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Event Review: SEO for Editors by Lisa Manfield

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Written by Wendy Barron; copy edited by Maggie Clark

Whether you do business on the Web or edit for clients who do, understanding search engine optimization—SEO—is crucial to creating compelling web content and helping people find that content. On September 30, Lisa Manfield shared the principles of good SEO with 15 editors who were eager to improve the Google juice of their own websites and their clients’ websites.

SEO changes constantly, Lisa notes, and Google (which has the largest market share in the Internet search game) never reveals how its algorithms work or which elements of SEO are weighted more heavily than others. But the SEO practices that worked in the early days, such as keyword stuffing of metadata and content farming, can now reduce a web page’s ranking rather than improve it.

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Part of a calendar is shown with one pin lying on top of it, another pin stuck in the 26th of an unknown month, and a blue circle around the 24th.
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October 18, 2017: Scary Editing Stories—Surviving and Learning from Difficult Situations

What: Editors BC monthly meeting
When: Wednesday, October 18, 2017, 7:00–9:00 pm
Where: Welch Room, 4th floor, YWCA Health + Fitness Centre, 535 Hornby Street, Vancouver | map
Cost: Free for Editors Canada members and student affiliates, $10 for non-members, and $5 for non-member students with valid ID. Registration at the door.

Unlike Halloween, editing isn’t meant to be a scary experience. But not all projects are treats. We’ve likely all experienced tricky situations when a client, employer, or author has been difficult to work with, processes have gone awry, or the project has felt like a fiasco from start to finish. In every such experience, however, there can be a lesson and an opportunity for professional growth. Continue reading →

Rows of desks face a projection screen in a classroom-like environment.
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October 27, 2017: Inclusive Style Guides

What: Editors BC professional development seminar
When: Friday, October 27, 2017, 9:30 am to 4:30 pm
Where: Room 840, 8th floor, BCIT Downtown Campus, 555 Seymour Street, Vancouver | map
Cost for a full-day: $150 for Editors Canada and ABPBC members ($120 early bird), $215 for non-members ($185 early bird), and $90 for student affiliates.
Cost for a half-day: $90 for Editors Canada and ABPBC members ($70 early bird), $155 for non-members ($135 early bird), and $60 for student affiliates.
Registration: Advance registration required. Registration closes October 23; early-bird rates are in effect through October 13.

Co-presented by Editors BC and the Association of Book Publishers of British Columbia

Writers, editors, and publishers share a responsibility to be mindful of terminology and inclusive language in their publications, particularly in light of recent discussions of cultural appropriation in media and literature. And with the 17th edition of The Chicago Manual of Style published this fall, this is an opportune time for editors to think through these issues when considering updates to their house style guides.

This professional development event, split into two three-hour sessions, will encourage participants to think through and navigate the complexities of inclusive language in the context of stylistic editing decisions. Continue reading →

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Call for West Coast Editor Contributors!

Would you like to be published for your insight into topics relevant and interesting to editors? Well, here’s your opportunity to do so! Maggie Clark, the new managing editor of Editors BC’s blog, West Coast Editor, invites you to contribute your writing to our new site.

West Coast Editor publishes event and book reviews; member interviews; articles about editing specialties, tasks, and business practices; and more. Posts are typically 300–600 words long.
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Meet the Instructor: Lisa Manfield

Written by Carl Rosenberg; copy edited by Rebecca A. Coates

This photo shows a headshot of Lisa Manfield smiling with a lake backdrop.On Saturday, September 30, Editors BC presents Lisa Manfield’s seminar on the principles and practice of search engine optimization—SEO.

SEO encompasses a variety of tactics to improve a website’s ranking in search results—one of the best ways to attract potential customers to a website. This six-hour seminar, consisting of both individual and group activity, will provide an overview of SEO fundamentals, including strategies to improve search engine rankings, effective use of keywords, and the role of online marketing in boosting visibility. The seminar will help web editors with both their own websites and client web-based projects.

Lisa Manfield is a writer, editor, and content strategist. She has developed print and web content for tech companies, small businesses, non-profit organizations, government agencies, and educational institutions. She has also been the editor of BCLiving and marketing manager at The Tyee. She has taught Writing and Editing for the Web at SFU for several years and presented a seminar based on that course for Editors BC in September 2015. (Lynn Slobogian interviewed her for West Coast Editor at that time.)

Carl Rosenberg, a volunteer on Editors BC’s communications and social media committee, spoke to Lisa about her advice on SEO.

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Part of a calendar is shown with one pin lying on top of it, another pin stuck in the 26th of an unknown month, and a blue circle around the 24th.
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September 20, 2017: Season-Opening Wine and Cheese + Book Swap

What: Editors BC monthly meeting
When: Wednesday, September 20, 2017, 7:00–9:00 pm
Where: Welch Room, 4th floor, YWCA Health + Fitness Centre, 535 Hornby Street, Vancouver | map
Cost: Free for Editors BC members, non-members, and students

Another summer come and gone! Join us in welcoming the 2017–18 Editors BC season with a wine and cheese social. Continue reading →

Rows of desks face a projection screen in a classroom-like environment.
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September 30, 2017: SEO for Editors

What: Editors BC professional development seminar
When: Saturday, September 30, 2017, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
Where: Room 820, 8th floor, BCIT Downtown Campus, 555 Seymour Street, Vancouver | map
Cost: $165 for Editors Canada members ($135 early bird), $230 for non-members ($200 early bird), and $100 for student affiliates. Advance registration required. Registration closes September 26; early-bird rates are in effect through September 8.

Search engine optimization, or SEO, encompasses a wide variety of tactics designed to improve a site’s ranking in search results. Ensuring web content ranks high in a Google search is one of the best ways for website owners to drive traffic and potential customers to their site. Web editors can play an instrumental role in optimizing content for better search rankings, both on their own site and for web-based client projects.

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An Interview with Dania Sheldon, Recipient of Editors Canada’s Tom Fairley Award for Editorial Excellence

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Written by Maggie Clark; copy edited by Meagan Kus

Dania SheldonEvery year, Editors Canada presents the Tom Fairley Award for Editorial Excellence to an editor for their outstanding contribution to a work published in Canada. A highlight for Editors BC this year was learning that Dania Sheldon, a member of Editors BC, was the award’s recipient. Dania won this award for her editorial work on Charles Gretton: Clock and Watchmaking Through the Golden Age by Dennis Radage, Warner Meinen, and Laila Radage.

Maggie Clark, West Coast Editor’s new managing editor, asked Dania about her experiences with editing and publishing.

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Meet Our Volunteers!

By Amy Haagsma and Maggie Clark

Behind Editors BC’s programming is a team of amazing volunteers who make it all happen. Our volunteers put on our branch meetings and professional development seminars and support our participation in blue pencil sessions and events like Word Vancouver. We would like to express a heartfelt thank you to everyone who contributes to our branch and tell you a little about the people behind the scenes.

Unsurprisingly, most of our volunteers love to read, with 80% preferring fiction and 20% choosing non-fiction. Collectively, our favourite genres are literary fiction, science fiction, and fantasy, with an honourable mention for mystery/thriller. We may be a little too fond of the semicolon, with 37% of us choosing this pleasing symbol as our favourite punctuation mark. As Emma Caplan says, “I often use the semicolon; it is quite useful.” We have similar feelings about proofreading marks, with 33% of us choosing the delete symbol as our number one. Also mentioned were the caret and the transpose symbol, with the latter noted for the enjoyment of “drawing that fun little curve.” Chocolate ranked high among our guilty pleasures, and most of us are quite content with where we live, choosing a location in BC as our favourite place in Canada.

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Volunteer Profile: Wendy Barron

Volunteer role: Communications and social media chair

Company name: Wendy Barron Editorial Services

Website: wendybarron.com

Which famous person (living or dead) do you think (or have you been told) you most resemble?
I’m told I sound like Dawn French when I put on a British accent.

What’s the most important lesson you ever learned?
Two, both from my dad, both about work: No one leaves a hole when they get out of the water (no one is irreplaceable), and if you can’t be replaced, you can’t be promoted.

What or who makes you laugh out loud?
Pretty much everything. I laugh a lot.

What is the best book you read in the last year?
Stephen King’s 11/22/63, on audiobook. (Audiobooks are the best!)

What is your favourite reading: fiction, non-fiction, or poetry?
Fiction.

What is your guilty pleasure?
I don’t believe in guilty pleasures; I believe in loving what you love, even if it’s not perfect and other people disagree. Love what you love!

What is your favourite punctuation mark?
The much-maligned, widely misunderstood semicolon.

What is your favourite word? Why?
Vex and all the words it goes into: vexing, vexatious, vexation, vexed. Such a great word that gets so little use these days.

What is the last book you read?
For pleasure? One of the Mrs. Pollifax mystery series (again, love what you love). For work or school? Probably Health Literacy From A to Z, by Helen Osborne.

What are your favourite book genres?
I read most types of fiction intended for adults, as long as the story is good. My tastes depend on my mood. Thrillers like the Jack Reacher series used to be a guilty pleasure, but now I love them unapologetically, same as I love romance. (Love what you love!)