How words get good : the story of making a book / Rebecca Lee.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

This is the inside story of how a book gets made. Join Rebecca Lee, professional word-improver, as she embarks on a tour of the long and fascinating journey from author's brain to finished book. She'll learn the dark arts of ghostwriters, uncover the hidden beauty of typesetting and find out which words end up in books (and why). And along the way, her quest will be punctuated by a litany of little-known considerations that make a big impact: ellipses, indexes, hyphens, esoteric grammar and juicy errata slips. Whoops. From foot-and-note disease to the meaning of 'Etaoin Shrdlu' and a visit to the town of Index, Missouri - turn the page to discover how books get made and words get good. Or, at least, better.