Printing began in 1676 in Boston by John Foster. The first press in Philadelphia was set by William Bradford whose first work issued was an almanac in 1685. Bradford moved to New York [...]]]> I thought it would be interesting to share a bit
about the history of printing in North America
since most of my readers are both writers and
readers.

Printing began in 1676 in Boston by John Foster.
The first press in Philadelphia was set by William
Bradford whose first work issued was an almanac
in 1685. Bradford moved to New York and begun
printing there in 1693.

Among the early books published in America, a few
still retain readers’ interest because of their
attractive strangeness.

Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston on January,
17,1706, and died in Philadelphia, on April 17, 1790.
He begun his apprenticeship as a printer in 1778,
and worked as a journey-man in Philadelphia in 1724.
He was a master printer in 1729. As an editor and a
publisher he made himself notable.

In 1732, Franklin issued the first issues of “Poor
Richards Almanac”, which was published every year,
for twenty-five years. “Poor Richard” made Franklin
famous. He was aware that in many homes this
almanac was the only book. He filled the space
between the important days in the calendar with
proverbs, showing industry and frugality as the
means of obtaining wealth and thus according to
Franklin’s belief securing virtue; he thought that the
way entertain people was to help them to be good.

The first printers had small wooden presses. Their
power was slight and they printed one page at a time.
The screw was of wood, and worked by a “bar,” much
the same as a modern napkin press. The chief thing was
to obtain an even surface on the “bed” upon which the
page of type rested; and an even surface for the “platen,”
which was lowered as the bar turned the screw, and thus
pressed the paper on the typeface. The evenness, as well
as the color, in many old books, shows that this was
accomplished with great success.

The first journal appeared in America on September 25,
1690, in Boston under the name of Public Occurrences.
The Boston News-Letter was started in 1704. The Boston
Gazette appeared on December 21, 1719, and The American
Weekly Mercury of Philadelphia a day later. The Pennsylvania
Gazette of Philadelphia was started in 1728 by Samuel Keimer,
but less than a year later was bought by Benjamin Franklin.
In 1821 it became The Saturday Evening Post; under this title
it is still issued, and is the oldest existing journal in America.

Till next time
Gloria

Errors are most readily detected if a card is used to cover all lines except the one that is [...]]]> Writers who write for publication should know how
to proofread, so that he may be able to do this
work quickly and accurately. After all, you don’t
want to submit copy that is loaded with typos,
and other errors, do you?

Errors are most readily detected if a card is used
to cover all lines except the one that is being
corrected. The card is moved down from line to
line as each is read and corrected. By having only
one line in sight and by examining every word,
the writer or proofreader can more readily
catch any errors.

Always proofread the copy word by word. It’s easy
to miss errors when reading groups of words.

Well this was a short one.

Till next time
Gloria

Functions of Headlines

Headlines developed from mere labels indicating the kind of reading material in the article below them, to [...]]]> Headlines are the short lines of text that catches
our eyes and makes us want to read an article,
press release, etc. But how does one go about
creating effective headlines? In this short
introduction to headlines I’ll try to show you.

Functions of Headlines

Headlines developed from mere labels indicating
the kind of reading material in the article below
them, to bulletins giving the substance of the
articles to which they are attached. Headlines
present in large type the important facts of the
story which it precedes.

Headlines serve a double purpose:
(1) they enable rapid reading of the news
outlined in the head
(2) they advertise the news to attract the
reader.

Headlines Promote Rapid Reading

Headlines fulfill an important role in contemporary
American life. Busy men or women can get world
news updates by reading only the headlines.

Headlines act as advertisements for articles. Like
all good advertisements headlines should create
interest. By arousing the reader’s curiosity,
skillfully written headlines attract reader attention.
This influences them to read the story.

Headlines should present newsy facts in a clear
and concise manner. The statements should also
be concrete and specific. Because of space
limitations, headlines should include the maximum
number of important facts as possible.

Action in Headlines

Headlines should express the action related in the
article. Consider the following three points as
essential elements of headlines:
(1) Life and vividness of expression create interest.
(2) Freshness and originality of phrasing enhance
clarity.
(3) Short, crisp, and specific words that can be
grasped quickly, generally make the best headlines.

Headlines Should Be Based Lead Sentences

Since all important facts are given in the lead, the
headline should be based largely, if not entirely, on
the lead. The headline should prepare the reader
for what is to follow.

To create concise headlines the articles “a”, “an”,
and “the” are omitted. Helping verbs that aren’t
absolutely necessary are also omitted.

To create freshness and vividness to the headline,
the present tense verbs are usually used even
though the action might have taken place in the
past; for example, “Palin Speaks in Cleveland.”
Future action is expressed by the infinitive or by
the regular future form with “will”; for example,
“Palin to Speak in Cleveland,” or “Palin Will Speak
in Cleveland.”

In general, only common abbreviations, like “Dr.,”
“Prof.,” “Mrs.,” “Mr.,” “St.,” “Co.,” are used in
headlines. However, others that are convenient
and clear can be used. In Washington state, for
example, “UW”, pronounced as “u-dub”, used as
an abbreviation for “University of Washington,” is
common.

Short words are preferred, because in rapid
reading they’re easier to grasp than long ones.
This led to either the coining of new words or
the application of new functions to old ones.
For example, “investigation” became “probe” and
“to investigate” became “to quiz”. Other such
changes can be seen in the following:
criticize —-> hit
censure —-> rap
rebuke —-> score
arrest —-> nab
marry —-> wed
However, when it comes to slang, the best and
safest course is to avoid it.

Punctuation in headlines and sub-headlines
should follow the accepted rules. When
punctuation marks aren’t necessary for clarity,
they should be omitted.

That’s a bit of food for thought, isn’t it? What
difficulties have you experience when having to
come up with a headline?

Next post on Proofreading 101.

Till next time,
Gloria

(1) Correcting all errors in word usage or in facts.

(2) Ensuring the story conforms to the “style” used by the publication or publisher.

(3) Improving the story when needed.

(4) Catching and eliminating libelous matter.

(5) Writing or improving headlines and subheads, where called for.

Good copy [...]]]> The reading and editing of copy consists of any or
all of the following five tasks:

(1) Correcting all errors in word usage or in facts.

(2) Ensuring the story conforms to the “style” used by
the publication or publisher.

(3) Improving the story when needed.

(4) Catching and eliminating libelous matter.

(5) Writing or improving headlines and subheads, where
called for.

Good copy editors must be able to quickly catch and
correct errors of all kinds. Clean copy should be free
of spelling, grammar, and high-sounding language
errors. Though important, the correction of such
errors, however, is not the most important part of the
editors work. Editors must be able to spot and correct
errors of fact. Editors must be familiar with proper
names appearing in the news, such as names of
prominent persona and places the world over, the titles
of well-known books, plays, pictures, and musical
compositions, the names of railroads and important
corporations, and special trade-mark names.

Editors must accurately judge value of the written work.
If the real point of the story has been buried by the writer,
editors must give it the prominence that it deserves. The
ineffective lead must be rewritten, removing needless
details, and often rearranging parts of the story so that it
flows better making it easier for the reader to follow.

To improve the style, editors must carefully consider
paragraphs and sentence construction, and choice of
words and figures. Each paragraph should be given an
effective eye-catching lead. Sentences must tie in well
with paragraphs. Editors must transform into firm,
coherent statements. In short, the editor’s task is
constructive weak, rambling sentences as well as critical;
it is as important for him to rewrite and rearrange as to
cut out and boil down.

Some Common Errors

In reading copy rapidly editors should be on the lookout
for certain kinds of common errors in spelling, grammar,
and punctuation. The editor’s quick eye will catch the
frequently misspelled words without difficulty, but
uncommon proper names are more likely to cause trouble,
and in cases of doubt, books of reference should be
consulted. To prevent errors in grammar from slipping into
a story, the editor should note:
(1) the agreement of the verb with the subject, especially
when separated by words or phrases;
(2) the relation of pronouns to their preceding nouns;
(3) the position of participles in relation to the words they
modify;
(4) the use of coordinate conjunctions to connect elements
of the same kind;
(5) the position of correlative conjunctions with relation to
the elements that they connect.

Common errors in punctuation are:
(1) using a comma instead of a semicolon to separate
independent, grammatically unconnected statements;
(2) omitting apostrophes in the possessive case and in
contractions;
(3) omitting a period after abbreviations;
(4) using double instead of single quotation marks;
(5) failing to put quotation marks at the beginning of
each paragraph of a continuous quotation and at the
end of only the last paragraph.

Here are some suggestions for making it easier for all
who are involved in the process.

(1) Read every word of copy carefully.
(2) Make all corrections you can spot before
submitting your writing to an editor.
(3) Cut out all needless words and phrases. I
guarantee you that as much as you
clean out, the editor will find even more.
(4) Don’t think that your own way of expressing an
idea is the only good way. There’s always more than
one way and some are better than others. Consider
suggestions carefully as you make your decision.
(5) Make sure that all quoted matter is properly
enclosed in “quotes” and that each new speaker
begins a new line.
(6) Make sure you use single ” quotes” on
quotations within quotations.
(7) Verify names, initials, addresses, dates, and
facts generally. You know what you
want to say so help the editor out by doing some
fact checking prior to submission.
(8) Put a magnifying glass to your work as you look
for libelous matter, especially in
nonfiction writing.

Now you’ve heard enough. Get back to your writing but
don’t forget to come back. Next time I’ll be writing about
headlines.