Tuesday, April 2, 2013

redundancy, repetition, and saying or doing the same thing over and over

Is it possible that redundancy is underrated?

Most of us value efficiency to a much greater degree. We want to drive redundancy out of our personal and corporate lives. Redundancy means wasted time and energy. Right?

But having spent more than 30 years in publishing, I've come to gain a begrudging respect for the sometimes necessary discipline called redundancy.

Just think about the book business. Everything is redundancy! (Is it any wonder I'm crazy after all these years?)

A writer writers a book. Then rewrites the same book. At least a couple more times. Then hands it to an editor who tells him or her how to rewrite it yet again to make it better. (The mean editors smile when they hand off their shopping list of improvements.)

When the writer is finished, the editor edits the same manuscript that has been worked over too many times to count. After that, a typesetter puts the very same manuscript into a professional and polished format, with a proof reader ready to make yet another round of marks.

What happens next? The editor and writer get to read the "blues" and then the "proofs" one more time - and invariably, find yet another error or way to improve the text. In the old days of publishing, when a writer wanted to rewrite at the "blues" stage, the contract outlined a series of fees since "cut and paste" really meant cut and paste back then.

After final corrections and changes are made, the book is printed, and a new person, the reader, pores over the same material - and sometimes finds yet another error.

Does anyone else circle printed errors they find in books?

But the end result of having numerous alert and adept people cover the same book is a work of power and beauty - or at least on that has its best chance of achieving that loft status. (And yes, occasionally, too many cooks spoil the soup.)

The old cliche tells us that anything worth doing deserves our best effort. I couldn't disagree more. There are a lot of activities in life that aren't worth our best time and energy.

But some things are. Many things are.

And when we want to put our best foot forward, redundancy - another set of pushups, another read through and light edit, another prayer, another conversation - can be our best friend.

No surprise the carpenter's motto is "measure twice, cut once."

At the risk of being redundant, when something or someone matters to you, some extra attention and repetition - also known as redundancy - can go a long way to affirming that.

8 comments:

  1. add sales to the mix of redundancy especially related to the process of presenting each title. The art of salesmanship is to become more strategic with each list and think outside the box as if the one selling thinks like the buyer. Redundancy becomes an a best practice when it is less about repetition and more about results.

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  2. When it comes to editing, I'm a total believer in redundancy, Mark. Thank you for an insightful post! Happy editing!

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  3. Thanks, Mark. I'm also grateful for double-checking an editorial staff of a traditional publishing house does before a book sees print. If self-published poets and writers would seek this kind of help, they (and their readers :) would be happier with their finished products too.

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  4. Sue - I'm always trying to figure how to cut down on the editing process -but I'm not smart enough to ger rid of it!

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  5. Mary - agree 100%. The great thing about self-publishing is the speed to go to market. And many self published authors do a terrific job getting feedback and editorial expertise along the way. But some don't put their best foot forward!

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  6. Poiniant poinyant...pognant...poignant piece on the need for editing, Mark.

    I have to leave my work alone for a while before I can edit it with accuracy. For example, I just started my second edit on the detective novel I finished in December. As an amateur who gives my books away, even I don't want to look like an amateur. :)

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  7. You are far from an amateur Jim! Keep up great work.

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