Non-Fiction Writing Highlights

You may not be gifting the riveting titles I’ve penned, such as Metals and Non-Metals, but my writing at Copyediting and in textbooks as well as on my own blog and podcast have been consumed by thousands.

As a developmental editor, it is often my job to draft content for the expert authors. When I am the author, I work with experts to get their knowledge out into the world.

Here you’ll find a showcase of some of the more popular pieces that hit multiple touchpoints.

From research to article, to podcast

This series on error detection started with a search for defensible research to answer a common industry question. That led to an article in 2013, then Tweets and other social media posts, and eventually to a podcast episode. Six years later, the article and podcast remain the primary source quoted in industry discussions; every few weeks, new articles and social media posts link to it. Many practitioners refer to it in their contracts and promotional materials. I’m in the process of reissuing the podcast with new interviews and remastered audio.

https://blog.catchthesun.net/2013/11/podcast-error-rates-in-editing/

Articles to printables, to podcast + webinar

Checklists are the tool for any exacting expert, they’re also an excellent way to drive web traffic. From a conference presentation by an expert on the lifesaving potential of checklists, I developed an article and podcast framing their use in a different professional context, and created 16 downloadable and sharable checklists for a particular niche. This led to a webinar.

Lessons: from tips to textbook

This series began as Tweets, expanded into (commissioned) how to blog posts which a professional organization then asked me to turn into a half course. That then led to the multimedia textbook enhanced with demo videos which is now a course text at UCSD.

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Another marketing series is on the same track. The course resulted in a textbook that has just been released. Here is an early Tweet.

Pulling the emotions

Sometimes the touchy-feely topics surprise me in the volume of audience engagement they generate. Lengthy discussions and audience contributions followed publication of this article on working on disturbing topics. And this one on building resilience was shared widely (in Tweets, too).

https://www.copyediting.com/how-to-edit-the-difficult-subjects/

On a more positive side, the incredible power of acting how you want to feel garnered similar interest. People still approach me at conferences to share how it’s working for them. State your rate with confidence is a blog post and a podcast episode, as well as tweets to promote those.

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