Project Gutenberg is one of the most valuable resources on the web.
In 1971, Michael Hart began digitizing classic literature and storing it in an online archive—creating the first e-books in the process. Since then the project has gone on to digitize tens of thousands of public domain books.(1)
From Winnie the Pooh to Moby Dick, Sherlock Holmes to The Spectator—the site has just about anything you could want, to be enjoyed anytime and anywhere.
But there’s another way it can help authors—particularly those with an editor’s streak.
Project Gutenberg is fueled by volunteers—a small army of project managers, proofreaders, and formatters prepping the books and storing them for public use—and they’re always looking for new recruits. But why is this useful to authors? Putting it simply, experience.
Beyond the exposure to classics you’ll get working with these books, these are skills you’ll need to master if you plan on publishing your own work—that is, unless you pay someone to do it for you.
So what exactly are these skills?
Proofreading
To understand what proofreading is, you need to understand the process of editing. There are three main stages: macro editing, micro editing, and proofreading.
Proofreading is the final step before formatting and publication. In essence, the book is done by this point; the structure, plot, and wording has been polished to perfection in the previous stages. This is the final check. It’s the job of a proofreader to catch that one missing capital letter or typo: to make sure the finished product is—to the best of their ability—error free.
Proofreading makes the difference between amateur and professional work, no matter how good the writing is. It’s not glamorous—it’s delicate, technical work—but it’s no less important.
Proofreading at Gutenberg is slightly different than what you’ll do with your own work. Gutenvberg volunteers have scans of the original documents—documents that have already been proofread before initially being published—to compare with the digital texts. You won’t have this luxury when proofing your own projects, but working through the process will tune your mind for catching errors. The more you do it, the easier it’ll become as you develop patterns for checking letter by letter for the tiniest inconsistencies.
Formatting
Formatting is the next step in the process: making sure the text is easily readable and visually appealing. When formatting an ebook, the pages need to work across all platforms—mobile and desktop, Mac and Windows, etc.
Again, Gutenberg’s process is a bit different than what you’ll probably use. They prepare their works with simple HTML, and while you can format your ebooks using HTML and CSS (a conversation for a later date), most writers will prefer the convenience of Microsoft Word, Libreoffice, of some other equivalent.
But what volunteering does is get you thinking like a formater—help develop an eye for the consistency and structure of a properly prepared manuscript.
Project Management
This position is particularly useful for those with an eye on a publishing job.
But unless you plan to be a one-author army, project management is an essential skill for everyone.
As a project manager, you’ll escort each book through the digitizing process, from scans of the originals all the way through the test-reading (or smooth reading, as it’s called) at the end.
This will give you a taste of what it’s like to coordinate the production of a book. You’ll also develop skills like organization, communication, and leadership, which are
essential in the publishing field.
No matter what you write, you’ll need these skills to publish properly. At Project Gutenberg, you can participate in every stage of the process, learning as you go. But even beyond that, there’s another reason the experience is valuable: résumé building.
Making it in the world of writing is hard, and for all but the lucky few, those who live off the field don’t just publish their own books, not exclusively.
Editing, proofreading, publishing, and even write-coaching are well paid routes for making a living with writing, but they’re hard to break in to and require credentials before getting started. Project Gutenberg gives you exactly that.
This is real experience in the writing field: to say you volunteered there is an excellent card to hold when going for a professional position.
Who knows, it might be just enough to get your foot in the door.
Sources
- Grimes, William. “The New York Times: Michael Hart, a Pioneer of E-Books, Dies at 64.” The New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/09/business/michael-hart-a-pioneer-of-e-books-dies-at-64.html.
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