There are many books about editing, for editors and for writers, but these in particular are the best of the many I’ve read.

Laugh-out-loud funny, Rebel with a Clause: Tales and Tips from a Roving Grammarian is an utter delight. Author Ellen Jovin loves language and people in equal measure, and her approach to grammar is open-hearted and non-judgmental. As she says, “We all poop, and we all punctuate.” Do yourself a favour and read it!

Entertaining and absorbing, Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style, by Benjamin Dreyer, the former executive managing editor and longtime copy chief of Random House, is chock-full of great information for writers and editors alike. If you love language, you’ll love this book.

The Subversive Copy Editor: Advice from Chicago (Or, How to Negotiate Good Relationships with Your Writers, Your Colleagues, and Yourself) is an inspiring and at times hilarious book by Carol Fisher Saller, a senior manuscript editor at the University of Chicago Press and former editor of The Chicago Manual of Style Online’s Q&A. For editors, about editing.

Elements of Indigenous Style: A Guide for Writing By and About Indigenous Peoples, by Gregory Younging, is an absolutely essential resource for writers and editors that is gradually changing the face of editing–a most welcome and necessary change.

The Conscious Style Guide: A Flexible Approach to Language that Includes, Respects, and Empowers, by Karen Yin, founder of ConsciousStyleGuide.com, is another essential resource for writers and editors.

The Editor’s Eye: A Practical Guide to Transforming Your Book from Good to Great, by Stacy Ennis, is the book I would have written about editing, were I to write a book about editing. I recommend it to any writer who is ready to start the editing process. It provides a through overview of the stages of book editing and tips for hiring and working with an editor. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Along similar lines as Ennis’s book is this Huffington Post article by David Kudler, “7 Deadly Myths and 3 Inspired Truths About Book Editing.”

Thanks, But This Isn’t for Us: A (Sort of) Compassionate Guide to Why Your Writing is Being Rejected, by Jessica Page Morrell. Despite its rather harsh title, this book is also full of excellent advice for writers who are looking to self-edit before engaging the services of a professional editor.

Editor-Proof Your Writing: 21 Steps to the Clear Prose Publishers and Agents Crave, by Don McNair, hits the nail on the head when it comes to outlining common writing errors and how to fix them, in 21 clear, well-explained steps. Highly recommended for new, aspiring writers.

Just a couple of the shelves in my personal reference library.