Honest advice for authors about what’s achievable
There are two key issues to bear in mind:
- Subjectivity
- What’s gone before
Subjectivity
Hand over a file to five different editors and proofreaders. Ask them to edit the document. Review it. You’ll receive five different versions. Ask five readers to review those edits and you’ll receive five different responses.
Reader A was taught that you should never end a sentence with a preposition. The editor follows the guidance provided by New Hart’s Rules or the Chicago Manual of Style and disagrees.
The proofreader allows non-standard past participles in dialogue because they reflect a regional variation in speech and imbue a character’s voice with authenticity. Reader B isn’t familiar with this regional variation and thinks these are grammatical errors.
Reader C thinks the proofreader should have corrected ‘between you and me’ to ‘between you and I’ and that -ize verb forms are Americanisms and therefore incorrect in British English writing. In fact, the reader is wrong on both counts.
One person’s rules are another’s preferences; one person’s errors are another’s push for realism; one person’s ignorance is another’s knowledge. Ne’er the twain shall meet.
What’s gone before
I aim for perfection. Subjectivity aside, I believe that perfection is impossible to achieve in one editorial pass, even in more than one. Publishers agree, and that’s why they hire editorial professionals at several stages of the production process. Below is a simplified overview of what happens in the mainstream publishing industry.
Each press’s workflow differs, of course. However, broadly speaking, the process goes something like this:
- First, the raw-text file (usually a Word document) is substantively edited. This is the big-picture or macro-level work that looks at issues such as structure, plot, characterization, narrative flow, coherence, relevance and completeness. This stage might also be referred to as structural or development editing.
- Next comes the line editor or copyeditor. Line editing aims to improve the flow of the text at sentence level. Copyediting aims to standardize the text according to brief and preferred style. The extent of revision at this stage is heavy, with thousands of changes. Many are literal, like typos, grammar problems, inconsistencies in hyphenation and capitalization, missing words, incorrectly rendered punctuation, and so on. Others are more contextual, such as problems with timeline, sentence structure, repetition, consistency of character names, or inconsistent terminology.
- The revised file is returned to the author, who then reviews the editorial amendments and attends to any queries/problems identified.
- Next, the reviewed file is delivered to the project manager, who arranges for a layout artist to design the so-called ‘first proofs’.
- The designed first proofs are sent back to the author, and to a second editorial professional (usually a proofreader) for an additional pass. This is where additional errors are picked up. At this stage, there are always errors, though we’re talking in terms of tens (or, rarely, hundreds) rather than thousands. These errors remain in spite of the fact that the file has been worked through meticulously beforehand at several different stages.
- The author’s and second-pass proofreader’s changes are then collated, and the ‘second proofs’ are created by the designer.
- The project manager and author then review the file one more time and the book is finally published.
It would be no less than a miracle if every single problem could be identified in one pass, and if it was possible then publishers wouldn’t commission editorial professionals at several different stages – they’d save their pennies and just go for one pass. However, publishers know that perfection is impossible because there is so much to deal with, particularly at the substantive and line/copyediting stages.
What does this mean for you and me?
If you are hiring me to proofread or line-/copyedit your Word file, and that file has not been through a previous round of extensive and meticulous editorial revision, then I am likely to make thousands of amendments.
These include: correcting spelling, grammar, syntax and punctuation errors and inconsistencies, attending to layout problems with regard to spacing and paragraph indentation, tracking character names and traits, and implementing consistency across word forms.
I’d love to say, ‘I’ve made 7,686 revisions to your document, compiled 43 queries, spotted four problems with character-history consistency, noticed two character-surname changes, offered 118 suggestions for alternative wording, and I guarantee that, in spite of this extensive level of revision, I have not missed one single literal or contextual error.’
I’d love to tell you that all those mainstream publishers are wasting their money when they commission multiple rounds of editing and proofreading, and that the various industry-recognized chartered editorial institutes don’t know what they are talking about.
But I won’t, because I can’t provide you with that guarantee (I’m not a wizard!) and those publishers really do know their business!
Guidance from the CIEP
That is the aim, but perfection is rarely possible. By the Law of Diminishing Returns, perfection requires inordinate amounts of time and money. It is not realistic, but nor are some clients. Even when time is tight, they still want perfection while paying only for ‘good enough’. If they did not pay for copy-editing, the proofreader can only sort out the worst problems. […]
An experienced professional proofreader, reading a copy-edited typescript, should be able to spot and deal appropriately with at least 80% of all errors but at least 90% of typos – other things being equal.
So what are your options?
My recommendation is that you have fresh eyes on your manuscript where possible. In other words, I think you will usually be best served by hiring different people to work on your book at different stages.
I do acknowledge that, for some, there’s only enough money in the pot to hire one round of professional assistance. All in all, I respect the fact that you have a budget rather than bottomless pockets, and that the choice of how much and in whom to invest is yours.
Make no mistake, though – you do need a final read-through of the revised file. One pass is certainly not enough to ensure that all errors will be attended to prior to publication. Even two rounds of revision are unlikely to result in that elusive goal of absolute perfection. The publishing industry knows this and I think it’s only fair that you should be aware of it too.
In that way, you and I can both come to the table with reasonable and mutually understood expectations about what’s possible within your budget.
What are my guarantees?
I guarantee that I will do my absolute best for you – that I will aim for the very highest editorial standards.
I guarantee that even if mine is the only professional editorial pass you commission, the changes I make will result in a substantively, and substantially, higher-quality book.
I guarantee that I will respect your work, your privacy and your confidentiality.
I guarantee that I will not make unachievable promises with regard to perfection. That’s because it would be unethical to do so. I would be misleading you. And that’s not the way I do business.