Source Materials for Nonfiction

When I turn in a piece of nonfiction, I always footnote it so that my editor knows which source I used to find which fact. But fact checkers are busy people. This means I have to make certain my editor has access to my sources to forward to the fact checker.

With a web site, I simply turn in the URL. If it is a limited access site, I have to save it as a PDF for my editor.

Articles are generally accessible from the editor’s library. But if it is something they can’t access, I download the PDF. I can end up with quite a few PDFs as I conduct my research. Note: if you are downloading a PDF from your library, don’t accept the default title. Use something that is easily recognizable from the footnote. I use “AUTHOR LAST NAME” “AUTHOR FIRST NAME” “PART OF TITLE.” So it might look something like “Doe Jane Bookbinding through the Ages.”

Books are another situation. For an ebook, I simply screen capture the relevant pages and assemble a PDF or save each page in a folder. The folder is named for the book. The individual image for the page number – Page 2 to 3.

But books? For a print book, I pull out my trusty cookbook stand. Then a make a list of the relevant pages. I send photos to my editor or make them available on a file sharing system. Again, I title the individual images for the page numbers – Title page, page 20, page 2 to 3.

And no, I don’t complain. This is so much easier than when publishers would ask for hard copies of all sources. I don’t know how often or when this happened but can you imagine having to mail in hard copies of 10 sources? Some of my books have well over 100 sources! I almost never have to make images available but my cookbook stand sure makes it easier.

–SueBE