![]() So it's probably clear why you can't do all the phases at the same time: Because after all that fiddling, something is bound to have gone awry. A non-fiction book with illustrations, crossheads, charts or other design features will need intensive design input, which will include massaging the text with line breaks or headings to present the content attractively.ĥ A final proofread and formatting check. If you're making a print book, each page has to be checked to avoid ugly accidents like short lines marooned at the top of a page (widows and orphans). For a prose ebook there's minimal design needed an ebook with diagrams may need more design attention. Are you using single or double quotes for dialogue? Why do we bother with this? Because these glitches will trip the reader up and stop them trusting your text.ģ Proof-reading – a necessary mop-up after all your retyping, section-moving and query-answering.Ĥ Design and formatting – now the text is finalised we can make the book. It also imposes a house style for spellings or usages where there is more than one correct option. If your developmental edit resulted in a lot of restructuring, you might have a mare's nest of mistakes you'd never think to look for. Does a character change their name or spelling? This is a surprisingly common mistake with fiction, where we might reimagine from draft to draft, or splice characters together. We look for accuracy, consistency and correct English use – anything from unclear sentences to timeline mistakes to plot implausibilities to factual queries (and goofs). For fiction, are the characters and plot fully realised and in tune with its niche? Are the writing style and tone appropriate? For non-fiction, is the coverage complete enough and how does it stand up next to comparison titles? Does it need more content? Conversely, should it be split into two books? Are sections of it redundant? Developmental editing is about making the book a satisfying read.Ģ Copy editing – with the content locked down, we start nitpicking. In each phase, we think in different ways.ġ Developmental editing checks the content suits the readership. Why so many? Because each phase is a different – and necessary – kind of finessing. ![]() Proofreading again – as many times as necessary.In traditional publishing a manuscript goes through five stages: Here she draws on her experience as the former manager of a trade publisher's editorial department, as well as her career as a successful ghostwriter, non-fiction author and novelist. So when ALLi Professional member Roz Morris said recently “Embracing the traditional publishing process is still the best way to ensure a book has proper development, error-catching and finessing”, we asked her to expand on this in a guest post. Sure, we don't have shareholders to serve – but, like traditional publishers, we want our books to be the best they can be. Their ways of doing things arose for a reason, and not all of those reasons are at odds with what we are trying to achieve when we assume the role of publisher ourselves. But we should be wary of entirely dismissing the way that trade publishers operate. One of the many joys of being an indie author is that we are free to make our own decisions, without the constraints that a traditional publishing contract might impose upon our books. Roz Morris shares the benefit of her experience running an editorial department for a publishing house
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |