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Resources

I’ve collected together various bits and bobs by way of resources – have a little rummage around and see what you can find. And no, I don’t hold your email address hostage if you want to download anything. If you want to talk, you know how to find me (hint – look top right and click my email address!).

Here’s where the goodies are!

Downloadable PDFs

If you’re an author who is about to hand in your manuscript for publication, here are a couple of ways you can try to outwit your copyeditor and reduce the number of queries you’ll receive. It’s especially important if you anticipate a delay in publication, as you’ll avoid having to dig into too many old nooks and crannies. You’ll want the two PDFs on how to avoid queries.

You can also see how the different kinds of editing are and learn the terminology, and you can set about making Word and other programs suit you better.

PDF Customise the ribbon on a PC

PDF Infographic The 5 kinds of editing

PDF How to avoid queries – references
PDF How to avoid queries – quotations

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Going Solo: How to create your freelance editorial business

Resources: Going Solo 2nd edition by Sue Littleford
© Sue Littleford 2022

I wrote this guide for the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading, and the second edition, fully revised, was published in February 2021 (the first edition came out in 2016).

For CIEP members, there’s an accompanying toolkit in the members’ area of the CIEP website, which can be accessed without buying the guide.

Members get the PDF version free of charge (when logged in to the CIEP website) but anyone can buy it on Amazon since it finally (thanks, pandemic) became available as a paperback in August 2022.

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Flying Solo blogs, 2021-2023

In addition to my own blog, and to accompany the Going Solo guide, from February 2021 to October 2023, I blogged for the CIEP on related matters. As you can see, I got a bit carried away in February 2023 with a two-parter on time management!

Flying Solo 17, October 2023: Training and CPD as a business asset

Flying Solo 16, August 2023: The perpetual, invisible interview

Flying Solo 15, June 2023: Know your place!

Flying Solo 14, April 2023: Editor education – an essential investment

Flying Solo 13b, February 2023: Time management for yourself and for your business. Part II: Action!

Flying Solo 13a, February 2023: Time management for yourself and for your business. Part I: Diagnosis

Flying Solo 12, December 2022: Networking for business support

Flying Solo 11, October 2022: Focusing your website on your ideal client

Flying Solo 10, August 2022: Facts for fiction editors

Flying Solo 9, June 2022: Conscious language and the business-conscious editor or proofreader

Flying Solo 8, April 2022: The business of editing references

Flying Solo 7, February 2022: How can we apply our editorial judgement to our businesses?

Flying Solo 6, December 2021: Good communication is accessible

Flying Solo 5, October 2021: The environment – a matter of give and take

Flying Solo 4, August 2021: Unlocking HMRC

Flying Solo 3, June 2021: Using your records to price jobs and make business decisions

Flying Solo 2, April, 2021: Customer service: being people-centric

Flying Solo 1, February 2021: Turn hindsight into foresight with checklists

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Favourite Communicator Article winner's badge for Sue Littleford

I’ve written articles for Communicator, the journal of the Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators.

In the spring 2023 issue I wrote: Perfectionism: a wolf in sheep’s clothing, and I won favourite article of the year in the UK Technical Communications Awards 2023!

In the spring 2022 issue I wrote: ‘Apt words’ and the author’s voice: what is copyediting?

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Other guest blogs

Goodness, I’m chatty! I’ve produced several other blog posts for the CIEP, and a couple for BookMachine plus one on raising author queries for ACES, the US editors’ association:

What might the future of AI mean for editors and proofreaders? (contributor, 20 October 2023)
Wise owls: tips on becoming a trusted freelancer (10 March 2023)
Wise owls: how do you save time when editing? (14 October 2022)
Wise owls: what are your views on sample edits? (3 June 2022)
Wise owls: what’s your favourite phrase or saying? (17 December 2021)
Author queries for the nonfiction editor: How to raise ’em and how to phrase ’em (17 November 2021)
Wise owls: where do your clients find you? (11 August 2021)
Wise owls: how long does it take to edit something? (28 April 2021)
Wise owls: should you make your prices public? (17 February 2021)
Wise owls: references and citations (25 November 2020)
Wise owls: dialects (23 September 2020)
Wise owls: managing money (20 March 2020)
Wise owls: how I found my first client (22 January 2020)
Customer service: it’s all about imagination (29 June 2019)
Wise owls: the best CPD I’ve ever done (11 June 2019)
Wise owls: a nugget of wisdom (2 April 2019)
Wise owls: office companions (20 December 2018)
Wise owls: networking (10 October 2018)
Wise owls: expect the unexpected (6 September 2018)
Wise owls: freelance business goals for 2018 (23 January 2018)
Wise owls on editing non-fiction (30 November 2017)
Wise owls: working with independent authors (5 May 2017)
Difficult authors: 14 tips for editors (11 April 2017)
17 ways to annoy an editor (9 April 2017)
Wise owls: continuing professional development for experienced editors (7 December 2016)
Wise owls: how to take (guilt-free) time off at Christmas (7 November 2016)
Transferable skills and life lessons (25 June 2015)

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