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Immersive Worldbuilding through Copyediting

August 5, 2020 by Kristy S. Gilbert Leave a Comment

Copyediting for More Immersive Worldbuilding (an in-depth webinar). A partnership between Looseleaf & The ACES AcademyWorldbuilding often comes down the everyday details for the characters. Copyediting choices like capitalization, italics, and more can support your epic worldbuilding or undermine it and keep your reader at arm’s length. I put together a one-hour webinar (together with the American Copy Editors Society) to teach authors (and editors) how to better invite readers to see the world through a character’s eyes.

Worldbuilding Language Details

In this webinar, I don’t just discuss “correct” ways to treat invented terms, species, and items. I also talk about considering these worldbuilding elements from the view of your characters so you can better convey the characters’ relationship with those things to your readers. Because as cool as worldbuilding can be, it’s even cooler to see interesting characters interacting with that world!

The two things I discuss most in the webinar are capitalization and italic text, both of which I see overused a lot. I think some of this can come from some authors’ lack of confidence in themselves and their readers, so in the webinar I talk about ways to determine if something needs capitals or italics based on the way characters interact with that thing and how often a reader is going to interact with it.

Access the Webinar

[Read more…] about Immersive Worldbuilding through Copyediting

Filed Under: Looseleaf

New Year Changes

January 13, 2020 by Kristy S. Gilbert Leave a Comment

A black and white image of some books Looseleaf has worked on. Notables are Batman Black and White and leatherbound Elantris by Brandon Sanderson.

Welcome to a new year from Looseleaf Editorial & Production! Thank you all for a lovely 2019 spent helping you get your books reader ready. I love working on your books!

With the starry-eyed new year come a few changes for Looseleaf. The most notable is that rates for editing and book design have been adjusted slightly. The rate changes are listed below. These changes will not affect any existing contracts! The new rates go into effect for all contracts written on or after February 1, 2020. (There are also some changes that are a little more fun, listed after the rates changes.) [Read more…] about New Year Changes

Filed Under: Looseleaf Tagged With: business

Gifts for Writers: Editing & Book Design Gift Cards

November 22, 2018 by Kristy S. Gilbert Leave a Comment

Perfect Gifts for Writers

Gifts for Writers: Looseleaf Gift CardsThere are lots of great options for holiday gifts for writers. Notebooks, pens, and books spring to mind. But if you want to go beyond the basic and give your beloved writer a catalyst for their craft, consider Looseleaf Editorial & Production’s new gift cards. They can be redeemed toward any editorial services and any of our book design packages. Until November 30, all gift cards are 15% off!

Level Up Your Writer Friend

When you give your writer access to professional editorial feedback and publishing support, you also give them your vote of confidence. Writing can be a lonely pursuit, but knowing you have friends rooting for you can boost you through the rough patches. Many writers get nervous about taking the step to get professional input on their work, but almost all of them benefit from even brief consultations with a practiced editorial pro. Looseleaf’s philosophy is to help writers become better writers, not just improve a specific book or manuscript. We work to help every writer we interact with to level up, no matter their writing level or goals.

A Versatile Option

 Because writers’ goals and backgrounds vary widely, it can be difficult for friends and family to know what would help them most right now in their writing journey. With a gift card option, they can decide for themselves what will be most valuable! Some may need a quick look over their first chapter; others might be saving up to hire a team to self-publish their book next year. Whatever your writer’s goals are, Looseleaf can help them on their way.

We offer services for writers of all levels and goals:

  • query letter consultations (for writers submitting to agents and publishers)
  • manuscript evaluations (for writers getting ready for heavy revisions)
  • copyediting (for writers who need some final polish)
  • line editing and developmental editing (for writers who want in-depth editorial support)

Especially for self-publishers, we offer book design too:

  • interior book layout
  • ebook design
  • cover design

You can’t go wrong! Pick up a gift card for your the writer in your life today.

Filed Under: Looseleaf Tagged With: book design, editing, gift cards, sale

New: Comic Book Ebook Design for Kindle

October 2, 2018 by Kristy S. Gilbert Leave a Comment

Cover for comic book ebook design for KindleLooseleaf now offers comic book ebook design for Kindle! The first two projects we’ve helped produce are Book 1 and Book 2 of Children of Eldair, a full-color portal fantasy comic by Jemma M. Young. (Looseleaf also copyedited and proofread Book 2.) You can buy both the ebooks and the gorgeously printed paperbacks on Amazon (Book 1 is available now; Book 2 is forthcoming), and when you’ve finished those off, you can see the latest pages on a regular basis at Eldair.com.

File Formats for Comic Book Ebook Design

Ebooks aren’t usually the first option for comics. Most ebooks are reflowable, which means the text can shift around to let readers adjust the size and other aspects to suit their reading choices. Comics, with their rich, dense illustration and specifically placed text, don’t do well in a reflowable book. But if you want to publish a portable, electronic version of your ebook, don’t settle for a static PDF. The Kindle format is your best bet. Amazon has created a platform that readily integrates panel magnification in a way that keeps file sizes low while making it easy for readers to zoom in on intricate artwork, dialogue text, and more. EPUB format (which Nooks, iBooks, Kobo devices, and more use) can do similar things, but the code is more complex, and the files can become large, especially with detailed or lush artwork (like Jemma’s work with Children of Eldair). EPUB files need to be compatible with many different platforms and devices, while Kindle files wrangle only with different devices.

But even with a ready-to-run format, the time spent building an ebook is time you aren’t writing, drawing, inking, lettering, and/or coloring your comic. If you want a Kindle-ready version of your comic, trust Looseleaf with your story. We’ll get it reader ready. Need more information? Get a quote on your comic book ebook design.

Not a comic book writer? We’ve got you covered with standard print and ebook design pricing.

Filed Under: Design, Looseleaf Tagged With: comic books, copyediting, ebook design, ebook formats, ebook formatting, fantasy, proofreading

Manuscript Evaluation Christmas Cards

December 1, 2016 by Kristy S. Gilbert Leave a Comment

Gray Christmas CritiqueAre you struggling to find a perfect holiday gift for the writer(s) in your life? Send a some seriously supportive love to their mailbox this season! For the next month, I’m offering my new 50-page critiques with a special card you can have mailed straight to your literary loved one. You can choose from either a minimalist gray card or a bright, Looseleaf-green card.

Once they have the cards, writers can use the provided codes to schedule a critique whenever it will be most useful for them and their work.Green Christmas Critique

Order a manuscript critique today by visiting Looseleaf’s online store.

 

Filed Under: Looseleaf Tagged With: editorial services, manuscript critique, promotions

Promotional Posters for Followed by Frost

December 11, 2015 by Kristy S. Gilbert Leave a Comment

Earlier this year Charlie N. Holmberg asked me to put together some promotional pieces she could use prior to the release of her fourth novel, Followed by Frost. For these, she picked out a series of photos from iStockphoto and gave me a list of significant quotes from the book. From there, I paired the best quotes with the best images and combined them. Some of the images needed some minimal manipulation to better match the book, and each piece needed to be in both rectangular and square formats so it could be used well in different social media outlets.

I loved working on these—they were a fun project that got immediate use promoting a delightful novel.

winter-friend

winter-friend_sq

never-warm-again_2

never-warm-again_2_sq

beautiful-kindness

beautiful-kindness_sq

almost

almost_sq

Filed Under: Design, Looseleaf Tagged With: Charlie N. Holmberg, cover design, promotional materials

Recent Fairy-tale Projects

March 9, 2015 by Kristy S. Gilbert Leave a Comment

Since I last posted, I completed my master’s degree in English, moved house, worked on dozens of projects, and got a dog and six chickens. But today I’d like to highlight three recent-ish projects that are on the same topic: fairy tales.

Channeling Wonder: Fairy Tales and Television, edited by Pauline Greenhill & Jill Terry Rudy

The first project, Channeling Wonder: Fairy Tales on Television, is a collection of scholarly essays edited by Pauline Greenhill and Jill Rudy and published by Wayne State University Press. I indexed the volume, and it was a pleasure to read (not to mention the fact that it fed into research for my master’s thesis). The topics contained in the book are broad, and the various authors bring unique concerns, interests, and perspectives to the discussion about fairy tales on television. And look at that cover! Isn’t it nice to find an academic press that takes a little pride in the designs as well as the content?

The book spawned another project I worked on: Fairy Tales on Television. I was one of many research assistants and contributors who made the searchable database and functional data visualizations possible. The database is a research tool for researchers and creators whose interests intersect with fairy tales and television. I’ve used it for research of my own, and I might be preparing an infographic summarizing my findings. (So stay tuned for that.)

PersinetteOutside of academia, I also had the opportunity to work with Laura Christensen, a French-to-English translator who translated “Persinette,” a literary French fairy tale similar to “Rapunzel.” Laura translated the tale, wrote a delightful introduction, provided some biographical information on the author, and included introductions to and public-domain translations of the Grimms’ “Rapunzel” (which was published after “Persinette”) and Giambatista Basile’s “Petrosinella” (an Italian tale published before “Persinette”). I copyedited the text (except the public-domain translations) and formatted everything for its upcoming ebook release. Laura lets you know where you can find her collection on her translation website.

Filed Under: Looseleaf Tagged With: academic, clients, copyediting, ebooks, epublishing, fairy tales, fiction, folktales, indexing, nonfiction, research

New Project: The Folklore Historian, Volume 29

December 13, 2013 by Kristy S. Gilbert Leave a Comment

My most recently completed editorial project isn’t technically a Looseleaf project—I’m the temporary managing editor for this one, not a freelancer, exactly—but I wanted to share it anyway. The last project was a novel, but this one was a scholarly journal focusing historical approaches to folklore (or folklore in a historical perspective). I present volume 29 of The Folklore Historian, a member of the American Folklore Society’s family of publications.

Cover of The Folklore Historian, volume 29

I didn’t do all the work on this issue. I took over at the beginning of the semester, so I proofread the final text, managed final revisions with the authors, laid the journal out in InDesign, designed the cover, and took the files to and checked the proofs from the press.

Filed Under: Looseleaf Tagged With: clients, cover design, folklore, Looseleaf, proofreading, The Folklore Historian, typesetting

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Testimonials

Kristy does a fantastic job every time. She’s punctual, thorough, affordable, and great to work with.
Brian McClellan, fantasy author
Kristy’s talents and hard work on the book’s layout and design can be seen on every page.
Brandon Sanderson, NYT bestselling fantasy author
I have used Looseleaf for a number of projects, and have always been incredibly pleased by their speed, quality, and professionalism. … Phenomenal work, and I’ll definitely continue to use them for every project I can.
Dan Wells, New York Times bestseller
Kristy is a joy and a pleasure to work with. She works quickly and efficiently with steep deadlines, and has an eye for detail that has helped me tremendously. … I highly recommend her.
Charlie N. Holmberg, Wall Street Journal bestselling author
She really made my book shine by offering insightful and helpful feedback and catching more inconsistencies than I could have ever managed on my own.
Madison Custudio, contemporary romantic fantasy author
Kristy took me through the formatting process with ease and assurance. I quickly trusted her and her opinions and knew that the end result would be a quality product. … She is talented, creative and professional in all aspects of her services.
Cynthia Anderson, nonfiction author

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Looseleaf Editorial & Production was founded in 2011 with one goal: to help authors and publishers get their books ready for readers.

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This One’s For You by Kate Sweeney

This One’s For You by Kate Sweeney

Empire & Oracle

Empire & Oracle

Neom by Lavie Tidhar

Neom by Lavie Tidhar

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