UPDATE 8.1: PROOFREADER RECRUITMENT CLOSED. PLEASE CHECK YOUR EMAIL FOR A REPLY. THANKS!
As usual, it’s an update post right after a chapter release. There’s a lot of accumulated news, so this will be a pretty long post.
Site and Chapter Updates
First off, an apology from the crew for having delayed the release of V1C7 by three whole weeks (instead of the usual one week break between chapters). Summer is usually the time for travel, holidays, returning to home countries and so on, so some of our crew have been kept away from their computers by RL events. As always, precedence is given to RL stuff, but there’s also been some procrastination by a number of us (we’re all humans, forgive us… lol) – although to compensate for it, some of the crew have been insanely diligent as well.
From the huge silence on our comments board, we can infer that we have very patient readers, so for that, you will be duly rewarded with faster releases this week – basically, we’ll be giving you three weeks’ worth of releases in one week or so. V1C8 will be out once we’re done with proofing (give or take a two or three days) and V2C1 will be out quickly after that. No guarantees about anything after that, though, as we’re a bit rushed off our feet right now (summer classes, prepping for a new semester, work, part-time work, family stuff, etc)… so we’re going to have to rely on you guys to be patient again. >_>
We’ve also updated the novel synopses, which are basically translations of the backflaps of the novels (hardcopy). Note that there are SPOILERS in those synopses, so if you don’t want to have the ending or the rest of the series spoiled for you… well, don’t look!
New Translators and Proofreader
Now, I’d like to introduce ALL our new translators and proofreaders:
- XOSUGARHIGHOX, who is also HappyAngelWings from the MF forum (and the very first translator for the series, for those of you who didn’t know). She’ll be translating V2C3, so you can expect an excellent translation for it. ^^
- SMERIAN, who will be translating V2C5. (Aside to Smerian: you like jokes, so here’s one – Q: What’s a woodpecker without a beak?)
- EILINEL, or Eili, who has translated V2C8, v2C6 and will be translating V3C4 – incredibly hardworking! Rawr!
- ELVEW, or Spence, who will be translating V2C4 – O_o and we finally have someone whose avatar is PRINCE. LOL. (Why did it take so long…)
- Last but not least, MO05E, or Sooty, our latest proofreader! (She gets to read everything before you guys… wahaha!)
Proof-reader Wanted
Lots of new faces, and we’re starting to run out of characters for avatars… Well, the next bit of news is quite important, and it promises to be quite headachey as well. Simply put, Prince Rev! is looking for a proofreader – yes, we are recruiting. Right now, there’s Hope and Serao, both of whom are extremely competent, but we’re shorthanded whenever one of them has to dash off for RL stuff, so we need a third. There’s been a LOT of people who have applied before, but there’s been some things we missed out on our recruitment page – requirements that have become quite important for a proofreader – so for those who have left a comment before… well, you’ll have to apply again. >_>
Here’s the thing: we may have a lot of translators, but a proofreader won’t have stuff to proofread all the time. In general, translations usually come in a flurry – there might be nothing to work on for a week, and then suddenly there’ll be a lot of stuff to work on, and must be proofed fast… like in one day! You’ll have to be able to work fast when that happens. We need a proofreader who is VERY good at dealing with grammar, run-on sentences, fragmented sentences, and so on. (No need to know Chinese.) This will make life easier for myself and Sooty (the two of us have to plow through the Chinese and then edit everything that doesn’t match the original well enough), because we can just edit adjectives, word choices and know that the proofreader can handle everything else.
The last requirement for our proofreader is that he – or she – must be friendly. We’re not talking about teamwork here, but general attitude, because there’s quite a lot of interaction between proofreaders, editors and translators – we have to discuss things sometimes to reach a consensus on a particular phrase, idea, even names. We need a proofreader who’s not afraid to offer an idea, but also a proofreader who’s able to respect the translator or editor’s opinion when they go, “No, that just doesn’t fit”. Moreover, for each chapter there are two proofreaders, so you might see your edits get re-edited. You’ll have to be able to take it easy when that happens.
If our requirement seems a tad strict, it’s because we want to make sure that our translations are up to par (I would hate to see people who can read Chinese go, “your translation does no justice to the original”…) and that our crew get along swimmingly. We’re an easy-going bunch usually but this is real, hard work, and if a proofreader suddenly bows out because he/she got bored, or if they have a lot of RL work and can’t proof-read in time, or – worst case scenario – their editing skillz just aren’t up to par and they end up increasing everyone else’s workload… well, I’m sure you get the picture.
All right, that’s about it for the updates! Happy reading as always.
-Erialis
