Editor | Writer | Artist
So, the latest issue of my blood, sweat and tears is now published (psst, check out Volume 5 Issue 2 here), and I’m so happy/relieved/tired I could cry. I literally slaved over this issue. Reviewing, editing, graphic design, admin work. You name any step in the publication/production process, I’ve done it.
Cover and TOC previews:
Brb, going to die from exhaustion+love.
As a writer (and for many researchers and academics as well), getting your work published is one of the biggest goals we have (next to earning enough from our work to keep us going).
But why is it so hard to get published?
Often, publishers and commissioning editors have a specific work in mind, and our submitted work just isn’t what they’re looking for.
But at other times, the only thing standing between our manuscript and publication is us! What happens is that publishers/editors don’t notice our work because we haven’t put in that extra effort.
What’s this extra effort, though? It’s nothing that difficult, really!
Bad grammar shows two things. One, you’re not interested in even getting someone to help proofread your work because you think the publication you’re submitting to is crap anyway. Or two, you’re uninterested in the value of good grammar.
Either thing will send your submission straight out the door. Even if you have a great Pulitzer-winning idea.
Uh, nope.
Just nope.
This is perhaps the most important point of all.
Do not plagiarise.
Many of us don’t set out with the intention to “steal” someone else’s work, idea or expression. But we do. Simply because we have a faulty idea of what plagiarism really is.
(Read more on what constitutes plagiarism, and how to avoid it, here at Purdue OWL’s excellent site.)
The most common form of plagiarism I’ve encountered over my career is this: failure to cite your sources.
What happens is that I receive a paper filled with sentences (whole sentences, mind you), back to back, directly copied from multiple sources. This is plagiarism.
If you want to quote someone, quote them properly. Use the proper in-text citation format. Use quotation marks. Mention them.
Capish?
I hope this helps. Till the next time.
Being a good writer in a particular genre, on a particular medium, does not necessarily mean that we’re able to transpose that same writing ability and apply it to different media.
To put it in no-nonsense terms… different media require different styles of writing!
While writing an academic/research paper more often than not requires rather long prose (to accommodate all that research and explanations!), writing on digital media platforms require snappy sentences to catch the reader’s attention.
It’s pretty much the epitome of hook, line and sinker.
Digital media aims to get the reader’s attention as quickly, and as best, as possible. And then digital media steps up to reel in the reader with quality content. And the rest, as they’ll know it, is history.
It’s like, one minute you’re just browsing on Twitter, but you stumble upon Ryan Reynold’s hilariously NSFW, snappy tweets, and you’re now suddenly addicted and you wish he’d tweet every other minute.
Personally, I think these 3 quick tips help writers navigate the temperamental waters of digital media:
Till the next post!
If you’re ever wondering where I stand with regard to publishing, especially with the publication of The Eloquent Orifice that I co-founded and currently manage… Here you go.
