LDSPMA

Empowering Latter-day Saints to spread light and truth by connecting them at the intersection of faith, creativity, and professional skill

Editing

LDSPMA Member Spotlight: Cathy Lim!

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Cathy Lim lives in Hoover, Alabama.

What are some names of the books or other media you have created?
RatedReads.com is my web creation; I love books and words, and I love to share suggestions with others. Rated Reads is unlike the many other book review websites out there in that I give ratings to books for content: “none” or “mild” for fairly clean books, and “moderate” and “high” for those with more profanity, sexual content or violence. It has almost 2,000 reviews now. I’ve also written all kinds of articles over the past few decades about lots of topics; one set I’m really proud of is a series about plastic surgery for KSL.com.
What inspired you to become a creator of media?
I went into journalism in college because I love being able to learn and write about … everything! What I was particularly passionate about right from the start was editing. I’ve primarily done copy editing over the years, and it allows me not just to “fix errors” but to really bring out the best in someone else’s work. Sure, I do clean up copy so their stories and characters can shine, and I often suggest better phrasing or words so their ideas are expressed just as they intend. It’s a collaborative process that results in the best creation.
What has been the highlight of your career so far?
After 30 years in the journalism/writing/editing business, it’s really hard to pick one thing. I’d say I’ve enjoyed most working for LDS Living and with Deseret Digital Media as a copy editor because I get to collaborate on producing inspiring and uplifting articles. I’ve met wonderful people. Moving more into editing book manuscripts has been something I have wanted to do for a long time, and I’ve enjoyed working with the authors I’ve edited for so far. I’m liking the trajectory of my career.
What was the best advice you’ve ever been given in your creative journey?
Love what you do and do what you love.
What advice do you have for someone just starting out in your field?
Don’t be afraid to show how passionate you are about something. You don’t have to always present yourself in a dry, professional manner. Show that spark of excitement and passion you have for what you do and the job you may hope to have.
What keeps you inspired in your daily creative work?
I think just reading and learning keep my brain active and my creative juices flowing. I get excited by learning new things and reading something that’s really imaginative, well-written, or thought-provoking. That stimulates me to go out there and similarly create.
What would you like others to know about you or your creative process?
Words are currency. Using precisely the right word is a passion of mine. I love how we have tens of thousands of words at our disposal. I love the thesaurus. It’s a wonderful tool. I’ll sometimes sit and stew for five or ten minutes over something I’m writing or editing, clicking through options in the online thesaurus, pondering and searching for the exact word I know is out there to express a thought, an intent. Synonyms don’t often mean words are exactly alike; they have shades of meaning, and I won’t settle for the wrong one.
In what ways do you feel you have been able to be a voice for good in your creative pursuits?
I think my book review website, Rated Reads, is a particular force for good. It provides crucial information to thousands of readers (and parents of readers) If we’re seeking after works that are virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, it helps to have pertinent information about the millions of books that are available at our fingertips. Some, it’s pretty easy to tell we won’t find content that’s of good report, but others … it’s a complete mystery until we get into the pages and run into things we’d rather not find. My site is a great service.

You can learn more about Rated Reads at https://ratedreads.com

Cathy’s copy-editing site is at https://cathycarmodelim.com

Member Spotlight: Devan Jensen!

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Our member spotlight this week is Devan Jensen of Orem, Utah. He is the current President of the Latter-day Saint Publishing and Media Association.

What are the books/products you’ve created?

As an author, I have written about fifty articles on people and topics in church history. These include Philo Dibble, C. C. A. Christensen, Shoshone history, and the Utah War. In addition, I also wrote God’s Greatest Gifts: 10 Reasons to Rejoice. I compiled Best-Loved Poems of the LDS People, Poems That Lift the Soul, Gradguide, and Latter-day Saint Essentials. I’m working with Rose Ram to write a book called Saints of Micronesia. (I served as a missionary in Micronesia.)

As an editor at the BYU Religious Studies Center, I have edited thousands of articles and chapters. I also manage social media for BYU Religious Education, BYU Religious Studies Center, Church History News, Religious Educator, and Pohnpei Church History.

What inspired you to become a writer/editor?

My parents and elementary school librarians hooked me on reading and inspired me to become a writer. Only later did I realize that editing could become a career.

What has been the highlight of your career so far?

A repeated highlight has been traveling with friends to research or to present papers, especially on Pacific history. My favorite places to travel have included New Zealand, Samoa, Tahiti, Guam, Chuuk, Taiwan, and Washington, DC.

Another real highlight is working with Pacific scholars to write a history of Micronesia that will go in the Yigo Guam Temple.

What was the best advice you’ve ever been given in your creative work?

A grab bag of many years of advice:

  • Find the empty spot on the shelf and write for that audience.
  • Ask good research questions.
  • Pluck the low-hanging fruit of the internet and libraries. Then visit archives to dig into original research.
  • Network with other scholars and refine your work through informal peer review and then formal peer review.
What advice do you have for someone just starting out in your field?

Pay the price of learning to become an expert in your field.

What keeps you inspired in your daily creative work?

Traveling with friends to research or present papers is a huge motivating factor. I hope to travel to New York in 2021 to present at the Mormon History Association conference. I would like to visit the Yigo Guam Temple dedication.

What would you like others to know about you?

Like so many of you, I have a voracious appetite for learning, and for challenging my preexisting assumptions. My Facebook page shares my aspirations: As a writer and editor, I’m shaping a more just and sustainable community, nation, and world.

My wife, Patty, and I live in Orem, Utah. We have four children and an adorable granddaughter. I like to ride my electric bike all over Utah Valley. I perform magic tricks and like to sing and play the piano and ukulele.

Tell us about your work!

I enjoy helping authors to publish and helping promote their work. I have more than thirty years of experience working with books, journals, magazines, newsletters, websites, and social media. I’m volunteering as the president of the Latter-day Saint Publishing and Media Association (LDSPMA), which I helped to found.

I was hired in 2001 at the BYU Religious Studies Center. Since then I have led talented teams to edit about 250 books or book-length projects, which has garnered many awards.

I have been an adjunct instructor of business writing, editing, and religion for BYU and Utah Valley University. Also, I have been an editor for the Ensign magazine, Church Publishing Services Department, and Deseret Book Company. I have presented at BYU Education Week, Latter-day Saint Publishing and Media Association, Mormon History Association Conference, Sons of Utah Pioneers, Pacific History Association, and Utah State History Conference. As a National Merit Scholar, I received my BA (cum laude) and MA degrees in English from BYU.

Do you have a website?

BYU Religious Studies Center, my personal blog and the Pohnpei Church History Blog.

Where can we find you on social media?

Estimating Time for Editing

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By Devan Jensen

When authors turn in a new manuscript, they usually want it printed now. How long does it take from manuscript to printed book? We typically plan on one year from the time the rough manuscript arrives to the time it is peer reviewed, edited, proofread, designed, sent to authors for approval, proofread, indexed, and printed.                                                     

You can estimate how long it will take to edit a manuscript by looking over all its parts. How many typos do you see on each page? How complete are the notes? Does it have an appendix? How many photos will be used? Are they scanned? Will you edit on hard copy or electronic copy?

The following guidelines also apply:

The Chicago Manual of Style, 2.49     Estimating editing time. Estimates for how long the job of manuscript editing should take—a figure generally determined by the publisher and agreed to by the manuscript editor—usually start with the length of the manuscript. Because of inevitable variations in typefaces and margins and other formatting characteristics from one manuscript to another, the length is best determined by a word count rather than a page count (though a word count can be derived from a page count for paper-only manuscripts). A 100,000-word book manuscript, edited by an experienced editor, might take seventy-five to one hundred hours of work before being sent to the author, plus ten to twenty additional hours after the author’s review. This rough estimate may need to be adjusted to take into account any complexities in the text or documentation, the presence and characteristics of any tables and illustrations, and the degree of electronic formatting and markup that an editor will need to remove or impose (see 2.77). If in doubt, edit a small sample to serve as the basis of an estimate. An additional factor is of course the publication schedule, which will determine how many days are available for the editing stage. Also pertinent is information about the author’s availability to review the edited manuscript, amenability to being edited, propensity to revise, and so forth.

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