Author Lane Ashfeldt on the Changing Role of Editors

Author Lane Ashfeldt on the Changing Role of Editors The changing role of editors - An interview with Lane Ashfeldt â€Å"We tend to associate independent publishing with early-career writers getting their first break, since this is the kind of story that has tended to grab the headlines. But another significant group of authors choosing to self-publish are mid-career writers whose contracts for certain titles have expired.†We say on our homepage that our Reedsy professionals â€Å"know the publishing landscape better than a writer knows the taste of hot coffee†. So we like to regularly have their take on it. Today, we interview Lane Ashfeldt, a UK-based freelance editor who has worked both for a small press and directly with authors. She shares her insights on the ever-changing role of editors - whether in-house or freelance - and on the opportunity self-publishing represents for writers (even â€Å"mainstream† ones).Hi Lane, great to have you here. You’re one of our fiction editors on Reedsy and have been freelance for around 4 years. How did you start your editing career?Thanks for asking me Ricardo. I got into fiction by accident, planning to move on, but it stuck. For six years I edited short stories and novels for an indie press, in a variety of styles from crime to literary. I later started writing myself, and taught writing at a UK university.What prompted you to go freelance as an editor?When my book of my stories, SaltWater, was in edits I blogged about the process and some ex-students who had carried on writing after their courses got in contact asking if I’d look at their novels. I couldn’t say no.How do you find having the writer as your employer?I’ve never really thought of it that way. Reedsy refers to editing projects as collaborations and I think this hits the right note, though of course in this context the author is ultimately in control of the process. Which is as it should be - it is their book. I suggest edits, and explain why, but it’s up to the writer whether they choose to act on them. It†™s a very cooperative thing. It’s also private. I don’t identify titles that I’ve edited freelance. (The titles on my Reedsy profile are from a regular job before I went freelance.)Do you see any parallels between your freelance editorial projects now, and when you were a full time editor?I enjoy working direct with authors, and this aspect is very similar. As a commissioning editor I’d meet authors and see their books through from manuscript to hard copy. Now it is more usual to work remotely via electronic means, and generally I only work on the text unless asked for input on submissions or electronic publication routes. One key similarity is, it’s very result-driven – it is all about finishing a piece of fiction, be it for print or ebook publication. Another aspect in common with my experience as a professional novel and short story editor is that over time you build relationships with certain authors and a knowledge of their strengths. It is rewarding when an author asks you to work on multiple projects as the dialogue becomes more fruitful.You have taught creative writing. How does that compare with editing?There is some commonality. But because advanced level university students need to write dissertations and conduct research, there’s a necessary interest, pedagogically, in the process of creative writing; this can distract from the task at hand, ie finishing the book. With project editing, the emphasis is not on â€Å"how to,† if you like, but on getting it done. To as high a standard as possible, obviously.With the explosion in self-publishing, do you feel the role of editors is changing?In the present era of publishing everything is negotiable. Some editors are strong on marketing, some act as curators whose job is to uncover the Next Big Thing in their sphere of interest, some are very much a cog working within the corporate constraints of a major brand. As a full-time editor, I worked with a n indie press. Generally in smaller presses roles are more flexible. Editors may do both copy editing and commissioning  - perhaps also have a say in the design, typesetting, marketing, and PR. Commissioning editors with bigger houses are rarely this hands-on. Often they operate more on the level of curators whose intake is limited to people they know and a group of agents their company has history with, taking on finished projects that someone else (an agent, a professor in creative writing, a literary consultancy, the author) has edited and polished. You could say they operate less as editors (in the conventional sense of the word), more as a gateway to the production and marketing machine behind their brand.But with the increasing variety of publication routes open to writers, there is space for all sorts of editorial approaches to co-exist. Recent projects I’ve worked on as a freelance editor illustrate this - some went on to be self-published, others are taking the ag ent / traditional publication route.Is it still possible to land an agent or publisher with an unedited manuscript?I am sure there are examples out there. The best writers are excellent editors of their own work, and this was true even in the days when some of the editing processes took place heh-hemming over dictation to a secretary. But if hiring a freelance editor adds perspective and strengthens your writing, it is a step worth taking.How do you see the publishing industry evolving in the next few years? Now that independent publishing has been established as a valid option, are more traditionally published authors going to try it?Lots of traditionally published writers have already experimented with publishing their work independently. It skewed towards US-based writers to start with, perhaps because the terms offered to US writers were more favorable, but that is beginning to even up. Both European and US authors working directly with Amazon can now access a royalty of 70% of the cover price on their titles (as against c. 7% working through a publisher) which increases the chance that authors may choose this route.We tend to associate independent publishing with early-career writers getting their first break since this is the kind of story that has managed to grab the headlines. But another significant group of authors choosing to self-publish are mid-career writers whose contracts for individual titles have expired. They are sitting on out-of-print (and professionally edited) novels that readers want to read - maybe even want to reread on ebook, having lost the hard copy - and it is not a lot of work to put up the files on self-publishing websites. A couple of examples: Philip Casey and Jeff Noon. Like Casey, Noon recently had new covers made for all his books and re-released them, along with his new ebook Channel Skin. No doubt there are others - perhaps especially writers whose ebook rights were never optioned first time around.You are a published wri ter, so I expect you love writing. What is the best thing about editing?For me, it is a similar buzz to writing. I enjoy editing. I love the intensity of it, the fact that you can lose yourself in the work, think about nothing else. Just words, and how they fit together. How they unfold to reveal a story.Thanks a lot for your time, Lane!  Follow Lane and Reedsy on Twitter: @Ashfeldt  and  @ReedsyHQDo you feel like the role of editors has changed? Is it worth it to work with a freelance editor before submitting your MS to agents and publishers? Leave us your thoughts, or any question for Lane, in the comments below!

Valeria Zurlini essays

Valeria Zurlini essays BAM Cinematek recently chose to feature the films of Italian Director Valerio Zurlini. Zurlini isnt mentioned in many of the putative histories of Italian cinema, yet he is one of the most noteworthy Italian directors of all time. Zurlinis canon of films were most recently screened at The National Gallery of Art, in February of 2001, and have also been screened throughout Canada, and at The Pacific Cinematheque, Lincoln Plaza Cinemas, and Walter Reade Theater within the last two years. Valerio Zurlini was born in Bologna in 1926 to an affluent family. Prior to directing films, Zurlini studied both law and art history. Zurlini said that studying art helped him to develop an intuitive approach to the composition of images, and that going to the movies on a regular basis instilled in him an understanding of cinematic rhythm, presumably reinforced and deepened by his long-standing collaboration with composer Mario Nascimbene (Moller). Zurlini believed that art alone could provide insight into human nature, inspiration, truth and the possibility of redemption, since art endures long after its creator is gone. In relation to Italian film history, Zurlinis films fall in between Rossellini, de Sica, and Zavattinis Neorealism and Bertolucci and Belloccios Young Cinema. Neorealism came in the wake of the Liberation and post WWII democracy. Young Cinema, connected to the student revolt, would occur some twenty years after Neorealsim. As the Neorealists were filming their vision of how the world should be, (Moller) Zurlini was fighting with the Italian Liberation Corps from the fall of Mussolini in 1943 until the Liberation in 1945. Unfortunately for Zurlini, his films would fall in between these political events, and therefore be somewhat ignored outside of Europe. Zurlinis body of work consists of twelve short films and eight feature length films. four of his feature length films, and on...

Can the 365 Day Penny Challenge Help You Save Money

Can the 365 Day Penny Challenge Help You Save Money SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Saving money can be really hard. It’s also really important. If you don't, it can be impossible to reach your financial goals, whether purchasing a house or paying for your child’s college education. Saved money also helps pay for sudden, unexpected expenses, like a car repair or an surprise doctor’s bill. However, if you’re stuck in the trap of living paycheck to paycheck, saving money may seem totally out of the question. That’s where the penny challenge comes in! Designed to help you save nearly $700 in one year, the penny challenge makes saving money manageable and fun by breaking your goal into tiny daily payments. In this article, I’ll talk about how the penny challenge works, whether or not it’s a good way to save money, and offer tips to help you succeed if you try it. What’s the Penny Challenge? The 365 day penny challenge (or penny-a-day challenge) makes saving money easier and more manageable by having people deposit a small amount of money every day into a savings account or small jar. Basically, you start by depositing one penny into your savings on the first day of the challenge. The next day, you deposit two pennies. On the third day, you deposit three pennies. You keep increasing the amount of money you deposit by one penny every day, until you deposit $3.65 into the account on the final day. After a year of doing this, you’ll have saved $667.95. The penny challenge helps you save money in manageable small increments. Instead of struggling to put 20% of your paycheck into your savings account, or paying a larger amount of money into your account on a less regular basis, the 365 day penny challenge gets you into the habit of saving a small amount of money very regularly. Penny Challenge Printout Use this printout to keep track of how much money you should deposit into your savings account every day of the 365 day penny challenge. You can also download a larger, PDF version of this chart here: Penny Challenge PDF. Tips and Tricks for the Penny-a-Day Challenge Use these tips and tricks to make following the 365 day penny challenge easier and more fun. #1: Make Saving Easy and Fun Looking for extra motivation to make your savings exciting? Use a fun jar or piggy bank! Find a safe place in your house to put your makeshift savings account. Using a fun jar can incentivize saving money by making it fun and more game-like to deposit your pennies. You can also visualize your progress and see the physical fruits of your savings labor every day. If you'd rather deposit money into an online savings account or an account at your bank, you should try to minimize the frequency of your transactions. If you're depositing the money into a physical savings account, collect all the money from each day of the week in one place and designate a specific day of the week that you'll deposit that into your savings account at the bank. If you'd rather make online transactions, tally the money that you're supposed to deposit each week and transfer it from your checking to savings account in one transaction. You can schedule those online transactions ahead of time if you're worried about forgetting them. I'd highly recommend using a fun jar or piggy bank to save your money during the penny-a-day challenge. Depositing your money that way will make saving money more easy and automatic, since you won't have to make weekly trips to the bank or remind yourself to transfer funds online. #2: Deposit Your Money First Thing in the Morning One of the best things you can do to make the penny challenge easier for you is to get into the habit of depositing your money first thing in the morning. If you get into the habit of depositing money first thing in the morning, it’ll be easier for you to remember to do it every day. Turn saving money into a part of your morning routine, just like brushing your teeth or washing your face. That way, you’ll never forget to do it! It’s better to deposit money in the morning, rather than at night, because when you deposit money first thing in the morning, you won’t have encountered any opportunity to spend that money. If you wait until the end of the day to deposit your money, you may have already spent it on a movie ticket or dinner or other purchase. Depositing money first thing in the morning prioritizes saving over spending. #3: Track Your Progress A great way to motivate yourself is to track your progress. You can track your progress by watching your savings account online, or by updating a small card or placard near your piggy bank. You’ll be surprised how quickly the saved pennies add up, and tracking your progress can also motivate you to continue saving if you're struggling. #4: Place the Chart Somewhere Easy to See Worried about forgetting about the penny challenge? Print out our penny challenge print-out and paste it somewhere you’ll see it every day, like your refrigerator or your bathroom mirror. If you see the challenge every time you reach for a snack, you’ll be less likely to forget about it. Does the Penny Challenge Work? So, is the penny challenge actually effective at helping you save money? If you’ve failed at larger savings challenges, like the 52 week challenge or the bi-monthly challenge, the penny challenge is a solid way to save a bit of money every day, leading up to a decent savings account at the end of the year. Because the 365 day penny challenge requires depositing only a small amount of money every day, it’s a great way for people who struggle with money to start saving. Even if you’re living paycheck to paycheck, you can likely find several pennies every day to put into your savings account. Many people who do the penny challenge are absolute beginners at saving money - which is okay! The penny challenge helps you form a consistent habit of saving money by getting you into the practice of saving money everyday. The biggest con of the 365 day penny challenge is that it doesn’t ultimately save that much money. While $667.95 is a decent amount of savings, it won’t go very far in helping you pay for larger purchases, like a house or a car, or facing unexpected costs, like a hospital bill. You’ll need to eventually start putting away more money in order to fund any larger purchases. Review: How the Penny Challenge Can Help You Save Money The penny challenge is a great way for people who struggle with saving money to get into the habit of putting away a small amount of money each day. By saving pennies every day, you’ll build your savings account and develop smart habits about saving money.

Leading Change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Leading Change - Essay Example The organizations culture was a fouled up one whereby the plants of the firm competed against each another. Eitel felt that there was need to overhaul the organization’s culture. The only way to do this was by setting up change in all the people throughout the organization by spending 10 Million on a very new philosophy called â€Å"Great Game of Life†. The main target of the philosophy was to come up with an environment whereby employees felt that they were indeed making a difference, having fun and in an environment where they were free in making decisions. The philosophy’s use was to train, develop and experiential experience through inclusion of a ropes course, training in classrooms in order to reinvent the company and build it to a better company. He believed that there was magic when people working together share their ideas, truths and beliefs concerning issues in the company. The main target of Eitel was to help employees learn how to think in new better ways, take crge and have fun while executing their duties. His philosophy focused on changing the behavior of employees and working environment to an environment that led to job satisfaction. Free sharing of ideas targeted building up an innovative and creative organization resulting from effective communication in the company. The premise of â€Å"Great Game of Life† was that for every profitable business to grow; customers’ satisfaction with the firm’s products is high, the employees are cooperative, innovative, creative, satisfied with their work and committed to the tasks assigned to them. In addition, the culture of the business and the leadership system empowers and motivates the workforce. By applying all the above mentioned requirements of a successful business, the firm started growing dramatically and its market share increased increasing the sales of the company making the company very profitable. The leadership system of the firm changed and the

The European Union will not last another Decade Essay - 1

The European Union will not last another Decade - Essay Example The general view among many Europeans is that the Union is gradually becoming an immaterial isthmus of the Eurasian continent. Analysts have identified key issues that make the European Union weak and unable to progress further soon. Structural economic challenges pose the greatest threat to the Unions survival. It is said that globalization has made other regions become more competitive than the Eurozone. Many members of the European Union lack competitiveness. Globalization has allowed business establishments to produce where expenses of producing goods and services are lowest. Third world countries, as well as some of the emerging markets, are competitively outpacing the developed nations in growing and developing their economies. These countries are quickly adapting specialized high-value productions (Sanchis Marco, n.d.). Their labor markets are very skilled, therefore, able to be productive in high technological industries. It is a fact that the working conditions in the European Union for workers is better, that they provide better social amenities and that the working conditions are supremely better in terms of social benefits. However, the better quality of social amenities offered means that the cost of production must sufficiently accommodate those costs, and, therefore, translates to higher prices for goods and services delivered. Private investors have not made the situation any better as they relocate production to the much cheaper cost of production locations in the emerging markets, which serve a double purpose of offering ready markets for some of their products. The proportion of inactive and active individuals in the Eurozone is worsening by the day (Laursen, 2013). It is projected that countries within the European Union will not have enough human assets, while at the same time these countries have failed to

Research, Evidenced-Based Practice and global health Essay

Research, Evidenced-Based Practice and global health - Essay Example Nurses like all healthcare professionals have the responsibility and privilege of providing the best possible care for their patients in order to quickly relieve them of their illness or at the very least, make their lives more comfortable despite having a particular disease or physical handicap. Getting the best patient outcome in the least amount of time can be achieved through many different ways; however, there are a lot of considerations that needs to be factored in before taking on a course of treatment for a patient. Evidence-based Practice (EBP) is an integrative and dynamic approach to patient care that has been proven effective in many different hospitals and on thousands of patients from around the world. Because of its successes, EBP should be used as the standard for patient care for nurses both here and abroad. There has been a significant increase in the amount of healthcare literature generated all around the world. Every year, millions of dollars get channeled into funding for these endeavors. These literary resources were primarily developed in order to find new or improve the techniques, equipment, and nurse’s or other health care professional’s approach to be used in providing the best possible care and or treatment for patients (Majid et al., 2011). Research and nursing literature are not the only source of knowledge that can be applied to make patient care better. The experience acquired by nurses in the conduct of their profession can also contribute greatly in making decisions on the best method to be implemented for a patient’s treatment. The decision making process for patient care should also be in accordance with local and international standards, as well as take into consideration the individual needs, and values of the patient. Evidence-based practice i ntegrates all these considerations

Engaging parents and fathers in their children's early learning Essay - 1

Engaging parents and fathers in their children's early learning - Essay Example 1. Father Awareness- The outlook of the father for social group and in perception of numerous cohorts, builds a psychological understanding of being protected in childs mind, it generates socialization as well as being recognized in the society, the identity to the child as well as an understanding that child has a mother and a father. 2. Respect for Fathers- Father or father figures play vital role in generating respect for themselves and others. This inculcates an understanding in the budding minds to value relationships, generates friendly atmosphere, male presence, conversation involving dignity, diversity and specific strengths. 5. Practitioners strengths that acknowledge the socialization with the staff and colleagues of the father. Such interactions aid in the development of communication and interactive skills and make the child more judgmental. 6. Advocacy and Empowerment- aids in knowledge and ability to value fathers experience and shaping the personality of the child. Father in turn tries to overcome societal barriers to become positive and inculcate positivism in child. Quiet enthusiasm- positive family bonding is imperative in nurturing the children, consistent and steady relationship are also appreciated by the parents, and they respect their parents in a natural manner. Abusive language by the father inculcates negative atmosphere and hampers the personality development of the child. On the contrary, positive and understanding fathers always sow the seeds of happy and contented family environment, inculcating the concept of personal integrity in the family members. Expertise- children look upon their father to be the strongest and intellectual. Knowledge and experience of the father pave the way for building strength in relationship, understanding for others, besides development of skills (Web. Principles for engaging with families). What parents do is more important than who they are. The parents must involve