of the CIEP who edits fantasy and horror fiction for both traditional publishers and indie clients, as well as comics, graphic novels and all kinds of games. Recent projects include editing a huge Dungeons & Dragons expansion steeped in Celtic mythology, and proofreading the English translation of a Japanese horror game for iOS and Android. When she’s not editing, you can find her reading, writing, starting her hundredth playthrough of Skyrim on her PS5, or scheming on behalf of her D&D characters.

🔹Katherine Kirk is a fiction editor who works with authors and publishers all over the world, primarily on science fiction and fantasy. She is an Advanced Professional Member of the CIEP and was also a panelist at the 2023 CIEP conference in Glasgow. Katherine enjoys working with game developers and fanzine publishers, especially on content for the Mutant Crawl Classics system. The biggest game she’s ever proofread had over 1,500 cards … in each of its five expansions. When she’s not editing, she enjoys planning make-believe heists, roaming the post-apocalyptic wasteland with a sentient plant and a morally fuzzy wizard, and dipping her toes in dragon diplomacy. Don’t ask how many dice she owns.

Exciting news, everyone! I'm launching a new service. I'll turn your Word document into a ready-to-publish book file, customized to suit the story and your taste, and optimized to work on whichever platforms you sell on.

It'll also be an optional extra on all my editing packages.

Stay tuned!