What are trade books? Trade books probably have the largest market in comparison to other types of book. That’s because they are intended for a general readership and cover a variety of genres: biographies,...
What is a developmental edit? During developmental editing, the editor focuses on the ‘big picture’ of the story and makes recommendations to ensure a winning structure that will keep readers absorbed to the end of the...
This is an extract taken from The PEG guide to grammar and punctuation (2018) by Myf Steynberg. Grammar is the greatest joy in life, don't you find? - Lemony Snicket 'Grammar' is the term used to cover the rules or...
This challenging and often prickly topic has elicited a great deal of controversy. There are many editorial purists who do not see editing as a process but who are prescriptive about what should and should not be done....
If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart. - Nelson Mandela Happy International Mother Language Day! We use language every day...
This article appeared under the heading To hyphenate or not to hyphenate: that is the (thorny) question in PEGboard July 2018. Judging by the queries raised on the PEG chat group, the humble hyphen seems to have a lot...
Part four of a four-part series on professionalism In the first post in this series, we defined professionalism and identified three criteria of being a professional editor. We discussed specific knowledge and skill in...
A good editor can add significant value to the quality of a thesis. In this edition of PEGblog, Jacqui Baumgardt tells us why and how. The worth of a thesis A thesis is the personal work of a student attempting to...
Part three of a four-part series on professionalism In the first post in this series, we defined professionalism and identified three criteria for being a professional editor. We looked at skill and knowledge in the...
Who is at the heart of the New Hart's Rules? Helena Opperman tells us his story. His gloves were neatly folded on the shore; his body was found floating in Youlbury Lake near Oxford. It was 9 October 1916 and a few...
Part two of a four-part series on professionalism The first post in this series defined professionalism and identified three criteria of being professional. This post discusses the first criterion - specific knowledge...
Ever wonder how to use colons and semicolons? In this edition of PEGblog, Lyn Aecer attempts to win over some editors to the use of these marks while they improve texts. This article appeared under the heading Colons...