ellen jovin is a cofounder of syntaxis, a communication skills training firm based in new york city. the author of several books for business professionals, she has a ba in german studies from harvard and an ma in comparative literature from ucla.
earlier this year, fiction+ considered whether a novel should have a table of contents. although it might seem to be a matter of personal preference, there are strong practical reasons for including or not including a toc, depending on a book’s genre and format.
from our own reading, most of us know that some paperback and hardcover novels have a table of contents page in the front and some don’t. lurking online, i perceive a widespread notion that tables of contents are old-fashioned and pointless for fiction.
books are the anchors of the publishing world, at least judging by the weight of the chicago manual of style. they’re also the subject of cmos’s first seventy-six numbered paragraphs (1.1–76)—and of this month’s “chicago style” workout. take the quiz to learn more.
a few weeks ago at my local library i came across a novel i’d been wanting to read. i didn’t have time for another book, but i took it home anyway.
since it was first published almost twenty years ago, the copyeditor’s handbook has served as both textbook and guide for copyeditors in book publishing and corporate communications. the revised fourth edition of the handbook is now published alongside a companion, the copyeditor’s workbook, . . .
cheryl klein is editorial director at lee & low books and the author of the magic words: writing great books for children and young adults and the forthcoming picture book wings.
cmos: behind the book is about eleven writers and their experiences in writing and publishing. there are already an awful lot of ”how i got published“ blog posts out there in the world. how is your book different? cj: let me just say, i love those kinds of posts. i think it’s really valuable to
our chicago warehouse has been working hard to ship tens of thousands of copies of the manual. here’s a peek at the books as they prepare to head out to desks around the world.
this year, shop talk asked some trusted colleagues in publishing to introduce us to a favorite book or website. we hope you find a new love among them!
