Jeffrey Zeldman

Publishing timelines are easy to misread when you only see finished outcomes. A book deal announcement doesn’t show the years of drafting. A launch post doesn’t show the waiting. And comparing different publishing paths as if they move at the same pace leads to bad assumptions. This breaks down what publishing timelines usually look like for traditional, hybrid, and self-publishing, so you can place yourself more accurately. The full blog post goes deeper and includes two free tools to help you map next steps based on where you are right now. 🔗 Read the full post: Publishing Timeline for Authors: How Long Publishing Really Takes (Link is in the comments) Free inside the post: • Publishing Timeline Guide • 2026 Platform Planner #PublishingTimeline #AuthorLife #PublishingProcess #WritersOfLinkedIn #AuthorPlatform #WritingCommunity #AuthorPlatform #traditionalpublishing #selfpublishing #hybridpress

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Look, you can't say you support the rights of authors and artists but still use generative AI programs that have stolen work from those same artists and authors. This does not apply to people whose employers make them use AI.

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Two books every fiction copyeditor should read: "The Chicago Guide to Copyediting Fiction" by Amy J. Schneider and "The Copyeditors Handbook" by Amy Einsohn and Marilyn Schwartz. These books helped me learn how to edit and changed how I edit. Before reading these and taking classes, I did editing for a independent magazine. I knew what I was doing in terms of basic grammar and spelling rules. I also knew how to give writers feedback in workshops. But I didn't know many of the specifics of copyediting. I didn't know about style sheets or editorial letters or how to use Chicago Manual of Style. I didn't know the specifics of copyediting fiction, keeping track of characters and plot and timeline. But now I do! These are great books to read and then have as a reference as an editor! ---- #editing #editor #freelance Day 19 of the #EditorsTeaClubCommunity social media challenge!

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Writers hear the advice to join a critique group and perhaps hope it will serve every need—motivation, accountability, encouragement, feedback, and writerly companionship. But it’s hard for one group to provide all those things to all members at the same time. Dr. Zena Ryder suggests what to do instead: https://lnkd.in/gn9qyN52

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How to Identify the Correct MeSH Terms for Your Research Often, the typical keywords we use in our research aren't available as MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) terms For example, while researching Lipoprotein, my initial search directed me to MeSH terms like Alpha-Lipoproteins instead This highlights the importance of exploring the MeSH database thoroughly, as the exact keyword you’re using might be indexed differently Using the correct MeSH terms ensures that your search retrieves more accurate and relevant results from databases like PubMed To identify the correct MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) terms for your research topic, follow these steps: Use PubMed's Advanced Search Builder Go to: https://lnkd.in/gpTmzfxB In the “Add terms to query box”, select MeSH Terms from the dropdown Type a keyword and PubMed will suggest matching MeSH terms 🟩Use broader terms if your initial search is too narrow 🟩Combine MeSH terms with keywords for newer articles that might not be indexed yet

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A few years ago, I was checking the links on my writing samples page (a good practice for writers to do periodically) and found that all of the blog posts I’d written for a former client were gone.   Dozens of articles I was proud of—that were the main clips I had demonstrating expertise in a particular industry—just disappeared, overnight. I couldn’t even find them on the Wayback Machine.   I signed up for Authory soon after that.   One of the great things about having a freelance writing business is that it’s relatively easy to keep overhead low. A lot of freelance expenses and tools you see people talk about aren’t *really* necessary. If you want to keep your business lean, it’s pretty easy.   But Authory is the paid tool I find myself recommending to other writers the most.   There are a couple of main benefits I get from it that make the cost worth it: 1.    The most straightforward: it saves all those writing samples.   Over the years, current and former clients will do content audits and updates that involve removing your work from the web (or updating it with someone else's name). It’s inevitable. It happens to all of us, no matter how good your work is. If you don’t have them saved somewhere, you risk losing all evidence of your hard work. 2.    It keeps them looking professional.   Even if you have your work saved in old Word or Google Docs, it just doesn’t look as impressive or professional to share them with prospects in that format. Authory maintains whatever images the piece was originally published with, and keeps the look slick and official. Sharing an Authory link looks a lot better than sending over the same article as a Word attachment.   3.    It makes it easy to search all your old work.   Putting together a list of relevant samples for prospects used to take me *much* longer. I’d have to try and remember what I wrote, or go searching through old folders on my desktop or in Google Drive. With all my work saved in Authory, I can search keywords there and bring up all the articles that touch on a topic. It makes the process of putting together a list of relevant samples much faster and easier.   I’m not being paid by Authory or anything (although I’ll drop my referral link in the comments for anyone considering it), I just genuinely find it to be valuable. I still see writers sometimes bemoaning clips they’ve lost. I know that feeling too well, and want to help others avoid it.  

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Dear #editors (particularly those who work with indie authors), It's not #AI that will bury us—it's an industry and reading public that places diminishing value on the quality of writing. By quality, I don't mean craft (very subjective), but correctness, consistency, and cohesion. As the industry and reading public value quality writing less, writers will take the hint and abandon copy editing or refuse to pay a copy editor anything close to their worth. I don't know what the solution is beyond an awareness campaign that quality writing is still worth caring about in fiction and creative nonfiction.

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AI and freelance pitches: I've noticed an uptick in the number of pitches I get that are clearly written by AI. (Sometimes even entire drafts! When I haven't asked for them!) I've seen a couple of other posts about this, so I know I'm not alone. As a freelancer myself, I totally get how much of a time suck it is to craft a truly good, targeted pitch. It's rough out there. But I gotta wonder about the strategy here--especially when sending AI-generated pitches to an outlet asking for voice-driven, first-person narratives. Is this actually working for some writers? Are people really landing commissions with these pitches? Is there a group of writers on an island somewhere, raking it in while the rest of us are clickety-clacking our hearts out? Or is it more like throwing 💩 at editors' inboxes and hoping something will stick? Then I get existential: Is this really the best use of everyone's time? How do we actually quantify "voice" and "authenticity"? And how many gallons of water went into that pitch? That being said, the vast majority of pitches I receive are still written by genuine humans, and I'll take a somewhat muddled pitch over a perfectly-structured-but-saying-nothing-of-substance one any day. Okay, back to the inbox now.

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If you're still writing chunky text, you're losing readers. Learn the simple power move pro writers use to boost clarity and engagement. In my latest Medium article, I break down one of the simplest yet most powerful tools in technical writing: bulleted lists. 📌 When to use them 📌 Why they work 📌 How to format them for clarity Follow for more 👍 #medium #article #technicalwriting #technicaldocumentation #contentwriting #writing https://lnkd.in/g-7nyjcu

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