I was asked recently about what God has taught me through my writing career. While I do admit to enjoying writing, really most of my learning has been through my editing career. In both cases, however, the key lesson has been humility.
On the one hand, writers need humility to handle the (often many) edits of our work, and (often) outright rejection. Editors also require humility because we labor in the background. We don’t get credit for the work; that remains with the author, as it should. But those books became what they did because of the hard work of the editor with the author. That’s why I’ve enjoyed celebrating unsung editorial heroes on this blog; folks such as Maxwell Perkins, Faith Sale, and Tay Hohoff, among others.
When he started at Norton in 1969, Lawrence had the unenviable job of “reader,” sifting through the “slush pile,” the name for the pile of unsolicited manuscripts that came into the offices and were dropped somewhere for someone to eventually take the time to read. He said that this job taught him “an important lesson about patience and paying attention to the job, no matter what it is.” Publisher’s Weekly noted that, “As he panned for gold among the submissions, he trained ‘a voice that has endless patience for what does interest him,’ as Lewis put it.”
The W.W. Norton website wrote this tribute: “During his more than five decades at Norton, Lawrence had an unmatched impact on the trade list, shaping its character with culturally important books that sold millions of copies. Lawrence discovered future bestsellers in unlikely places: the slush pile of unsolicited manuscripts, the dusty top shelf of an agent’s bookcase, and in proposals rejected by the rest of the industry. As he once noted, ‘It is remarkable in hindsight that for two of the most important books I ever acquired, Sebastian Junger’s The Perfect Storm and Michael Lewis’s Liar’s Poker, there were no other offers on the table.’”
With the latter author, Michael Lewis, Lawrence built a strong relationship that led to 17 books, including the above-mentioned Moneyball and The Blind Side. Lewis wrote of Lawrence, “When I sit down to write, the only voice I hear in my head is Star’s” (W.W. Norton website).
That’s a powerful editor/author relationship!
Across his five decades at Norton, Lawrence championed and edited “scores of era-defining books” (ShelfAwareness). “‘It is impossible to overstate the effect Star Lawrence has had on Norton,’ said Julia Reidhead, chairman and president. ‘His taste was as confident and true as his spirit, and he transformed our list with some of the greatest writers of our time'” (W.W. Norton website).
That’s an amazing legacy. While he did write a few of his own books, he spent most of his career in the shadows, behind the scenes, relegated to the Acknowledgments page (if at all) of the many books for which he as the best reader, the shaper, the author encourager.
That’s what I’m teaching my students in Editing class right now. If they want this career, it will be extremely rewarding but will not bring them fame or fortune. They must do it for the love of the words and the love of good stories.
Just a little over 10 years ago, we started this conference, wondering, “If we build it, will they come?” Well, came they did, and we’ve been running a successful conference ever since. The conference is a natural outgrowth of the Taylor University Professional Writing major, where students are trained, among other things, to navigate the world of publishing. Meeting and networking (and sometimes interning) with agents, authors, editors, and social media experts from across the Christian publishing industry is just one of the many plusses of our program.
Here are 4 reasons you should attend our 2025 conference:
1. It’s short and inexpensive.
Our General Conference runs a day and a half and is packed with sessions and fun. It runs from Friday, July 25 at 1:00 to Saturday, July 26 at 5:00. During that time are options of 32 different sessions, 3 keynotes, open mic readings, faculty book signing, and one-on-one appointments.
And all of that (including meals) for just $139. You’ll get Friday dinner, and Saturday breakfast and lunch, and all of the activities above. If you’d like to stay overnight on campus, you can for an extra fee of $70/night.
2. Add a day for some extra, advanced training.
For $139, including meals, you can opt to come to one of our pre-conference tracks. Beginning at 1:00 on Thursday, July 24 and ending with lunch on Friday, July 25. This is an opportunity to go deeper with a particular topic. You can choose from the following two options.
Option A: Deep POV / Prepping Your Proposal
In this Advanced Track, you’ll be privileged to learn from literary agent, Linda Glaz, who had been acquiring manuscripts, editing them, and coaching writers for 13 years. You’ll learn on Thursday about deep POV, the kind of writing that will deepen the experience of the reader and allow him/her to stay in the characters’ points of view. Then, on Friday, you’ll do a deep dive into how to write a solid book proposal–one of your first steps for the gatekeepers in the publishing work.
Option B: Comics Unlocked
Your teachers (two Taylor U students) have been interested in comic books for their entire lives and are excited to share their knowledge with you. In their Comics Unlocked sessions, you’ll learn the history of comics, the craft of comic book creation (including formatting, script writing, pacing, and page layout), the artist/writer collaboration process, and possible paths to publication. You’ll also have the opportunity to work on your own comic book pitch and plan.
3. Do both a pre-conference track and the general conference for a reduced price.
If you choose one of the pre-conference tracks AND the general conference, you get both for $249. You’ll move seamlessly from having lunch on Friday after your pre-conference session to the general conference that begins at 1:00 p.m.
Some snapshots from our 2024 conference.
4. We’re great for all ages, types, and levels of writers.
Never been to a conference before? We’re ready to help you navigate with our friendly faculty and helpful staff (who just happen to be Taylor U Professional Writing students).
Just getting your feet wet in the writing world? We’re great for beginning writers to learn about what it takes and how to get started when it comes to being a writer.
Think you’re too old to start writing? You’re never too old. Lots of Bible characters have taught us that.
Think you’re too young? If you’re at least 16, we especially want to invite you to the conference. You’ll get to take part in all the sessions and networking, plus our college student staff will give you evening activities and a sense of what college life is all about.
Thinking you’re too advanced to need a conference? Maybe you’ve been around the industry a long time; maybe you’re a published author. Even so, there is never a time that you don’t need a refresher or some encouragement. And even better, you bring your expertise to those newer writers.
Check out the conference website at www.tupwc.com and register today!
A “Find Your Tribe” gathering of nonfiction writers at the 2024 conference.
As I mentioned in a previous post (4 keys to your author social media strategy), you as a writer need to be on social media, you need to choose the platform(s) that most works for you, and you need to be posting consistently.
“Aye, there’s the rub” (to quote Shakespeare). It’s difficult to be consistent.
In that post, I suggested that you create a weekly schedule that you can keep up with (and because that weekly schedule can repeat, you easily have a monthly schedule). I said that perhaps on Monday you’ll share on Facebook about something you learned in research for your book. On Wednesday you’ll post on Pinterest some photos you found about the time period of your historical fiction. On Friday, you’ll share the link to an article you read that was pertinent to your book’s topic. On Saturday, maybe a Canva-created quote from your book.
But if you’re a visual person like me, perhaps putting this on a calendar (physical or electronic) will help this make sense. This will keep you from worrying about posting or getting behind and having lapses of days or weeks at a time.
As I was posting around the release of Pathway to Publication, I needed to create a visual plan to help me to both remember to post and not stress about remembering to post.
Below is a sample week that I created at the time. This one week provided a template for the rest of the month — which then created a habit that’s easy to remember. Each day I describe a post or two and which platform. Of course, when I feel inspired, I can post more often. I take Sundays off and breaks on Saturdays between blog posts. And I only blog once a month. I wish I could do more, I just don’t have it in me with my other responsibilities.
Sample One Week Social Media Calendar
Mon
Tues
Wed
Thur
Fri
Sat
Insta and X: Create a Canva with helpful line from book. Post.
FB and X: Post regular weekly Typo Tuesday pictures.
X: Share a link to an article of interest about writing or books.
Insta and X: Post humor meme about writing, teaching, or books.
X: Ask convo starter question. Insta: Photo “day in my life.”
Website: Work on blog. Plan 1x or 2x month. Share on FB & X.
You may have other social media to post on, or you might set aside a day each month to work on a newsletter. The point is to decide what you need to do and then schedule time each week or month to get it done.
So much less stress when you just have to do what is scheduled on each day to do!
Beyond the weekly schedule, I try to be aware of annual holidays and special days throughout the year tied to my brand — writing, editing, books, communication, teaching. (The following are courtesy of the Days of the Year site.) These can help focus the quotes I use.
January: New year, resolutions, how you can set up for a successful writing year, setting goals; January 9 (National Clean Your Desk Day); January 23 (National Handwriting Day)
February: God’s love for us; February 7 (National Send a Card to a Friend Day); February 14 (International Book Giving Day); National Library Lovers Month; Freelance Writers Appreciation Week (second week)
March: March 2 (Dr. Seuss Day); March 2 (World Book Day); March 4 (National Grammar Day); Easter (March or April)
April: Easter (March or April); spring cleaning; April 6 (National Bookmobile Day); April 20–26 (National Stationery Week); April 23 (World Book Night); April 27 (World Stationery Day); April 30 (Independent Bookstore Day)
May: My college students graduating; May 3 (Write a Review Day); May 16 (National Biographers Day); May 19 (National Notebook Day); Memorial Day
June: my professional writing summer academy week; June 23 (National Typewriter Day)
July: Info about the upcoming Taylor University Professional Writers Conference (held end of July); July 1 (Write a Letter Appreciation Week); July 4 (Independence Day); July 30 (Paperback Book Day)
August: Prep for the teaching semester; August 5 (Blogger Day); August 9 (National Book Lovers Day); August 31 (We Love Memoirs Day)
September: Back to teaching; Read a New Book Month; Sept 1 (World Letter Writing Day); September 6 (National Read a Book Day)
October: October 1 (International Coffee Day); October 18 (National Chocolate Cupcake Day—I love cupcakes; sue me); October 29 (National Cat Day—I own way too many cats)
November: November 4 (Fountain Pen Day); November 15 (I Love to Write Day); Veterans Day (I’m an Air Force brat); Thanksgiving
December: December 21 (National Short Story Day); Christmas
Now if you check up on me, you’ll probably not see this continued activity because I know what I should do but am not very good at execution. I did fairly well around the release of my book but have not been consistent since. Writing this post is making me think I need to get myself back on track.
What about you? What do you do to stay motivated and consistent with your social media postings?
I’ve seen it happen one too many times (and one time is too many) — well-meaning writers get caught in the net set by predatory “publishers.” The writers thought they were getting published, only to find themselves with an inferior product (if indeed they end up with any product at all) and out a whole lot of money.
In a writers Facebook group recently, someone posted that they had received a phone call from a publisher who wanted to publish her book. She had some red flags (how did they even get her number, she wondered), so she asked the group for advice. Thankfully, every response warned her that this is a scam. I so appreciate all those seasoned writers in the online world helping one more person to not be a victim.
It’s sad to say, but the world is full of folks who are ready to take money from us moony-eyed writers who simply want to get our words out there. So how do you spot a scam?
You can spot these “publishers” by how eager they are to publish your book. Their process is simple. They will target you, do a sales job, flatter you and your book, make big promises, and then ask for money.
The fact that they target you is the first red flag. That’s not how the publishing process works. Generally, literary agents and acquisitions editors are wading through piles of proposals. They are working with the folks who know the process, not out seeking newbie writers and calling them on the phone offering to publish for a fee.
Let’s say you wrote a post on Facebook about finally finishing the writing of your book and then, magically, you receive an email or phone call from a company that effuses about your book and says they want to publish it!
Wow, you think, I didn’t realize it could be so easy!
Well, my friend, it isn’t. These folks are simply preying on new authors who haven’t yet gained the knowledge and experience of what it takes to publish a quality book. In short, they will publish anything as long as they get their money from you up front. They have no editorial standards. Their goal is not to create a quality product or see your book do well.
They are going to approach you first, flatter you, do a sales job, ask you to send them your manuscript, and ask for a credit card number for a large chunk of money (we’re talking in the thousands: $4K, $5K, $12K) for a list of services that they say they will provide (some of which are virtually meaningless, others that may or may not be delivered or may not be up to industry standards — such as their editorial process). They will send you a contract but generally the terms are not standard in the industry.
Hear me say this: These publishers are not trying to work with you to create a book of high quality. They just want your money.
You see, with traditional or independent publishers, they invest in your book so they have an interest in it selling well. They vet your work before publishing by studying your book proposal and sample chapters. They edit and copyedit and proofread and lay it out and create a compelling cover design and help with marketing. Because they make an investment in your book, they want to see it do well. They want to make back their investment and make money on it so that you also can make money on it.
Not so with these scam publishers. You will pay money and have no say over anything. Most detrimental of all, they contractually often take away your rights to your book — meaning you actually no longer own your book. You’ll have paid out of pocket and lost control of everything — including your book. It’s a lose-lose. These predatory publishers can afford to publish anything (no matter how poorly written or how poorly someone they hire edits it) because they aren’t making money on the sale of quality books — they are making money off you, the client. You pay them up front, so they get their money regardless of what happens with your book sales.
There is absolutely no risk to them. Some may offer up a little bit of service, but very often you will find yourself with a poor quality product that only works against you. Again, it’s a lose-lose for you.
Note that I’m focusing on those places who contact you. These may fashion themselves as “publishers” or “hybrid publishers” or “self-publishers.” And unfortunately this puts a bad face on the legitimate self-publishing or hybrid companies that, while they do charge money for their services, are working on a business model that is trying to help you create a superior product. See the link in the bulleted list below of ratings of self-publishing companies.
The key is, if it sounds too easy and too good to be true, it probably is. So before you outlay a chunk of your life’s savings, do some thorough research.
Look for information about the company online, especially complaints.
Insist on receiving a sample contract that you can review. (If they want money first, don’t give it to them.)
Ask for some names of books the company has published that you can review. (Even if the company is legit, you do want to see what other types of books they publish so you know if you want to be part of their catalog.) If you can get your hands on physical books, even better, so you can check the quality. Get in contact with those authors online to ask about their experience.
Chances are, you do all of the above with that publisher who called and flattered you, and you’ll discover a scam. Steer clear. Ultimately, you may continue your quest to get traditionally published, or you may steer toward a hybrid or self-publishing route. But you’ll be in charge, you’ll research and contact legitimate companies, and you’ll be able to create a product you can be proud of.
As much as I talk and teach about social media, I have rarely written about it on this blog. Turns out, 2015 was the last time. In rereading that post from nine years ago, I see that it stands the test of time. While social media constantly changes, some things stay the same. One thing that is the same:
If you want to get your book published, you need to be out there on social media.
So how do you build a social media strategy? I know many of you struggle with this. But every publisher or agent will tell you that it is vital that you have a presence on social media. Let me help you get over your distress and offer four key points.
1. It’s not all about you.
That’s meant to make you feel better. Being on social media as a writer means the privilege of engaging with your “tribe” (a Seth Godin term), the community of writers — and not just writers, but writers writing in your genre, published and unpublished, local or around the world. On social media you find and follow those people. It has never been easier to connect with your favorite authors and with other likeminded writers working in the trenches. Seriously, we need one another.
Make your social media about those folks. Celebrate their successes. Read their books and learn from them, then share them on your social media, write reviews, be excited. Point to others, not at yourself. The more you do this, I guarantee you’ll begin to build a network of people around you who will support you when your time comes.
2. But you should also share about you–authentic you.
But at the same time, you need to let people see a window into your world. You’re not just lurking over in their world while presenting a blank slate about your own. That’s hardly helpful because the whole purpose is to join these networks of people. So let them know you a little. But be you. Be authentic.
Share about your writing process: was today a great day of writing? Why or why not? What works best for you? Share about what you’re researching and learning. All writers know the rabbit trails we can get on when we’re researching information on the internet. What new pertinent (or not) information did you learn today? Then you can get a little more personal.
Pinky is not helpful at all.
You don’t need to go overboard, but do know that people are interested. Talk about how your cats are not helpful. Pets are always safe and fun, especially if you don’t want to share family photos or information. Fine, just stick with your writing. I would advise you to stay out of politics unless that’s what your book is about. Just stay on brand. You can do all of these whether you’re blogging or posting on social media.
3. You don’t need to be everywhere.
You can’t do every social media platform and do it well. After all, you have a book to write and, I assume, probably a million other things going on in your life. You should be on the platforms you’re comfortable with and where your readers are. I would advise that you have a website, because that is your own piece of real estate that all of your social media can point back to. This is where you have your author photo and bio and your blog (and yes, you need a blog so it can showcase how you write and that you can indeed write).
From there, perhaps you just want to do Facebook. Or Goodreads. Or Pinterest. If you’re writing YA, then you need to be where the young people are, which is probably Instagram. Study how to use these platforms well. Find your favorite authors or writers you admire and see what they’re doing on these platforms to give you ideas.
4. Post and engage consistently.
This ties back to the “if you want to get published” theme and the “you can’t be everywhere” idea. You may despair that you haven’t been active for a long time or you don’t have many followers. That’s okay. Start back in again, and then create a weekly schedule that you can keep up with. It has to work for you or it won’t work.
Perhaps on Monday you’ll share on Facebook about something you learned in your research. On Wednesday you’ll post on Pinterest some photos you found about the time period of your historical fiction. On Friday, you’ll share the link to an article you read that was pertinent to your book’s topic. On Saturday, maybe a Canva-created quote from your book.
Then, as people engage with you, engage with them. While many social media experts will talk about how you need X number of followers to even be considered for publication, that’s not true everywhere. If you’re building a following and engaging with your followers, if you’re actively and consistently posting on brand, if you’re showing yourself as winsome and creative and someone any publisher would love to work with, well, you’re doing it exactly right.
Realize you’re building relationships. That’s the most important thing you can do as you build your social media and create your author platform. It’s not all about you. You don’t have to become an internet influencer posting selfies all day. In fact, that’s the opposite of what you want to do. Focus not on yourself but on your tribe and your readers. Put good content out there that will be interesting and helpful to them.
Be you. Be there. Enjoy. Drop your blog link or social media handles below so I can follow you!
Microsoft Word can be a mystery, I know. I have worked on manuscripts since way before Word came to be (back when we carried our precious documents from computer to computer on the 5-1/2 floppy — yes, actually floppy — disks). Well, and before that, I worked on an actual typewriter. But I digress. Over the years, I’ve seen the Microsoft Word program change and evolve, making life so much easier for all of us writers.
As I created both my Word by Wordbook, and then it’s companion titled Pathway to Publication, I wanted to give my readers material to help them with the formatting of their Word documents to the standards that most publishers require. In this post, I talked about some of those standards. In many of my “Let’s Get Tech-y” posts, I gave step-by-step instructions along with screenshots to help Word help you do what you need to do.
But guess what? I have now actually entered the world of YouTube <raucous applause>.
Minions image courtesy of GIFER
I mean, I currently have 8 videos and 2 followers, so I’m basically an influencer now.
In any case, I will continue to create simple videos to help writers navigate Microsoft Word on my YouTube channel (@lindataylor4207).
So far, I have the following videos for your enjoyment:
We writers know that, on the one hand, we need self-confidence to put our writing out there and dare to get published, but we also need humility. We don’t want to go out into the publishing world with an arrogant attitude.
I dare say we will be served up humility constantly — we probably don’t need to seek it. We just need to learn how to deal with those times when embarrassing things happen.
Here’s my latest dilemma. I’ve talked on this blog about my latest book, Pathway to Publication. I’m very proud of this book (seriously, in the best way; you know, that “humble proud” attitude). I feel very good about the book and what it can offer writers.
There’s a meme out in the world that says if you want to do a really good proofread, get your book published and then open to any random page.
I laughed and laughed.
Then yesterday, I opened my book to two random pages.
I found two (count ’em, TWO) typos in my brief foray. This does not bode well for the rest of the book. I promise, my book was proofread by me, by editors, by the publisher, and again by me. I have no one to blame but myself. Me. Professional editor. Me.
First, on page 17, right away in the “How to Use This Book” section, I managed to say first that readers could download a “Microsoft Word or Excel” version of the worksheets on my website. Dear readers, I meant “Microsoft Word or PDF” (PDF appears later). In my proofread, I slid right right past it.
This second one, again, in my brief visit back into my printed book, appears on page 47, end of the first paragraph. Clearly I edited something in that sentence and left out the word “What” at the beginning (or I could have seen this and deleted the word “about”).
Seriously. Excuse me while I go away and eat some humble pie.
It’s just part of the process. I join a legion of professionally published books out there with typos.
My sister, that is. Today she leaves to begin on a dream that she’s been holding in her heart for over thirty years. She begins her thru-hike on the Appalachian Trail.
She has been planning this trip for the past couple of years. I first heard about it during a quiet late December evening in 2021 as we sat together chatting, keeping vigil over our dying mom. We held her hands and whispered, and Carol told me of this plan.
And now, the day has come. She and her husband (who will be accompanying her on portions of the trail) have donned their well-prepared backpacks and taken the first steps toward a decades-old dream.
My sister and brother-in-law at the first white blaze that marks the southern start of the Appalachian Trail on Springer Mountain, GA. Only 2,190 miles to go!
It was in some of those quiet conversations with Carol that a thought came to me: The kind of preparations and patience and planning required for such a trek for her to reach that dream are comparable to the kind of preparations and patience and planning required to get a book published.
I was in the beginning stages of writing my book about the process of publication. I was struggling for a hook, plagued by imposter syndrome. But her words ignited something in me.
And Pathway to Publication — the title, the plan, the hook, and eventually the cover design were born. (Thank you, Bold Vision Books for this perfect cover. Read more about the book on this page here on my site.)
When you get ready for a long hike, you don’t just put on your gym shoes and start walking. You need preparation, plans, accurate maps, and appropriate equipment. Likewise, when you step onto the pathway to publication, you can’t rush the process. The publishing world has its own language, processes, and gatekeepers. You need to take the time to develop a plan, create the required pieces, and understand each step along the way.
I wrote this book for the dreamers. Those of you out there who so much want to get published. You have a manuscript but you don’t know what to do next. What are the steps on the pathway to that dream of publication?
My book will help you get there.
My sister is making her dream a reality. I’m hoping to help you make your publication dream a reality.
And, incidentally, if you’d like to follow along my sister’s journey, you can read her blog updates here at “The Trek.”
I’m here to help be your guide on this pathway. Please feel free to contact me! In addition, I’d love to speak to your writers groups or conference. Helping writers is what I do.
As noted in Part 1 of this topic, quoting material from the Bible (and indeed any source) can be tricky. Editors need to be sticklers when it comes to sacred texts (and indeed, with any quoted material).
I offered 5 guidelines in Part 1. Here are 6 more guidelines when quoting (and then copyediting) material from the Bible.
(6) Watch your punctuation.
In addition to the quotation marks noted in Part 1, watch for other types of punctuation. The style for typing a verse within the text of a manuscript is generally quotation followed by punctuation. Notice in the following example that there is no punctuation at the end of the verse itself; instead, the period follows the close parenthesis of the reference.
“In the beginning the Word already existed” (John 1:1 NLT).
If your verse ends in a question mark or exclamation point, put that inside the close quote and put a period after the close parenthesis.
“Who has a claim against me that I must pay?” (Job 41:11 NIV).
“And Abraham said to God, ‘If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!’” (Genesis 17:18 NIV).
Notice in the Genesis verse that I had to add the open and close quotation marks around the entire verse, which means I had to put single quotations marks around Abraham’s words. The exclamation point stays, and the period is placed after the close parenthesis.
However, note that when you have a text in a block, the punctuation closes out the block with the reference without punctuation following.
You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me! (Psalm 139:16–18 NLT)
(7) Watch how you use ellipses.
Most publishers are fine with quoting a portion of a verse without ellipses at the beginning or the end. That is, if you’re talking about Jesus and what he said, and you want to drop off the “Jesus said” at the beginning of the verse and just quote what he said, you don’t need to include ellipses to indicate that you dropped the words “Jesus said.” The same often goes if you’re quoting just the first part and not the end; you don’t necessarily have to include the ellipses trailing at the end. Of course, you must use ellipses if you’re dropping material from the middle of the verse, or dropping a verse from a series of verses, to indicate that material is missing.
However, I would advise you to make these kind of changes carefully. Always remember that you’re working with God’s Word. Be respectful of it for its own sake and for the sake of your readers. Be careful not to cause contextual problems with ellipses. Make sure that you are letting the verse say what it says, without causing confusion by dropping out parts of it.
(8) Follow consistency in references.
While it’s important to know what to do with the Bible book name throughout your references, you will need to make several other consistency decisions as well—or you might ask your publisher how they want you to do it by requesting their style guide. (You can also get advice from The Christian Writer’s Manual of Style.) This attention to consistency may seem like overkill, but trust me, if you make these decisions early on and are consistent, your manuscript will make so much more sense to an editor and ultimately to your readers. For instance, in the Christian Writer’s Manual of Style, you’ll find an alphabetized text that includes extensive word lists of Christian terms and suggested spellings and capitalizations, along with every other question you might have and want to look up (for example, “Clerical titles and clerical positions” and how to use them is in the section for the letter C).
If you’re going to be quoting several verses from the same chapter (say, you’re discussing the story of Daniel in the lions’ den and your readers know you’re in Daniel 6, but throughout the coming pages you’re working your way through different verses), decide how to handle each reference. It might look awkward to put the full book name or even the abbreviated book name and chapter in each reference after each quote. Maybe opt for saying (verse 6) and (verse 7) and (verses 8–9), or maybe even (v. 6) and (v. 7) and (vv. 8–9). Or maybe keep just the chapter without the book name (6:6), (6:7), (6:8–9). The most important consideration is clarity for your readers.
(9) Let readers know if you are using emphasis.
Perhaps you want to emphasize a portion of a verse you’re quoting. Do that by putting it in italics, but let your readers know that the emphasis is yours. (This rule is true for quoting from anything anywhere, not just Scripture.) After the reference, say something like “italics mine” or “emphasis mine.” If you want to focus on the word patience in these verses about the fruit of the Spirit, do this: “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22–23 NLT, emphasis mine).
(10) Use brackets to indicate added material.
As we’ve established, quoting from anywhere is sacrosanct. Leave the quote exactly as it is rendered—and this rule is obviously extremely important in Scripture. But sometimes, you’re quoting and must give your readers some context. Indicate that you are editing the direct quote by putting the edited material in brackets.
For example, quoting Genesis 45:25, “So they went up out of Egypt and came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan” (NIV). You might need to explain who “they” refers to. Revise the verse to explain who “they” is by replacing the word and putting the referent in brackets, as follows: “So [Joseph’s brothers] went up out of Egypt and came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan.”
Don’t use parentheses, because parentheses could be part of the quote. The brackets make it clear that you have added the material.
(11) Stay true to the Bible version.
Take care to always use the place and people names as rendered in the version you’re using. For example: Is that son of Saul named Ishbosheth or Ish-bosheth or Ish-Bosheth or Ish Bosheth? It’s actually all of them, depending on the Bible version. Some versions have John the Baptist’s mother spelled with a z “Elizabeth,” some with an s “Elisabeth”; some have his father as Zechariah and some as Zacharias. In some, Esther is married to King Ahasuerus; in others, King Xerxes.
Did the Israelites wander for 40 years in the “desert” or in the “wilderness”? Depends. In some Bible versions, place names are rendered as two words, others hyphenate, others just run them together, and capitalizations vary: Baal Peor, Baalpeor, Baal-peor, or even Baal of Peor.
This is not an issue of error; it’s an issue of translation and sources and Greek and Hebrew—and I suppose, whatever the translation committee eventually agreed upon.
And then, of course, some versions include upper-case deity pronouns (such as the NKJV) and some do not. So in some cases God is Him, His, Himself; in others, him, his, himself.
Even if a publisher’s style guide says not to capitalize deity pronouns, if in that same book you quote from a Bible text that does capitalize those pronouns, then always quote the Bible text as it is.
I know it seems like a lot, but, as with anything, the more you do it the easier it will become.
When quoting anything from printed material, always be exact, always give the source, always double check yourself.
After all, if someone quotes you, you would want it to be your exact words.
Because I worked in Christian publishing for many years, I have learned a thing or two about copyediting and proofreading quotations of Scripture.
Authors have a tendency — no matter how careful they are — to inadvertently misquote the words of a verse, miss punctuation, or (often) give the wrong reference.
That’s where careful copyediting and proofreading comes in. (This post will focus on the technical details; it goes without saying that you as copy editor will want to make sure that your author is quoting the verse in context and correctly handling the word of truth, as noted in 2 Timothy 2:15.)
Some authors decide that they will quote just from one version of Scripture throughout their self-help book or devotional; others want to use a variety of versions. All versions read differently, and these authors may want to change up and quote different versions just because of the way it renders a passage. If you’re an author, please always tell your editor what version of the Bible you’re quoting.
If your author has quoted from only one version throughout the manuscript, there is no need to give the Bible version after all of the references. The line on the copyright page stating that “All Scripture quotations are taken from …” is sufficient. However, if the author at one point decided to quote from another version—even just one verse—at that verse reference the author will need to note the version, and then you as copy editor need to make sure that the correct copyright clause for that Bible version has been added to the copyright page.
Some publishers follow the Bible quoting and sourcing guidelines in the Chicago Manual of Style, others follow The Christian Writer’s Manual of Style. In addition, all Christian publishers have their own style guides for how to abbreviate Bible book names (Deut., or Deu., or Dt.), how to write references (hyphen, comma or en-dash between verse spans), and the capitalizations of various scriptural words (temple or Temple; rapture or Rapture). Some publishers use the lowercase letters a or b to indicate in the reference that the author is using the first or second part of a verse (Psalm 139:14a); others don’t do that. If you are editing for a particular publisher, ask for their style guide. If not, make your decisions at this point and note them on your style sheet so that you’ll be consistent.
Over the years, I’ve gathered up a list of items important to remember when quoting from or otherwise using Scripture in writing. Following are the first five of ten key rules for quoting and sourcing Scripture (the other five will be in the next blog post).
(1) Know what version(s) you’re using—and quote it correctly.
“Be careful, for writing books is endless” (Ecclesiastes 12:12, NLT).
“Of making many books there is no end” (Ecclesiastes 12:12, NIV).
“There’s no end to the publishing of books” (Ecclesiastes 12:12 MSG).
Follow the various style guides or the style guide from the publisher for the details; barring that, be consistent. Use your style sheet to make note of how you write the references (1:3, 4 or 1:3-4 or 1:3–4) and whether you’re writing Bible book names out in full or abbreviating them (and how you abbreviate them). The moral of the story is, be consistent.
By far the most important key to quoting Scripture is to quote it accurately. I can’t stress enough: Read the verses carefully, word by word. If I had a nickel for every time I’ve seen typos in quoted verses … well, I’d have a lot of nickels. And if the author has copied verses from Bible Gateway or some other electronic Bible, still double check it. Do a comparison read, a phrase at a time—read aloud and read the punctuation as well. If you’re working with an electronic Bible, minimize both screens so that you can see the document and see the electronic page at the same time. That makes it much easier than trying to flip back and forth between screens.
(2) Be sure that “Lord” or “God” is small caps where appropriate.
Throughout the Old Testament (and in the New Testament when it’s quoting the Old), the word Lord will be rendered as LORD, with the “ORD” as small caps and, in a few cases, GOD is that way as well. (Note that my WordPress program isn’t allowing me to make those small caps, but take a look in your Old Testament and you’ll see what I mean.) When you see Lord in small caps, you’re seeing the translators using this special formatting to show that the word is the Hebrew word for the name of God, YHWH or Yahweh, as opposed to other names of God (Elohim or Adonai, for example). It is important that when you quote Bible verses that have small caps, you include those small caps.
If you’re not seeing a verse quoted with the small caps and it should be, you can quickly create small capitals by highlighting the “ord” (make sure that you start with the letters in lower case) and then pressing Control + Shift + K. You can also highlight the three letters, navigate to the Home ribbon and Font tab with the dropdown to open up the Font menu, and then click on the box for “Small caps.” Mac users, do Command + Shift + K.
(3) Don’t worry about italics.
Some Old Testament texts italicize words that have been added for readability in English but are not technically in their source texts. You may not see these on the electronic Bibles, but if you’re copying from your Bible, you may see various words italicized. Unless the words are italicized for other purposes (for example, in the New Testament where Jesus speaking in Aramaic), then don’t worry about copying the italics. Most publisher style guides specify not to do that.
For example, Genesis 1:10 in the King James Version reads, “And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called the Seas: and God saw that it was good.” Notice the italics on “land” and “it was.” When you copy this verse into your manuscript, you don’t need to italicize those words. (However, note that you do need to maintain the capital letters beginning Earth and Seas.)
However, if you’re quoting Jesus as here in Matthew 27:46 in the New International Version (2011): “About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?‘ (which means ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’),” then preserve the italics because this verse is following the rule of putting foreign language words in italics.
(4) Use quotation marks accurately.
Generally, when you’re going to quote a verse, you will put it in quotation marks, as here, “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners” (Romans 5:8 NLT). However, if you’re quoting a passage with more than five lines, generally you’ll put that in a block, so then you will not use open and close quotes (this line-count rule applies to quoting any kind of block text—not only Scripture). For example:
We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. (Romans 5:3–6 NLT)
If you’re running a quoted Scripture verse into your text that has a quote within it, you will need to change the double quotes to single quotes, such as, “Jesus told him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life’” (John 14:6 NLT). Notice that since I had to enclose the quote in quotation marks to quote it here in this paragraph, I needed to change the original double quotation marks around Jesus’ words to single quotation marks. Also, if you need to capitalize a letter at the beginning or lower case a letter because you’re folding the quote into a sentence you wrote, do so.
The exception is when you do a block (as above). Since there are no open or close quotes around a block of text, any internal quotation marks will remain as in the original.
(5) Don’t include verse numbers.
When you’re quoting more than one verse, either running into your text or in a block quote, you don’t need to include the verse numbers at each verse. These verse numbers may carry over from electronic Bible software if you copy a block of material, so be sure to remove them.
“Versification” refers to those Bibles where each verse starts in a new paragraph; that is, the verses are not run together to create paragraphs. When you’re copying from such Bibles, you do not need to keep the verses separate. That is simply a stylistic decision made by the Bible publisher. For your purposes when quoting, run the material together into one paragraph.
The same rule applies to quoting poetry in Scripture. You can preserve the poetic lines or type the poetry into paragraph form. Also note that when presenting poetry together into paragraph lines, you may need to lowercase some letters. The text may have capital letters at the beginning of each new line or verse, but when run together, these would be incorrect. Fix the capitalization to match sentence case.
I know! There’s a lot to keep track of!
So that gets us started! We need to be very careful as we work with material that quotes Scripture. Watch for rules 6-10 in an upcoming post.
Linda Taylor: Teacher, Editor, Publishing Professional 