=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= EDline Vol. 6, no. 15 (15 April 2001) Editorial mailing list (digest version) Published by the Electric Editors =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Contents: Q & A [2nz] Capitalising the definite article Business matters [4eg] US rates of pay [5] Bookmarks [6] Just for fun [8] Administration =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ---[2] Q & A --------------------------------------------------- ** [2nz] Capitalising the definite article Date: Mon, 9 April 2001 From: Katie Purvis, Katie.Purvis@penguin.com.au Fellow Edliners, what is your view on capitalising the definite article in the names of bands -- e.g. the/The Knack, and albums, e.g. the/The Planxty Collection -- in works of fiction? For example: 'Ever since hearing the Knack [the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Waterboys ...] for the first time, he had begun to lose interest in the music of his homeland.' 'Lying on his bed, he played The Planxty Collection [The Boatman's Call, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars ...] on the stereo he had received for his fifteenth birthday.' Don't forget -- this is in a novel, not a non-fiction work. ---[4] Business matters --------------------------------------- ** [4eg] US rates of pay Date: Sun, 8 April 2001 From: Madeleine Wood, woodmj@bigfoot.com I have been offered my first US contract - good news of course *but* the offered rate p/h for proof-reading online web text is $11.50. This seems to calculate to circa GBP6.40 per hour! Have I miscalculated or it just that there is a special method of US publishers paying British editors/converting currency of payment?! I would appreciate *all* advice, in fact, re working with overseas publishers. ----------------------- Date: Mon, 9 April 2001 From: Iwan Thomas, iwan@frame.org.uk Be careful about the way that you receive payment. Many UK banks charge a small fortune to convert dollar cheques. Nat West, for example, would charge GBP13.50 to convert a $175 cheque drawn on a US bank. There was an item about this on Radio 4's _Money Box_ programme last Saturday. A transcript can be found on the BBC Web site at: < http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/audiovideo/programmes/ moneybox/transcripts/newsid_1264000/1264647.stm > ----------------------- Date: Mon, 9 April 2001 From: Margaret Corbett, mcorbett@dial.pipex.com And HSBC charges GBP6.50 for conversion of a DM electronic transfer (the equivalent of BACS, I think). ----------------------- Date: Mon, 9 April 2001 From: Josephine Bacon, bacon@langservice.com I strongly suspect that the rate in question is the rate they are offering, take it or leave it. It does indeed amount to GBP6.40 an hour. Makes sure you find out the cheapest way for them to transfer the money to you and insist they use it. The cheapest and best is Western Union provided they pay all the charges, but they are unlikely to do it that way. A dollar cheque will take forever to honour through your bank, bank transfer is best but make them pay the charges. ----------------------- Date: Mon, 9 April 2001 From: Kathleen Lyle, Kathleen@klyle.demon.co.uk If you wouldn't work for such a low rate for a UK client, there is no reason to do it for a US client. Unless they give you an awful lot of work, the bank charges will consume much of your earnings. In my (limited) experience, US clients and their banks are not accustomed to international payments, and anything other than issuing a US dollar cheque seems to be beyond them. Paying to have this negotiated is tolerable if the cheque is large enough, but not otherwise. You may be able to persuade the client to add something to the fee to cover bank charges - say $25. A useful thing I learned when working in house (in a journal office where we received many payments from overseas) is that if it's a sterling payment, make sure it's on a London bank, and if its a US$ payment, make sure it's on a US bank. Otherwise you (or your bank, on your behalf) gets involved in three-way transactions and the costs soar. ----------------------- Date: Mon, 9 April 2001 From: Patricia Zukowski, pez@acad.umass.edu I am not certain what the publisher is considering "proofreading." However, that rate of pay sounds like slave labor. I don't remember the name of the Web site--it was something that popped up one day on the MSN opening page, but it had something to do with whether or not you were getting underpaid. It listed rates of pay for a wide variety of professions in different US cities. As I recall, the rate for editors/proofreaders was between $22.00- $28.00, with the one of the highest rates being in Boston, MA-- higher than NYC. There is, however, considerable variation from state to state. I know that for developmental editing, some publishers pay between $38.00-$50.00 per hour. When you consider that it costs me 75.00 for a dental hygienist to clean my son's teeth for about twenty minutes, perhaps that you gives you some perspective. And the US legal minimum wage, what one without education, skills, or job preparation could expect to make at McDonalds or some such arrangement is about $6.00 an hour. Still, as you say, this could be an "in" to the market. And sometimes that is worth more than the money one gets paid. Best wishes. Look for that Web site I refer to above. It is called something like "Are you underpaid"? ----------------------- Date: Sun, 15 April 2001 From: Iain Brown, iain.brown@ucl.ac.uk I did a quick Web search and came up with the following sites which allow users to compare their current earnings with others, just as Patricia suggested above: < http://www.thewpbfchannel.com/wpb/money/stories/ money-20001127-110620.html > < http://www.marsemployment.com/survey.html > < http://www.salary.com > < http://www.wageweb.com > ---[5] Bookmarks ---------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 15 April 2001 From: Iain Brown, iain.brown@ucl.ac.uk Douglas Adams' "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Future" A BBC series of video and audio clips on electronic publishing: < http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/hitchhikers/publishing.shtml > From the Website: "Will e-publishing mean the end of the bound book, complete with a little ribbon running through it? Douglas confesses that the last time he had a book with a ribbon it was a Christening present, and he is ready to embrace the e-publishing revolution. He finds that it offers opportunities for both established authors and first time writers, and looks forward to the arrival of a whole range of gadgets aimed at making reading easier and more pleasurable. Forget reading from a computer screen - we're waiting for the arrival of electronic paper!" ---[6] Just for fun -------------------------------------------- Piffling trifles, no. 1 The longest one-syllable word in the English language is "screeched." (This new series of unusual facts (trivia?) has been kindly contributed by BJ Sutton.) +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ Oxymorons, no. 30 Microsoft Works ---[8] Administration ------------------------------------------ EDline provides the opportunity for an online discussion of matters editorial and editorial business. 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