Multi-tasking has been turned into a virtue over the past thirty years, especially with many people having one day job and craft moonlighting on Etsy or doing Master Gardener consulting on the side. Or, you happen to know how to code software and have one start-up in the works and are still doing web design consulting. Or you are just running a game of the War of the Worlds while also checking your FB and Twitter feeds. Or, you are a mother with three young children (now that’s the original multi-tasking!).

Whichever way you are put under pressure to multi-task, you can now “brag” about it as if it were some new-ish virtue. But it’s not. We may get more done, but the quality will suffer.

One Thing at a Time for Your Brain

Recent research indicates that our brains actually work best on one thing at a time, though. Inevitable compromises occur when we try to multi-task. The ones who can set boundaries with their time and efforts will get more and better done in the long run.

Sources for this obsession with multi-tasking as a virtue (my theory) might have come from social expectations caused in part by

• women moving into the workforce and still trying to do all the at-home stuff;
• the “M-TV editing” effect in the 1980s that created expectations of rapidly shifting focus from one image to another, which was then reinforced by the way electronic tools like mobile devices and computers work, trying to con us into thinking we can do more, buy more to do more with, etc.;
• companies putting more and varied tasks on fewer workers to save on employment costs.

All of these social shifts have created a “value” around multi-tasking. Since we’re stuck with it, so to speak, we make it into a virtue. And it’s still not one. Just an excuse to overburden people with overwhelming expectations.

Resist! Set boundaries! Check email/phone three times a day instead of thirty (very hard for me, but I am doing it!). Real quality productivity will actually go up, I promise. I also promise you’ll love getting fully in the zone on some project and find out that the reason is the “silence” from your email and social media notifications (not to mention the turned-off phone). It really feels like a silence to me, this lack of interruptions. Plus I just get more billable or creative stuff done.

And you might actually have more time for surfing Pinterest pictures or taking a walk in the neighborhood later. You never know unless you try it!

There are all kinds of tools that editors use to find inconsistencies in word usage or capitalization, punctuation, etc. that make a proofreading pass, for example, go faster. But these are all mechanical helpers. In the end, the editor has something a bit more subjective to do as a service to the author: searching for interruptions in a smooth read.

That’s how I approach the editing task. I see my job as being a stand-in for the “end reader,” which is not the same as the friends and relations that authors normally give their books to for preliminary review. Friends and relations are cool, but they tend to be: 1) biased emotionally to praise rather than critique, and 2) normally without a professional grounding in effective writing techniques for the type (fiction or nonfiction) or genre (academic, memoir, fantasy, romance, etc.) of writing.

Because I do this type of critical reading for a living, I have a broad exposure to different writers and can put the current writer’s effort into a context. I know what to expect from effective writing on accounting, science fiction, sociology, and inspirational non-fiction, for example. All of these writing contexts have a different look and feel, a different flow to the text. Knowing this gives me the ultimate tool to do an effective editing job; the ability to find the places where I have to stop and scratch my head, go back a few sentences and come up with a smoother way of expressing something that works for that “story’s” context.

I get to smooth out the bumps and fill in the literary potholes in the narrative, thus serving not just the author’s writing purpose, but more importantly, the reader’s desire for a positive experience.

So, even though my immediate client is the writer/author, and they are the source of my income, I see myself as ultimately the servant of the reader, to add value to their experience of a book. And in this way, I also become a partner to the writer in providing that reader experience.

It’s one of the great satisfactions of my work.

As I’m gaining more experience in interior book design, I am struck by the focus people have on the niftiness of the tool over curiosity about the actual knowledge (principles) of book design. Book design (typesetting back in the days before desktop publishing software) has a multi-hundred-year history of its own, where best practices developed over time to create readable text on printed paper.

I am determined not to get stuck in worship of the tool (InDesign) over mastering the principles of good design for print, and also e-book, production. InDesign is a tool with lots and lots of features and internal tools to manipulate the look of text and illustrations on a page; but it’s almost neutral as to best practices for actual design. The default settings do tend to lean in the direction of how books are usually designed, but this is a skeletal structure. Many decisions still must be made by the designer as to how the book will actually look when it’s finished, and most importantly, how readable it will be.

A Visible Story Hierarchy for Nonfiction

I’ve been indexing books from traditional publishers for many years, and I’ve noticed how the layout of illustrations and text has affected readability. One of my pet peeves as an indexer has been bad heading style choices. If main headings and subheadings in the text are hard to distinguish (close to the same size, same font style, etc.), it can be very difficult to figure out where you are in the chapter’s story or argument hierarchy. Big problem for the indexer, but also for the reader trying to track what’s related to what and how.

Readability in the Design

Yes, readability is also about content: grammar, writing style, basic storytelling ability. Readers often take for granted is how much the book’s design plays into the smoothness of the reading experience. Especially in this time of self-publishing, many writers are taking shortcuts on all sorts of aspects of book production to save money, but in the end the quality suffers, and readers may end up avoiding books or not recommending them to others, sometimes without knowing consciously why they don’t like the book. Story may be good, but there are too many distracting proofreading errors, or story may be good, but the text font is hard to decipher and all the words are crowded onto the page with very little white space to give rest to the eyes.

I am determined to make sure I get the cumulative knowledge about book design principles so I can tailor the tool (InDesign) to the best practices I want to adopt. I’ve already changed at least one default line spacing setting as a result of reading the book design philosophy of an experienced designer, Stephen Tiano. I’m really excited about continuing my learning curve on both the principles and tools of book design, but the principles will always trump the tool. If you want to produce a professional looking book, dear writers, please do not neglect investment in professional design.

First and foremost, give your text room to breathe.

As I’ve been expanding my skill set in the publishing process, I’ve been thinking about what to call what I do, and several years ago, the idea of shepherding came to mind. I’d been informally advising some self-publishing authors about that particular process and the basic aspects of editing that they’d have to go through, along with the book design process. So, I thought, hey, this guiding stuff is just like being a shepherd, a publishing process shepherd.

Of course, once I went to Google and searched, I found out lots of folks had thought of this already, and bookshepherd.com was already spoken for. Figures. So, for me, the title Book Shepherd is more of a role identity than a branding identity.

The Virtue of a Team Approach

I know the lone shepherd guarding his sheep is the main trope for shepherding, but one thing I want to make sure I do with this role is to focus my direct efforts on the aspects I have experience and talent in and refer the rest. Any one individual who says they can do everything for you in a long and often complex process like publishing is spreading themselves too thin, in my opinion, not to mention that more than one or two pairs of eyes on a document will almost always produce more accurate results. Remember that publishing has traditionally been a collaborative effort using a staff of editors, proofreaders, typesetters, printers, and marketers to support the writer’s creative effort. Just because we are self-publishing now doesn’t mean all these tasks must be done by one individual, whether it be the author or a single “book shepherd.” So, if I end up copy editing your book, I’m likely to recommend someone else to proofread it; I think you’ll get better quality copy that way. I also let other folks with better graphics skills do most of the book covers for my clients.

Book shepherds provide an invaluable set of services, though, particularly regarding expertise on the process as a whole. I am constantly being asked new questions (like “so, how can I get twenty-five copies of a new booklet to take to an event to show off and sell, but I don’t want to necessarily sell them on Amazon?”) that cause me to increase my knowledge on what’s available for self-publishing authors. 

If you need help with publishing, just let me know.

And in the interest of quality referrals, since it take a village oftentimes to publish a book, here are a couple of folks with great advice of their own:

Brian Klems at Writer’s Digest has written a great article on the editor–author relationship: “10 Things Your Freelance Editor Might Not Tell You—But Should.”

My editor buddy from the far north of Scotland, Sara Donaldson, is not only a great editor and genealogical researcher, but also a great writer herself, and her blog at Northern Editorial is just chock full of great advice for working with editors and writing in general.

And, in the past year, I’ve discovered an amazing book designer (who does covers, too!) I can refer my clients to for more complex interior designs and great covers. She is Julie Karen. If you need design, check her out!

Last time, I wrote a bit about work availability in the book production business. Today, it’s time for the rates question.

The question of how much to charge is often on new editorial freelancers’ minds. And I think we get into our fears about being rejected. We underbid and run into the same issues that happen when looking for a job and not asking what we are worth salary-wise. I don’t think that being job scared all the time will serve us in the long run as either employees or freelancers. Let’s look at this a different way.

The Value-and-Match Question

I prefer to look at rates as part of a value-and-match question for both the provider of a product or service and their client.

We can’t initially know for sure all of the motivations of a potential client (we are not them), so let’s begin with our side of the value-and-match: the freelancer in this case. What do you want from this gig? As an editor, you can get anywhere from $20 to $120US per hour (or less or more), depending on how potential clients see your value and what match relationships you create. I’m sure famous fantasy author, Neil Gaiman, pays his developmental editor an excellent rate: a) because he values her expertise very highly, b) because she values her expertise very highly, and c) because they are a good match for each other. As a result, she may not need many other clients in order to make a good living.

But you and I may not meet a famous (and prolific) author and become their go-to editor, and maybe you are just starting out in the field. Maybe you are the major/sole breadwinner in your family, or maybe you just want to create some supplemental income. You see, we all come from different places on the experience-expertise-compensation-need spectrum. So, comparing your rates to other folks is not particularly useful. There is a rather large range of actual hourly rates for publishing services, a large enough range that your needs can probably be met somewhere along the range.

Setting Standards, Setting Boundaries

The key to success is to know your value. You may start out a bit lower than some average hourly rate (I normally charge by the page or word and track my hourly to make sure that rate is working for me, so if I can go faster, I make more anyway, and the client has a fixed fee to budget for), but one key is to not be afraid to raise your rates as your expertise and reputation grow. And also to not be afraid to drop a client if they insist on remaining too cheap after you have moved on to better rates with others.

That’s been the pattern of my experience: finding returning clients willing to pay higher rates and letting go of early ones who want to pay the same rate they did twenty-five years ago (yep, it happens!). Those clients I’ve kept know my value and will pay a small premium for it. Letting go of the matches that don’t work for you can be just as important as getting that client match you’ve always been looking for. No point in wasting your time with a rate that won’t pay the bills.

Your client match (for content, personality and payment) is definitely out there. Go be irresistibly attractive with your excellent value as a publishing services provider, and they will find you.

Is there enough? I’ve often been asked this question by folks trying to get into publishing services like editing, proofreading and/or book indexing. It also applies to starting almost any business or looking for a job, of course.

Avoid the Desperation Pose

My first response is, “Don’t whine!” And please don’t supplicate. I can smell want-work desperation from across the conference room. It’s not pleasant. Makes me want to walk the other way. So, yes, if you act desperate and do the supplication kneel for work, that job or that business prospect will likely walk away because of your approach. Unless the employer or prospect likes to play power games. But you don’t want corporate slavery, either, I assume.

Gather Your Tribe

It’s not a question of “enough.” It’s a question of finding your match. Always, always. Think about the custom guitar maker. His market is likely small (unlike the market for Coca Cola, for example, which is still catering to a tribe—just a very big one that doesn’t include Pepsi fanatics), but he is in demand and makes a very good living because he provides tremendous value to those customers, and they will pay a premium for it. He doesn’t worry about general job availability statistics. He just has to stay connected to his particular “tribe,” largely through reputation, and he’ll make a great living.

But, you say, what about the newbie? The new person to a career field doesn’t have connections yet, nor the expert skill set, necessarily. True. But the market, your tribe, is still there. You just need to be introduced (and have a good elevator speech). That’s what targeted marketing and web presence are for. Here’s my freelance progression (from a long time ago):

• I started in publishing services in 1992 by targeting a professional association in book indexing to develop networking connections (I did not supplicate for jobs, but instead, volunteered in the organization).
• Meanwhile, I only targeted 10 publishers when I started my official indexing business in 1995. Back then, before social media and just at the start of email, I sent letters and postcards. I waited nine months before I got my first indexing job (because the publisher’s first choice was unavailable—after that first job, I became the first choice, not because the other indexer wasn’t available for every job, but because I was excellent!).
• I set up a static website in the late 1990s as well (paid a pro to build it for me). When blogging became possible, I used the platform to present my brand. I’ve been working on the basis of reputation mostly, ever since the early 2000s.

In our current too-much-information-and-access universe, some of the old methods can still be effective (people get less paper mail now, so that postcard to a prospective managing editor might get attention). Meanwhile, the tools to be visible online are quite varied and numerous; there are many blogging outlets and social media networks to choose from. Do some writing/video/audio in your field of knowledge, regularly, and participate in professional conversations (LinkedIn groups, for example). Share that writing or video or audio and your professional interests on your top two or three social media outlets; connections will happen with regular, substantive participation (not a bunch of Likes, but real comments).

Build the Reputation That Will Sustain You

There is plenty of work out there; it’s just a question of expending the time and effort to build that reputation. I don’t believe in the numbers/statistics game in general with almost any occupation unless technology or something is really eliminating a way of working (e.g., buggy whips or whale-oil lamps vs. automobiles and electricity). Everyone can find a niche somewhere,  especially with today’s ability to be visible online.

As an example, in book indexing these days, the key is to be flexible enough to get beyond the printed book. If you’re interested in indexing, take a basic course for the mental of indexing judgment (not everyone has the right mindset), but then make sure you give yourself some self-education in the new areas (ebooks, embedded indexing, taxonomy, even information architecture) that are related to traditional indexing. That will give you more breadth to move into the future. It will pay to think outside the book covers for sure; there’s demand for linked indexes to ebooks, for example, and human-created search keywords for mobile apps that have complex subject matter.

Niches in editing and proofreading are almost endless, but I think the emphasis now is on helping self-publishing authors (don’t forget to charge enough to include hand-holding) more than serving traditional publishers, and being technically savvy enough to use electronic methods of marking text (like Adobe Acrobat and Google Docs as well as Microsoft Word).

Beyond the Book: Text is Everywhere

You’ll want to market beyond traditional publishing organizations for all publishing-related services; the publishing revolution continues. You may end up working not only directly for writers, but folks putting up websites, etc. Smaller jobs and more of them maybe, rather than larger book jobs for traditional publishers. Get your e-commerce set up and you’ll be ready to take care of credit card-paying clients as well!

Go forth, create value, and be visible! And do it again and again. You will find your clients.

I’ve noticed a certain amount of angst as well as some misunderstanding of the American fee-based method for obtaining an ISBN (that 13-digit number for your book), and figuring out what the barcode does for you and where to get that to add to the back of your book.

So, here’s the current truth that my research and experience have uncovered.

ISBNs

The ISO (International Organization for Standardization) keeps an eye on all kinds of standards to keep things predictable, from bribery prevention to clean rooms. They also sponsor informational standards, like the ones used for book indexing, actually, and also the International Standard Book Number (ISBN). Since 1967, published books have had ISBNs, although now they have thirteen numbers instead of  nine or ten (e.g., ISBN 978-3-16-148410-0). If you want to get geeky with it, check out the article on Wikipedia.

Required, or Not?

An ISBN is required for every edition of every printed book distributed by agents and organizations that sell books (this means Amazon, Lulu, Barnes and Noble, etc.). And this requirement applies to online print-on-demand and brick-and-mortar book sellers. You won’t go to jail if you don’t have an ISBN, and no one will bother you if you don’t have one and are giving your book away on your website. But if you are selling your book through any kind of distributor (like Amazon, IngramSpark, BookBaby), that distributor will require one.

For ebooks, it’s yes and no, depending. If you sell an ebook on your website yourself, or if you sell only through Amazon, you don’t need a separate number for your ebook. Other distributors may require one, though.

Cost of the ISBN

Each country has its own set of numbers to hand out, so the cost of getting an ISBN varies from free to fairly expensive ($125 from RR Bowker in the USA for a single number) depending on the originating country’s setup. In the U.S., as with lots of other things, ISBN assignment is a privatized effort, and so the fee.

The important bit to remember, and something one of my clients didn’t know, is that it costs a whole lot less to get ISBNs in bulk than to buy them individually. So, if you know you’ll be doing a series of books, take heed, because 10 ISBNs will only cost $295 total. That’s a huge discount per number. My client was publishing an updated edition of his book every year, and paying for one ISBN each time. He was quite pleased when I let him know that he could buy them in larger quantities and save quite a bit of money.

Also, if you do want to distribute your book from different sources (Amazon and IngramSpark, for example), you will likely need multiple ISBNs to cover ebook versions, and what if you want to publish a color printed version and a black-and-white version? They have to have separate numbers.

Where to Get Your ISBN

To register an ISBN in the USA, head on over to Bowker’s Identifier Services site and they’ll take you through the process. They also sell barcodes to put on the back of your book that have the ISBN embedded in them for scanning at checkout and keeping track of inventory, but there are cheaper ways to do the barcode thing once you have your ISBN.

Barcodes

So, now you have your ISBN number, which needs to be pasted into the copyright page of the inside of your book as well as on the back, but a barcode would look kind of cool, official-looking, and useful for our heavily “scanned” consumer world.

You can pay all kinds of fees (at Bowker and elsewhere) to get the barcode printed (with or without a price included in the code), but I found this nifty site where you can get one generated for free (at Bookow.com). Now, if you want a bunch of barcodes, there will be a fee, which I think is fair enough, but as Bookow says, it’s worth it to them to provide self-publishers in particular with a free one for the occasional book project.

The image file that you get from the barcode can be either a PDF (better quality for print) or a PNG file (better for ebooks), or you could get one of both. I thought the instructions were simple and the product worked just fine.

Then just add it to the electronic version of your cover (back bottom right corner) (or give it to your book designer to add), and you are set.

Now back to the more time-consuming part of finishing writing the book and getting it properly edited!

I know most folks in freelance businesses focus on what they have to offer, presenting their services like products on a shelf in the store and advertising the availability and quality of those same services through social media and/or advertising.

But before you put those services on the shelf, make sure you’ve asked a couple of why questions, or you may miss out on the keys to a good customer-provider relationship.

Why are you doing this thing (or things)?

Right, so you thought I’d start with the customer’s needs. Nope. If you don’t have core values underpinning what you do, you won’t get very far in whatever business you choose, including publishing-related ones.

Look, lots of people are doing editing, proofreading, book design, and some are even doing book indexing (which is where I started). What makes your services unique will be found in the answer to the why question. Because it speaks to your values as a service provider.

So, time to spit out your core values. What facets of your service give you the most satisfaction? These will be clues to your business values. Maybe it’s accuracy, maybe it’s speed, maybe both (!). Maybe it’s your sunny personality via email. Notice that these “facets” are not names of your products or services.

Just to give you a starting off point, here are my top four core values: quality, responsiveness, flexibility, understanding (of the customer’s subject). I take the time to produce a quality editorial assessment; I am checking email all day every day and responding promptly; got a delay in manuscript or page proof availability? I’ll work with you; wondering if I can truly understand what you are trying to say as an author? I’ve got the intellectual and empathic talents to “get you.”

So, what are your top four? You can also add a couple more, but try not to make this a long list.

Also, what’s your vision, for yourself and your business, that is? You will want to check in with this vision at least once a year, because it may shift. I know mine has. I used to be focused on my book indexing business, but am now more into manuscript evaluation and copyediting activities. My vision is to help an author see their story from a savvy reader’s point of view, the kind of reader who will become a fan (like the fans of Game of Thrones!), who will be hooked into their story, whether fiction or nonfiction.

What’s your vision? One sentence, please, with no more than two clauses or three modifying phrases.

Why would someone want your services?

Once you see what you are in this for (and therefore find your passion in it), then you can ask, what’s the customer in it for?

If you look at my website front page, you’ll see under my intro that I focus on the needs of potential clients. I don’t just list what services I provide; I actually write out the questions as if I were a potential client.

Think about it. When someone comes to your website, what are they thinking? Right, they are thinking about a problem they want to solve or a goal they want to reach. The question is whether or not you can help them with that.

Remember, unlike the folks at Nabisco, who have pretty packaging and sweetness or saltiness to create a need in their customers, we have to start with the need they bring to our site. So, I think it’s most effective to start with an understanding of that need. Then you can show them how you will fill it.

Think about what questions folks may come to you with, show them you have anticipated their need, and then link them to the place where their need can be fulfilled, and since this is a service business, also how you will be a good match for filling that need. If you’ve taken care of the why question in the first section of this post, you will know how to attract a good customer match.

Work these two aspects together (why you are here and what needs you can fulfill), and you will find your most suitable customers.

Yep, I can do it all (well, almost), but having me carry out all the production tasks for a book is not necessarily in the author’s, and therefore, the reader’s best interest. Definitely more money for me if I do everything, but there are drawbacks to putting one’s book production tasks all in one basket.

Proofreading and/or Editing

I love proofreading, for example, but I am not the best candidate for your proofreading need if I’ve also been working with you on developmental and copy editing. We often say that it’s not a good idea for the author to do all the editing of their own work, and this advice also applies to the editor doing proofreading. I don’t care how awesome your critical eye is, fellow editors, another pair of eyes (preferably professional ones, though), will always catch errors you’ve missed from reading through the material too many times. With my book shepherded authors, I always recommend using a different person for proofreading.

Book Design

In book design, I am mostly an interior girl. I like doing interior layout, getting fonts right for the author’s style, the trim of the book, the content itself, for headings, titles, and regular text. I like checking page flow and image placement to create the best use of space and continuity with the story or information (=fun!).

I can also lay out the book’s cover, but I definitely need a detailed checklist to get everything right (image resolutions and spacing in particular). I am also not a skilled visual artist. And that’s all OK. If the cover is simple and the client wants me to do it, I can pull it off, but I do need to be firm that original illustration, and possibly the entire cover layout, may best be done by someone else, depending on what the author needs. It’s very important to make sure that as a book shepherd, I help the author find the best combination of my skills and the skills and perspectives of others in order to create the best book for them and their readers.

Distribution, Printing, and Marketing

And then there’s printing, distribution and marketing. I don’t have any of the tools necessary to print books, of course, but I do have experience with setting up books at providers like Ingram Spark and Amazon/KDP. I also know the procedures for getting ISBNs for books.

Although I do keep up with some aspects of promoting one’s book, a large-scale book launch or a niche audience will require input from other experts.

It really does take a village to create a book.

I recommend that book shepherds keep contact info for any of the publishing production tasks that are better done by others and not get hung up on doing everything themselves.

Yep, I can do almost all of it, but that doesn’t mean I should do it all.

We editors and proofreaders rarely use a literal red pencil anymore (although I do know some who still print out their text and put those cryptic proofreading marks all over it—I do agree that it’s still easier to see errors in print than on screen). I still get the definite impression, though, that writers of all kinds of materials still greet us with an air of apprehension and a glance to locate their author shield for easy access in case of the need for defense.

So Many Judgments!

The editorial/proofreading eye is designed to make judgments, so writers and web page designers tend to feel judged when we discover things they didn’t see. It’s all about finding mistakes, which are always a little embarrassing. I can see the desire to avoid confronting one’s mistakes, and also the tendency to think that the editor or proofreader is also judging you personally and thinking you’re a “bad” person because you didn’t catch all the mistakes. Not so, though. We’re evaluating the text, not you as a person. Really!

The Fresh Set of Eyes

I can’t speak for all editors and proofreaders, but I’ve talked to enough of them to know that, yes, we do take pride in seeing what others might miss. But we also tend to have someone else proofread our stuff. Every mind makes assumptions, especially about material we’ve seen over and over again. I would never claim that this blog is error free, for example. That fresh set of eyes can make all the difference.

Preferences

Lots of grammatical judgments in particularly have subjectivity written all over them. What works for one style of writing or one publishing house is forbidden with another. Just check out the Chicago Manual of Style. It’s filled with recommendations and preferences; less is set in stone than one would think. I have numerous style sheets for different clients to keep all their preferences straight. The main pattern we editors are often looking for is simple consistency for the benefit of the reader. You can stretch and even break “the rules” if you do it consciously and consistently. And one thing the editor can do for you is to make sure you are consistent within your own system (capitalization of important terms that are not normally capitalized comes to mind).

Flexibility in writing and editing is the way I like to work. It allows me to collaborate creatively with my writer and/or publisher to make for the best read for their audience. A scholarly book is not going to look like a stream-of-consciousness fiction. We have to be just as flexible as required for the folks we collaborate with.

So, contrary to “popular belief,” we proofreaders are not angry at mistakes or the ones who make them, nor are we out to puff up our egos by waving our “we’re right and you’re wrong” flags all over your story.

Seeking the Smooth Read

What do we really want? We just want to make the reader’s experience of a site or book or whatever, smooth and easy, and we want to avoid having that reader make negative judgments about the site and the person who’s offering the products or services based on some silly typo. These natural judgments that people make (that the person’s service lacks quality) are probably totally unjustified, but a little extra attention from a second set of eyes can be very valuable in projecting quality and gaining trust.

Yes, we and our “red pencil” really are your friend. The idea is to make your work the stuff people want to read.