How Words Get Good: The Story of Making a Book

(Paperback, Main)

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Description

'Any bibliophile will find many enjoyable nuggets in this compendium of book chat' Stephen Poole, Guardian

'An engaging little eye-opener about the publishing business, full of tasty nuggets about books, writers and their editors' Sunday Times

'Enjoyable ... engaging ... insightful' Independent

Once upon a time, a writer had an idea. They wrote it down. But what happened next

Join Rebecca Lee, professional text-improver, as she embarks on a fascinating journey to find out how words get from an author's brain to finished, printed books. She'll reveal the dark arts of ghostwriters, explore the secret world of literary agents and uncover the hidden beauty of typesetting. Along the way, her quest will be punctuated by a litany of little-known (but often controversial) considerations that make a big impact: ellipses, indexes, hyphens, esoteric points of grammar and juicy post-publication corrections. After all, the best stories happen when it all goes wrong.

From foot-and-note disease to the town of Index, Missouri - turn the page to discover how books get made and words get good.*

* Or, at least, better

Reviews

'A fascinating and funny look at what really goes into the making of a book' - Sunday Times

'A masterpiece' - Daily Mail

'Inject this straight into my veins!' - Lucy Mangan

'Engaging, informative, and fascinating!' - David Bellos, author

'Beautifully written, unbelievably well informed and utterly fascinating - I adored it.' - Shaun Bythell, author

Author Bio

Rebecca Lee is an editorial manager at Penguin Random House. She's spent twenty years managing hundreds of high profile books from delivery of manuscript to finished copies, signing off millions of words as fit to go to print with only the occasional regret.