Editing Made Easy: Simple Rules for Effective Writing

An earlier version of Editing Made Easy, published in Bruce Kaplan's native Australia, has become a best-selling resource for writers in much or the English-speaking world. Because of the different spellings and conventions of American English, it has been unavailable here--until now. The new book is thoroughly revised, updated, expanded, and Americanized. It maintains the attractions of the original--friendly, easy-to-understand rules for improved writing. It's a quick read, and an easy reference for anybody who wants to communicate clearly with American English. The book is non-technical in its approach. It doesn't cover grammatical terms such as present perfect progressive or correlative conjunctions. It boils grammar and style into a few simple rules that will serve you well whether you are a journalist, a student, a novelist, a business executive, a blogger, or anybody else who would like to make effective use of written language.

About the Author :
Bruce Kaplan is a newspaper editor and editorial trainer with more than 40 years' international experience. He has held senior positions with major publications in Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore. An Australian edition of his book Editing Made Easy has become a standard reference and learning guide in Australia and elsewhere: his new book expands on that work and, for the first time, adapts it to the spellings and conventions of U.S. English.

Review :
It is rare that even an experienced and successful author has not needed the services of an editor. In "Editing Made Easy: Simple Rules for Effective Writing," Bruce Kaplan draws upon his more than forty years of professional experience and expertise as a newspaper copy editor and an editorial trainer to create a succinct, thoroughly 'user friendly, ' 112-page compendium of instruction, information, commentary, examples, and techniques for editing a manuscript to make the writing energized, engaging, and just plain better. "Editing Made Easy" lays out common errors of grammar and spelling; reveals how best to avoid typographical and factual errors; become informed as to the diverse styles of print and the varied online media. One of the principal reasons for the novice author to give "Editing Made Easy" a careful reading is to substantially improve their chances of having their manuscripts published, and as published books have them achieve a marketplace success. Covering the rules and conventions of American English, "Editing Made Easy" is informed, informative, and highly recommended for both personal reference shelves and community library Writing/Publishing instructional collections.-- "Midwest Book Review" Longtime newspaper editor Kaplan offers no-frills advice to self-editors. He stresses the value of writers who know how to edit their own work. His approach is similar to Bruce Ross-Larson's Edit Yourself. In 37 short chapters, Kaplan covers most thorny writing difficulties, such as split infinitives, tautologies, and misplaced modifiers. This is a book with lots of lists and white space: it would seem just as well suited to use in a digital format as in the traditional print version. The book's portability and its low price make it especially useful for college students and bloggers. VERDICT This affordable, bare-bones guide will appeal to writers (and others who have to write) - especially those who like referring to a handy list of do's and don'ts.-- "Library Journal"