A 12-step plan for publishing a corporate or personal history book
Producing a corporate or personal history book can be daunting to those new to the publishing process.
The everyday practice of plain language
At the beginning of plain language workshops for workplace writers, I like to show a photo of an outdoor water feature located near a busy retail corner in Vancouver. In particular, I want people to see the sign on the…
Happy 40th, CJSAE!
Congratulations to the Canadian Journal for the Study of Adult Education on the recently published 40th-anniversary special edition! Since its inaugural issue in 1981, the peer-reviewed scholarly journal has been making significant contributions to the field of adult and continuing…
On mountains, spreadsheets, and becoming an editor
In the proofreading classes I teach at Simon Fraser University, and in conversations I have with people new to the editing profession, I often hear questions like “How do you get started as an editor?” “How do you get clients?”…
Celebrating a new book: The Larder of the Wise
Every so often, a project arrives that hits an editor’s sweet spot, the topic a perfect fit with the editor’s own interests. Such was the case with me and The Larder of the Wise: The Story of Vancouver’s James Inglis…
Storytelling in non-fiction business writing
While doing substantive edits of several business books this year, I found myself repeating the same thing over and over again to authors: “This section could use more of a storytelling style.” These books were about different business subjects, but…
Divine Threads: A silky, sumptuous look behind the scenes of Cantonese opera
What a huge delight it was to attend the February 28 launch of Divine Threads: The Visual and Material Culture of Cantonese Opera, by April Liu. The latest in a series of exquisite books co-published by Figure 1 and the…
Long-time reader, new listener
Like most of you, I’m sure, I’ve been a life-long reader. I like almost nothing better than curling up in a comfy spot and reading A Good Book. But recently, I’ve come to realize that I’m out of the loop…
The beleaguered and exalted proofreader: Some things never change
While perusing 19th-century Canadiana for my bookselling history blog, I occasionally come across items about proofreaders—the catch-all term then applied to editors of any sort, it seems. Some of these are so amusing, and some so recognizable to anyone in…
The stories that bind us
As West Coast Editorial Associates celebrates our 25th anniversary this year, we’ve been talking a lot about the partnership’s history. Past and current partners have shared stories and photos that have made us laugh (a lot), sometimes groan, and occasionally…