Synopses & Reviews
Each year writers and editors submit over three thousand grammar and style questions to the Q&A page at The Chicago Manual of Style Online. Some are arcane, some simply hilarious—and one editor, Carol Fisher Saller, reads every single one of them. All too often she notes a classic author-editor standoff, wherein both parties refuse to compromise on the "rights" and "wrongs" of prose styling: "This author is giving me a fit." "I wish that I could just DEMAND the use of the serial comma at all times." "My author wants his preface to come at the end of the book. This just seems ridiculous to me. I mean, its not a post-face."
In The Subversive Copy Editor, Saller casts aside this adversarial view and suggests new strategies for keeping the peace. Emphasizing habits of carefulness, transparency, and flexibility, she shows copy editors how to build an environment of trust and cooperation. One chapter takes on the difficult author; another speaks to writers themselves. Throughout, the focus is on serving the reader, even if it means breaking "rules" along the way. Sallers own foibles and misadventures provide ample material: "I mess up all the time," she confesses. "Its how I know things."
Writers, Saller acknowledges, are only half the challenge, as copy editors can also make trouble for themselves. (Does any other book have an index entry that says "terrorists. See copy editors"?) The book includes helpful sections on e-mail etiquette, work-flow management, prioritizing, and organizing computer files. One chapter even addresses the special concerns of freelance editors.
Sallers emphasis on negotiation and flexibility will surprise many copy editors who have absorbed, along with the dos and donts of their stylebooks, an attitude that their way is the right way. In encouraging copy editors to banish their ignorance and disorganization, insecurities and compulsions, the Chicago Q&A presents itself as a kind of alter ego to the comparatively staid Manual of Style. In The Subversive Copy Editor, Saller continues her mission with audacity and good humor.
Review
“The Subversive Copy Editorwhat a great title! That alone was enough to make me pick up a copy right away. . . .
The advice it contains is solid and pertinent, and I suspect it could be quite an eye-openerpossibly even life-changingfor some working editors. Sallers humor is infectious, and helps her to make points effectively, so that even experienced editors happy with their working relationships will enjoy the read, as well as possibly picking up some useful suggestions and tips and gaining some beneficial insights.”Society of Writers, Editors, & Translators
Review
"If you are considering the vocation of copyediting or are a writer trying to understand a copy editors job, you will find this book calming. Sallers understanding of the editing process from different perspectives is right on target."--Writers Journal
Review
“An insiders book to cure writers . . . while shoring up editors. . . . Good advice.”
Review
“One of the great virtues of this book (which has been very well copy-edited) is the many helpful examples of exchanges and situations Saller uses to illustrate her points. Many are real—and some, incidentally, very funny.”
Review
“Carol Fisher Saller . . . knows editing is as much about people as paragraphs, and that mastering diplomacy is as important as mastering stylebooks.”
Review
“A little insider baseball . . . What may be the best copy editors companion since the CMS, the AP Style Guide and that dog-eared xerox of copy editing marks you keep tacked up on the cubicle wall. . . . With entire chapters devoted to the freelancer and the writer, and an extensive guide for further reading, this is an ideal complement to any style guide: practical, relentlessly supportive and full of ed-head laughs”
Review
“In this slim volume, Saller not only presents the sometimes muddy art of copyediting in a clear, matter-of-fact way; she has a lot of fun doing it. . . .
The Subversive Copyeditor is a wonderful read for anyone involved in copyediting and an especially good ‘welcome gift for the many enthusiastic—and regrettably underpaid—interns now entering the publishing field.”
Review
“Carol Fisher Saller has hit this one out of the ballpark. Ms. Saller is knowledgeable and funny, her advice practical and relevant, and the book she has written is above all
readable. So readable, in fact, that when I received a set of uncorrected page proofs for review, I could not put them down. . . . It was exhilarating, as if Id been to a revival meeting where Ms. Saller was the preacher and I was the amen corner.”
Synopsis
For more than fifteen years, the manuscript editing department of the Press has overseen online publication of the monthly Chicago Manual of Style Q&A, choosing interesting questions from a steady stream of publishing-related queries from Manual users and providing thoughtful and/or humorous answers in a smart, direct, and occasionally cheeky voice. More than 28,000 followers have signed up to receive e-mail notification when new Q& A content is posted monthly, and the site receives well over half a million visitors annually. But Can I Start a Sentence with “But”? culls from the extensive Q&A archive a small collection of the most helpful and humorous of the postings and provides a brief foreword and chapter introductions. The material is organized into seven chapters that cover matters of editorial style, capitalization, punctuation, grammar and usage, citation and quotation, formatting and other non-language issues, and a final chapter of miscellaneous items. Together they offer an informative and amusing read for editors, other publishing professionals, and language lovers of all stripes.
About the Author
Carol Fisher Saller is a senior manuscript editor at the University of Chicago Press and the editor of TheChicago Manual of Style Onlines Q&A.
Table of Contents
Introduction: I Hear You
Part One: Working with the Writer, For the Reader
1 The Subversive Copy Editor
2 The Good Launch
3 Working for the Reader, through the Writer: Carefulness, Transparency, Flexibility
4 When Things Get Tough: The Difficult Author
5 Dear Writers: A Chapter of Your Own
Part Two: Working with Your Colleagues and Yourself
6 When Things Get Tough (the Sequel): The Dangerous Manuscript
7 Know Thy Word Processor
8 The Living Deadline
9 That Damned Village: Managing Work Relationships
10 The Freelancers Quandaries
11 The Zen of Copyediting
Appendix: You Still Want to Be a Copy Editor? Breaking In
Acknowledgments
Further Reading
Index