Editing

           

          Example of proof-reading using print mark-up. November 2014.

​

         

          Example of copy-editing using track changes. October 2014.

​

         

          Example of simplification using readability statistics. October 2015.

​

Please note that there are some idiosyncrasies in these documents due to task briefs and house style sheets.

​

See also publishing project.

​

​

Manuscript Appraisal. October 2014.

Letter to Authors:

​

Dear Eva and Jeremy,

​

Your manuscript demonstrates an impressive array of knowledge on your topic; you evidently have a lot to offer to us travellers and foodies.

​

I particularly appreciate how you maintain a casual tone which is accessible and use direct address to involve your readers. It is great how you put your discussion of individual foods into a wider context. I love your idea of Pierogi ‘conquering the planet.’

I feel that your piece would make a valuable contribution to our book, but I do have some suggestions, particularly to facilitate the transition from the medium of your blog to a book chapter.

​

There are a few issues of structure to address. For a start, our editor is looking for a chapter with a focus on Poland. You do proportionally speak about Poland the most, but it would be good if you could find a way to bring Poland into the piece from the start, optimally in your introduction. This could also help with issues of flow in the chapter. At the moment your two titled sections feel a bit disjointed.

​

I love your idea about exploring the culinary tradition to shows similarities and as a result highlight interesting differences. This focus has the potential to draw together your whole chapter into a cohesive theme. However, I think it needs to be worked on a bit to be truly effective. Perhaps you could make clearer distinctions between your comparisons and contrasts and structure your piece around these distinctions.

​

In terms of length, I would recommend that you make your manuscript longer. The piece is a good length for a blog, but as a chapter of a book your readers will expect it to be longer. Apart from this, I think it would also be beneficial to be able to slow the pace down, rather than only having a sentence or two for each idea. In a few places the use of brackets can be a bit much. You can use some of your extra space to work on this. Keeping the use of brackets to a minimum will help your sentences flow more smoothly.

​

As you develop your sections further, I would also suggest that you add more subheadings to divide your ideas up into easier chunks and consider an overall title that is inclusive. Your Pierogi list also breaks up the slabs of text, but this looks out of place on its own. Perhaps you can add more lists and maybe a picture or two, (not too many considering budget limitations for printing).

 

Remember that people reading the book, may have no experience of your blog. You drop yourselves into the story a couple of times, but without being familiar with your blog identities, this seems to come from nowhere. I would recommend making full use of your voices, by introducing these from the start. More personal anecdotes will engage your audience. You can see the potential for this in the humorous aside about buying Eva vodka.

 

On a similar note, be careful that the terms you use will be understood by your audience. I do not feel entirely sure what you mean by your use of ‘Babushka’ in the first heading. There is also no explanation of ‘Saukerkraut’; it is probably not safe to assume your readers will know what it is.

 

Your audience may be different from who you are accustomed to, so you need to be especially careful not to alienate your readers. I would be cautious with the use of broad, sweeping statements such as saying that tripe soup is ‘found as a common dish in every country in the world except America.’ Being Australian and living in England, I don’t think I have ever come across tripe soup. The reference to ‘cheap 7-11 boozer food’ also seems quite a harsh stereotyping of America.

 

I hope that you will find some use in my suggestions. I sincerely look forward to reading more from you.

 

Kind regards,

Elise Britten

​

​