Editing Etiquette

 

Every publisher has a slightly different editing routine but they do share a lot of common features. It’s important to take note of precisely the way your editor wishes you to work. Here I’m explaining what we do.

Edit 1

This is a general read through and a look at the bigger picture. We might query the role of a character, we might find a hole in the plot or we might notice a stylistic habit that is detrimental to your text. We’ll ask you to provide a fresh text taking all of those matters into account.  

 

Edit 2

We use Track Changes for this but only the comments feature. We’ll pick up such matters as clichés, poor structure and telling where you could be showing. The odd typo, spelling or punctuation mistake we’ll just correct.

 

Edit 3

Again we use Track Changes but suggest you read the text without the changes showing. We’ll carry on sweeping up errors but also correct anything we’ve missed on Edit 2.

 

Always, always you have the final say but you really should take note of what your  editor is saying. We’re on the same side; we want to make your book as good as it can be.

 

We really urge you to take your time on this. We abandon rather than finish. You can always find something more.

 

Final proof read

We offer you a camera-ready final proof. This is a PDF showing you what the inside of your book will look like. We ask you to check his carefully and we get one other person to proof-read it. We also perform a technical proof-read e.g. looking for extra spaces, consistency in spelling etc.   

 

Be disciplined

Take your time with each edit. Don’t send your editor material in between edits. This leads to utter confusion and we may end up publishing the wrong version of your text.

 

What happens if you ask for changes after you’ve signed off the camera-ready

This costs us time and money and makes us grumpy.