Translation guide for comments from copywriters

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Copywriters can be hard to read. What you’re explaining your idea and they make a remark, what do they actually mean? Here’s a handy translation guide. “Tell me more.” That made absolutely no sense. “Whoa, that confused me a little bit.” Using that many jargon words in a sentence should be illegal. [Blank stare.] I’m … Continued

Questions to ask as you start a freelance business

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My friend Merlina McGovern — the smartest copy editor I’ve ever worked with — got laid off from my old company last month. After 16 years working for Forrester, she’s starting a business as a freelancer. She had questions, so we talked. Since any freelancer starting a business might have similar questions, let’s walk through … Continued

Analyzing your punctuation tendencies

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How do you punctuate what you write? I like rhetorical questions, think we use way too many em-dashes, and disdain exclamation points. But how well do I follow my own rules? One way to analyze punctuation habits is with “just the punctuation,” a fascinating tool that allows you enter any collection of text and X-ray … Continued

Monty Python’s argument clinic: how “funny” demands unexpected shifts in perspective that machines will never master

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I admit it: I’m obsessed with why ChatGPT and other AI services can’t be funny. I’m convinced the answer is that true humor demands an unexpected shift in perspective, and AI machines, trained to mimic patterns in what they’ve read, have problems with both “unexpected” and “shift in perspective.” Monty Python is the master of … Continued

The lesson of author Bethany Mandel: don’t go on camera unless you’re prepared — and don’t make excuses afterwards

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If you’re going to wade into controversial public discourse, you’d better be prepared for the controversy. Otherwise, you could end up like Bethany Mandel, the author who humiliated herself on video, then made things worse by writing a vacuous essay about how bad it felt. Bethany Mandel is the coauthor of Stolen Youth: How Radicals … Continued

(Nearly) everything that can go wrong with graphics in your book

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Once a book goes into the page layout stage, graphics cause way more problems than any other element. It’s like a horror story. Here’s an incomplete list of the things that can go wrong — and I’ve seen all of these happen: How to avoid these problems You could choose not to do graphics at … Continued

When hiring freelancers, beware of hidden assumptions

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I recently got a call from a woman I’d presented to years ago, since then a senior executive in several technology companies. She wanted me to edit her book. “What’s the book about?” I asked. “It’s about web3; you know, NFTs, blockchain, cryptocurrency, and all that stuff,” she explained. “I can’t help you,” I responded. … Continued