In the Spring 2011 semester, Dr. Ryan Boettger's graduate-level technical editing students converted three of Kathleen Taylor's Tory Bauer mystery novels to Kindle format. The third book, Hotel South Dakota was added to Amazon's inventory this week.

Students began the project by scanning the originals texts (published by Avon) with high-quality Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. In small groups, they then completed the following scope of work:

• Copyedited the electronic manuscript for errors that resulted from the OCR conversion as well as errors made by the book's original typesetter.
• Formatted the cleaned electronic manuscript using the standards and guidelines outlined by the Kindle Direct Publishing Web site. The process included light HTML work and working with the freeware MobiPocket Creator.
• Created a style guide that gave each book a consistent look as well as a consistent look across all three books.
• Conducted a series of usability tests to ensure the texts met Amazon's standards as well as the formatting preferences of eBook readers.

As technical editing enters the 21st century, knowledge of digital editing is becoming an essential skill set. There are numerous differences between editing for print versus editing for electronic media, such as organization, format, and production. This particular project was designed to help students hone their digital editing skills as well as provide them with an impressive resume line that will further distinguish them from the competition.

The following students participated in this project. They were also thanked by name (along with LTC) in the updated acknowledgements of each eBook: Matt Choat, Chris Dennis, Melissa Fairchild, Cheryl Harrell, Briana Hoffman, Carrie Klein, Taylor Lane, and Liz Titus