Tips for Attaining Editorial Consistency

Tips for Attaining Editorial Consistency Tips for Attaining Editorial Consistency Tips for Attaining Editorial Consistency By Mark Nichol How much time and effort should a writer put into consistency? And how much energy should an editor devote to it? The answer, as with many editorial issues, is not that simple, but it is easy to elucidate. A book or a book-length publication, such as an extensive report, must for the sake of a reader’s respect for the authority of the argument and/or the regard of the care taken by the writer, strive for flawless consistency in all regards. But note that â€Å"flawless consistency† does not necessary mean â€Å"precisely the same every time.† If not, what does it mean? When an entity, whether a person or a company or organization, is mentioned repeatedly in one document, of course the name should be spelled correctly each time. But there are acceptable variations to the treatment of the name. When a biography of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, for example, names him for the first time, the reader should see those four components of his name. But his last name alone is sufficient thereafter with exceptions. An emphatic reference to his strength of character may require a stylistic flourish: â€Å"But Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wasn’t about to let her get away with that.† A quotation in the book may refer to him before he was knighted, or the person quoted may simply have omitted the honorific. Complicating matters, it appears that later in life, the creator of Sherlock Holmes preferred to use â€Å"Conan Doyle,† though without a hyphen, as his surname, so the writer must decide whether to use the single surname or the double version and must do so consistently. By the same token, a company or organization name is often spelled out only the first time it is used, and is then referred to by a short form (for example, Dow, rather than Dow Chemical Company) or an acronym or initialism (NASA, rather than the National Aeronautic and Space Administration, for instance). As with a personal name, there’s no reason to revert to the full name outside a quotation or some other anomalous usage. And what if a book is a collection of essays by various writers? The editor of the anthology is responsible for establishing a style that remains consistent throughout unless, of course, one or more contributions are previously published in a differing form of the language, such as an essay by a British English writer among American English authors. The editor may edit the essay to conform to American English style, but it’s easier to leave it as is and acknowledge the discrepancy in the introduction or in a note. As for treatment of names, an anthology’s editor might choose to resume full forms at the beginning of each chapter to reacquaint the reader, then resort to short forms or abbreviations after each chapter’s first reference. In the case of words with more than one correct spelling, such as adviser/advisor, the copy editor simply notes the preferred spelling on a style sheet while working on a manuscript and performs a word search for any instances of the nonpreferred spelling and corrects them. Alternatively, the copy editor can simply note that the manuscript, as edited, conforms to the primary spelling in the dictionary. (Many publications use this policy as a simplifying default setting to prevent ambiguity about which spelling to employ.) Periodicals, as well as book publishers and many other companies and organizations that publish, generally have a style guide, which prescribes treatment of pertinent names and terminology; for example, an industry-focused magazine about architecture may routinely refer to the American Institute of Architects by its initials alone because the publication’s readers do not require a complete identification, and a journal about US history will dictate that all references to indigenous bovines specify bison, rather than the inaccurate popular variant buffalo. A carefully compiled style guide will document these policies, and a diligent copy editor will consistently honor them. (Writers are often unaware of the rules governing editorial inconsistency, or are not careful about applying them, and in the worst cases do not think doing so is their responsibility, or even necessary.) Web sites with user-generated content, as opposed to those that, like print publications, have an editorial staff, cannot expect all contributors to conform to style and will thus be flexible about consistency, though any text generated by the site staff should adhere to the prescribed style. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Writing Basics category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Yours faithfully or Yours sincerely?15 Types of Documents25 Idioms About Bread and Dessert

How To Get Approved for More Amazon Book Categories

How To Get Approved for More Amazon Book Categories How To Get Approved for More Amazon Book Categories When it comes to self-publishing your upcoming book, do not make light of selecting your book categories! Although it may appear to be a small detail, you must realize that your readers often resort to categories when looking for books on a specific topic. Therefore, selecting the best book categories for your upcoming bestseller is a critical decision as it will impact your book sales.Here are more notable reasons why your book should have best fitting categories:It can help you become a bestseller.Like the New York Times bestseller, Amazon can also tag your book with an orange badge that says â€Å"#1 Bestseller†. And with thousands of Amazon categories to compete and rank for, this means that there’s plenty of opportunity for you to become an Amazon bestseller!You can gain more exposure on Amazon. By appearing in different categories, your book can appeal to different audiences. Andif your book ranks in the top ten of any category listings, Amazon will include your b ook to its â€Å"Recommendations Engine† which will generate more publicity!But with plenty of book categories on Kindle Direct Publishing as well as the plethora of books competing for attention, how do you choose the right categories to make your book stand out to your reader?In this post, we will share our best strategies to help you pick the right categories for your book that will increase your sales rank and obtain maximum exposure through Amazon’s search engine.Hereare the three topics we will cover:How to Research Your CompetitionHow to Strategically Select Your CategoryHow to Acquire Additional CategoriesLet’s get started!1. How to Research Your CompetitionIf your goal is to appear on the first page of search results on Amazon, then you must take advantage of every window of opportunity to succeed. In order to do so, you first must research your competition.When you begin researching for book categories, you should start by scanning the bestselling book s on every first page results of your target category.The reason is simply due to the fact that the first page results are most likely what your readers are going to be looking for! Therefore, it’s important to identify the top selling books for each category you want to target.Next, go through each of the books on the first page results and study its category string links. For example, here are the category links for Taylor Pearson’sbook, The End of Jobs:Notice that for a book on Entrepreneurship, it’s ranked highest for â€Å"Labor Workforce† and â€Å"Economics†. This goes to show that by placing their book into such unique categories, the author completely understood their target audience which is why The End of Jobsappears on several first page results.So if you want to have a high ranking for your category, make it a priority to research your competitors’ categories and emulate their methods with your book.Action Plan: Research the fi rst page competitors in five categories of your choosing. Take note to any unique categories your competitors rank in, and apply them to your upcoming book.2. How to Strategically Select Your CategoryBecause the Amazon’s Kindle Store has thousands of categories to choose from as well as an overwhelming amount of books fighting for attention, the competition can be relentless and unfair to new writers. But there is one approach that will have you stand out: Select trending categories with little competition.What is considered a competitive rank?We find that any categories with books ranking higher than #2000 is considered very competitive and not a recommended category for new writers. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you shouldn’t place your book in a competitive ranking, but if you do, be sure to have a well planned book launchwith a sizable audience that can provide a lot of verified reviews. For new authors with a smaller following, we recommend aiming for certain categories with books that rank between #10,000-30,000.Once you’ve completed this research, you should have a list of thriving categories to place your book in that will outrank your competitors.Action Plan:With the five categories you’ve researched, take the time to review your competitors’ ranking that fall between #10,000-30,000. For even better results, we also recommend using the KDP Calculatorto calculate how many books you would need to sell in order increase your ranking.3. How to Acquire Additional CategoriesWhen you upload your book for the first time, Amazon will offer you a select list of categories to choose from. At a first glance, you will notice that the selection seems rather limited and is missing plenty of categories that you’ve seen other books rank for. Unfortunately, Amazon has done this intentionally so that they can place new books into their own kindle categories.Don’t let Amazon determine your categories! Theres th ousands of sub-categories you can rank for, and you can even include an additional eight sub-categoriesnot found in the usual channels.Here how you can acquire these categories:Use Amazon Keyword Selection. Include the name of your category as one of your â€Å"Amazon Keywords†. In order to obtain a particular category, you must include specific keywordsin the Kindle submission form. For more information on Keyword requirements, visit Amazons browse categorypage to learn more.Place your categories in strategic places.To convince Amazon that your book should be placed in specific category, strategically work the words of the categoryonto the title, subtitle or even the summary of your book page.Contact Amazon. You can contact Amazonand request your book to be placed in a particular category. Amazon will then assess your entire book and determine if it’s an appropriate fit for the specific browse category. If approved, These categories will appear in the â€Å"Look for similar items by category† at the bottom of the book page.Action Plan: Experiment with these strategies to acquire additional sub-categories for your book. Remember you can include eight additional keywords that can convince Amazon to place your book in the categories of your choosing.If you want a successful book launch, you must not overlook even the tiniest of details. By following these guidelines on how to select your book category, your first book will have maximum exposure and the best chance to appear in the Amazon bestseller list.Like what you read and want to learn more? We’re holding a FREE online workshop where Chandler is revealing the exact tactics and strategies he used to write and publish 6 bestselling books in a row†¦ and use them to build a 7-figure business in less than 2 years.Click here to save your spot now!