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Stay up to date with the events and knowledge that are shaping the publishing industry.
7 Key Tips for Tackling a New Client’s Style Guide
Diving into work for a new copy editing client is always an exciting time for any editor—but it can also be an intimidating one. And it doesn’t help when you’re trying to wrap your mind around a 10-page style guide you’ve never seen before! But here’s the good news:...
LGBTQ Representation in Publishing is on the Rise, but the Band Plays On
June is designated as Pride Month in honor of the 1969 Stonewall riot, which was seen as the unofficial start of the gay rights movement here in the United States. The movement has seen gains over the years in just about every aspect of American culture, including the...
Should the Onus be on Research Institutes or Publishers to Catch Scholarly Misconduct?
Scholarly misconduct unfortunately seems to be on the rise in recent years. Paper mills are becoming more and more prevalent by the day. More than 8,000 papers were retracted by publisher Hindawi. Wiley’s newest AI paper detection software found that 10-13% of papers...
Interior Book Design: Guide to Formatting, Layout, and Design
When it comes to interior page formatting, it's important to keep in mind that programs such as Microsoft Word and Google Docs may not be the most suitable tools for designing your book. It takes more than just a few clicks to transform your typed pages into a...
Celebrate National Grammar Day by Debunking Some Common Grammar Myths
March 4th marks National Grammar Day in the United States. Started by author Martha Brockenbrough, the founder of the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar, National Grammar Day was officially recognized by George W. Bush in 2008, and has been celebrated annually...
A Crash Course on the Public Domain Care of Mickey Mouse
After 95 years of perhaps the strictest copyright protection this side of bulletproof glass, Mickey Mouse is now entering the public domain – sort of. The original “Steamboat Willy” version of Walt Disney’s crown jewel of intellectual property officially enters the...
Closing the Gap, One Step at a Time
February 11, 2024 marks the ninth annual U.N. General Assembly’s International Day of Women and Girls in Science. Now, more than ever, girls’ horizons are expanding, allowing them to make their marks in fields in which they have historically been underrepresented....
Lighting the Fire!! The Harlem Renaissance’s Queer Publication
The Harlem Renaissance was “surely as gay as it was black.” As we bring in 2024’s celebration of Black History month, it feels only right to shine a light on the voices that have been deliberately lost to time. In 1920, the world witnessed the inspired boom of art,...
Is SkyNet Taking Over? AI-Generated Articles Are Popping Up Left and Right
Yes, it’s hyperbolic to say that the machines are truly taking over as James Cameron predicted almost 40 years ago in The Terminator, but everyday seems to bring more and more news stories about AI infiltrating another industry. Publishing is not immune to this...
How to Organize an Author Event as an Independent Author
After your book is written, your hope as an author is for your work to reach interested readers and grow a fan base. But how do you establish connections and locate those readers? One effective approach is to arrange events such as live readings and panel discussions....
The Dos and Don’ts of Writing a Prologue
Writing a prologue can be difficult and intimidating. A prologue—the short opening section of a story—may be the first thing you read when picking up a novel. Consequently, some writers are afraid of giving away too much plot information, or of not enticing the reader...
Get to Know the Technica Staff – Deana Rodriguez
Each month, we will interview one employee to get their opinions on the publishing industry, hear what it’s like to work at Technica, and learn a little bit about them. This month we are interviewing Deana Rodriguez, a Long Beach, California native who consults remotely and has been a managing editor for peer-reviewed journals for more than 25 years. She...
Marketing Your Journal Through Social Media
As an increasing number of millennials join the community of researchers and authors, journals need to adjust their marketing strategies accordingly, which includes a heavy focus on social media. But social media marketing, with all of its nuances, can be pretty intimidating. So…where to start? Define the purpose of social media for your journal. The most...
Get to Know the Technica Staff: Sara Terrell
Each month, we will interview one employee to get their opinions on the publishing industry, hear what it’s like to work at Technica, and learn a little bit about them. This month we are interviewing Sara Terrell, one of our Assistant Editors and proud Carrboro townie. What drew you to working in the publishing industry? I was drawn to books first, as I...
Disruptions in Scholarly Publishing: A Recap of the SSP Seminar
The Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP) Seminar, New Directions in Scholarly Publishing Models, focused on current and upcoming transitions and disruptions in the publishing industry. The ongoing transition to open access (OA) has spurred alternative paths to publication, from preprints to open and community peer review. With publishers looking for new...
“Why Was My Text Changed?”: An Editor Addresses a Common Author Concern
Authors often ask copy editors, “Why was my text changed?” There may be other related questions, like “I prefer British spellings” or “I don’t want items put in a bulleted list, I like numbered lists.” These authors are running up against “house style” and, unfortunately, must accept the changes. House style is established by publishers so that their books...
Resume-Building and Networking Tips When Looking for a Career in Publishing
Having a pristine resume has long been considered a critical element for any jobseeker, but it is perhaps even more crucial when looking for a job in the publishing field. Publishing is a field where typographical and/or grammatical errors can literally put you out of business—and if these kinds of mistakes show up on your resume, that’s a glaring red flag...
Women Strive to Break the Glass Ceiling of Publishing
According to a 2016 Guardian article, 78% of staff working at 34 major book publishers and 8 peer-reviewed journals were female. Founded in 1979, the Women in Publishing group, based in London, works to build women’s careers and networking abilities, while also fostering personal development. The group determined that even though publishing jobs are...
What Publishers Should Know About Image Manipulation
Image tweaks are common in the realm of scientific journals — but when do authors cross the line between the acceptable and the fraudulent? During the 2019 ISMTE North American Conference (in Durham, NC), two experts shared their insights on what constitutes legitimate use of image alteration to beautify graphics in scientific work and what constitutes...
ISMTE Recap: Text Recycling and Self-Plagiarism in Academic Publishing
On March 1, 2019, ISMTE held a meeting hosted by Research Square in Durham, NC, led by Cary Moskovitz speaking on the topic, “Text Recycling and Self-Plagiarism: Findings from an NSF-Sponsored Study and Implications for Journal Offices.” Moskovitz, a member of the Thompson Writing program at Duke University, shared data gathered from the five-year study...