Kathy Ide's Blog, page 10

Think Before You Link

When I set up the Store page of my website, I considered whether I wanted to include links to Amazon. Of course, everyone links to Amazon, right? But I’m a big fan of using alternatives to Amazon whenever possible. What? There are alternatives to Amazon? Believe it or not, yes. Like Barnes & Noble. ChristianBook.com. […]

Guest Post—Shadia Hrichi “Sometimes, God Orders Ice Cream”

I saw this post on my friend Shadia Hrichi’s blog and loved it so much I wanted to share it with you: — Serving God is a great joy and privilege but sometimes, we just make it too complicated. Imagine my surprise today when God used a simple ice cream to teach me a valuable […]

The Steve Laube Agency Acquires the Leslie H. Stobbe Literary Agency

Steve Laube, president of The Steve Laube Agency, has announced the acquisition of the Leslie H. Stobbe Literary Agency. Les Stobbe has been a part of the Christian publishing industry for 62 years, starting as an editor and book buyer, then publisher, book coach, ghostwriter, and the last 25 as a literary agent. Les has […]

2018 Excellence in Editing Award

  Having been a professional freelance editor since 1998, I believe in the power of a well-written and well-edited book. With all the self-publishing and small-press publishing going on these days, it seems there’s a plethora of books out there that aren’t as well edited as what the big traditional publishers have put out in years past. […]

BLOG SERIES: NEW IN CMOS-17: Proofreading Tools for PDFs

  One new thing in the 17th edition of The Chicago Manual of Style (which just came out in September) that I found helpful is a section on tips for proofreading PDFs. Most of my editing is on Word files sent to me by authors and publishers. But I also do some proofreading for organizations […]

ATTENTION: Deadline for Promising Beginnings Christian Writers’ Contest coming up!

This blog is re-posted from the previous one several weeks ago, as a reminder that the deadline for the Promising Beginnings Christian Writers’ Contest is fast approaching! Don’t miss this opportunity. Submit now… — Because I believe in the power, impact, and influence of Christian writers’ conferences, I am holding a contest again this year in which […]

BLOG SERIES: NEW IN CMOS-17 “Commas with ‘Then’”

The online version of The Chicago Manual of Style (available by subscription) has a Q&A section that can be accessed, along with the full text of the book, through the search feature. I have found answers in that Q&A section to many questions that weren’t topics covered in the book. The new 17th edition of […]

BLOG SERIES: NEW IN CMOS-17 “Formatting”

The 17th edition of The Chicago Manual of Style has some new formatting guidelines. Check these out: 2.11: Tabs versus indents Tabs are entered with the Tab key. Indents are applied using a word processor’s indentation feature. Tabs can usually be identified on-screen by the right-pointing arrows that will appear in most word-processing programs when […]

BLOG SERIES: NEW IN CMOS-17 “Spelling Changes”

There are a few spellings in the 17th edition of The Chicago Manual of Style that differ from the 16th edition. Below are the ones I’ve found. If you have a copy of my Proofreading Secrets of Best-Selling Authors, you may want to mark these pages. 7.80: Terms like “web” and “internet” Terms related to […]

Christy Award Gala Upcoming

Upon hearing the news that her short novel Restoring Christmas is a 2017 Christy award finalist, Cynthia Ruchti raised her face to the sky, clasped her hands to her heart, and said, “I can explain hard work. I can explain that God gives the gift of storytelling. But I cannot…ever…explain the outrageous favor of God.” […]