New members: introduce yourselves!

[johnco]

Hello guys ?

I'm new here from Philippines, Manila. I'm John Rey Cortes.

[bdemontis]

My name is Bruno and I'm an avid SF reader from Paris, France.

[Leo Alves]

Hello
I'm Leonardo, from Brazil, and also a big SF fan. I work in publishing here, currently as copyeditor, and I hope to learn more about SF's publishing universe.

[tnh]

Welcome, Leo. What have you been copyediting?

[Leo Alves]

Mostly fiction (YA and historical), and the occasional academic work. I'm a freelance, so it varies a bit.
Actually, I'm about to be assigned my first SF job, so I'm quite excited. :-)
BTW, does anyone here also work as copyeditor (in the US or any other country)?

[Ian P. Johnson]

Leo– somebody should put up an "Official Copyediting Thread" for the copyeditors on Tor.com to post to about their jobs. Although I couldn't contribute: I have no idea how copyediting works.

Congrats on getting your first SF job! What's the book you've been assigned to copyedit?

[Leo Alves]

I'll be some new american sci-fi YA novel translated to Portuguese, but please forgive me if I don't tell you the title: I'm not sure I'm allowed to disclose many details about it...

As for copyediting, here's an educational-and-kinda-fun description of how it works:
http://www.sfwa.org/2009/06/a-writer...he-copyeditor/

[dominsions]

I'm an electrical engineer by day, and I'm interested in theoretical physics: extra dimensions, dark energy, string theory, and related sci-fi/fantasy. I'm hoping to meet some people with similar interests and find some new works, expand my horizons. My website is www.dominsions.com.

[tnh]

Leo: I'm potentially a copyeditor all the time, and I work as a copyeditor sometimes. I also used to be the person in charge of freelance copyediting and copyeditors at Tor Books.

Ian, copyeditors are part alien. If you invite them to a party, odds are that sooner or later they'll all wind up in a corner together, discussing unbelievably arcane fine points of language and usage. People who don't naturally have firm opinions about appositives, the third edition of Fowler, the propriety of using an en-dash rather than a hyphen when you add another compounding modifier to an existing compound adjective, or how you handle the title of a ride at Disneyland, don't tend to join in or stick around.

[Leo Alves]

Tnh, don't forget the also arcane, though sometimes hilarious, war stories about writing styles. They're specially fun (and often despairing) in translations such as the ones I'm used to work. In a party with two or more copyeditors, heated discussion about usage of verb tenses will most likely be punctuated by curious examples, occasionally followed by roaring laughter.
Have you ever read "Happy TM" (trademark symbol), by Will Ferguson?