Reviews

Stet Again! More Tricks of the Trade for Publications People: Selections from The Editorial Eye Linda B. Jorgensen, ed. (1996). Alexandria, VA: EEI Press 1996. (ISBN 0-935012-20-6). 354 pp. softcover with index, $15.95.

A smorgasbord of publishing how-to, when-to, and why-to, Stet Again! More Tricks of the Trade for Publications People: Selections from The Editorial Eye is an excellent resource for anyone just launching a career in publishing or any veteran seeking a quick refresher course. A "greatest hits" collection of articles since 1990 from the publisher's outstanding Editorial Eye newsletter, Stet Again! presents practical advice on a wide variety of topics (writing, editing, usage and grammar, style and punctuation, design and typography, and publications management) in a friendly, witty manner that invites readers to keep reading.

The articles average three pages in length, allowing readers to get to the heart of an issue, review the evidence, and decide how to apply the information themselves. The authors back up their suggestions with studies (on readability and fair pricing for publications services, for example), with information from other publications, or with experience from their own extended or distinguished careers.

Authors in this collection also help their readers analyze and compare information from major guidebooks in the field: In a discussion of the perennial "numbers" problem whether to spell them out in text, author Priscilla S. Taylor discusses the merits and illogicalities of guidelines from Words Into Type, The Chicago Manual of Style, and the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, among others. Stet Again! covers issues and reference texts from the range of settings in which professional communicators work from newspaper and magazine offices to academic and corporate publications departments.

Peppered throughout the book are short segments on correct English usage (e.g., more than vs. over) and self tests (to ferret out misplaced modifiers or excess verbiage, for example) complete with well-written, explanatory answers. Another very useful feature of this book is its meticulously organized index.

While editor Linda Jorgensen quips that the book's information may appear "quaint" in the year 2000, much of the advice about building good professional relationships will be as good 50 years from now as it was 50 years ago. Other guidelines those specific to writing, editing, and designing for the audiences and media we know today may appear outdated in years hence, but the basic tenets of communication discussed in this volume will undoubtedly be the foundation of guiding principles for reaching new audiences with new media.

Jorgensen assures us that "the demand for talented writers, editors, designers, and publications managers isn't going to go away, but we'll have to do some homework if we want to keep our professional reflexes spry in the next millennium." Stet Again! is an excellent text to augment our ongoing study of excellence in information delivery.

Note: More information about EEI Press (books), EEI Communications (training and other services) and The Editorial Eye newsletter is available online at http://www.eeicom.com.

Jill Steffey
North Carolina State University