Linda Hewitt

It's interesting that so little attention has been paid to the core cause of the vulnerability of traditional, paper-based publishers to eBooks and Amazon. Maybe this is because it's always been the elephant in the room, i.e., any business model that accepts a distribution system in which the company selling the product may not know  Read More 

Did you know that Dr. Johnson of Dictionary fame drank pots of hot tea each day? Maybe it was the tannin that prompted all the words!

Steve Jobs has scaled back his role at Apple. The move wasn’t unexpected. Even so, Apple shares have taken a huge hit after the closing, most likely to rebound if not tomorrow then the next day or the next.

Most accounts say that – contrary to management and leadership fads prevailing during the decades that Jobs has played a major role in the transformation of tech – the man is a micro-manager of the most precise sort. All I can say is that, if this is what it takes to accomplish what his organizations have done, let’s hope Tim Cook knows how to use the same kind of corporate magnifier to keep a close eye on the ongoing Apple enterprise. Read More 

So, okay, let me clarify what I mean by "editorial professionalism." In the context of this post, it refers to a presentation of content that does not distract from the writer's ability to communicate to the reader the intended information, atmosphere, emotion, etc.

Editorial professionalism is determined by specific actions throughout the entire writing continuum from the first draft all the way through to output.

What are the causes of editorial unprofessionalism? The most basic is either carelessness or ignorance on the part of the writer. The second is the sometimes confusing result of grammar- and spell-checking capabilities resident in most full-featured word-processing programs. The third derives from bad composition habits due to the widespread use of communications systems that reward brevity above all other virtues. The fourth is a failure on the part of the publishing house to provide competent editorial support. The fifth relates to glitches in programs that convert publication files into the eBook universe. Read More 

I'll admit it. I've had a circuitous experience with Twitter. An early user, I dropped the first account, as I found myself doing a particularly lazy version of those airline passengers who call those waiting at the terminal to tell them the plane has landed, then call them again to say they're getting their carry-on from the overhead, then call them again to say they're standing in line to de-plane, etc., etc., boring etc. Shortly afterwards, I started tweeting again as a way of keeping in touch with a couple of friends who'd moved away, a substitute for the texting I could no longer use because there's no signal in the high mountain valley where I now live. After that exchange died out (which took about 2 days), I didn't bother to cancel the account, but I didn't tweet for three years.  Read More