One of many greatest frustrations I hear from editors and guide format folks is that authors do not perceive what proofreading means.
As a easy definition, proofreading is studying an already completed and polished manuscript to search for any final errors that may have been missed when modifying. If a manuscript is prepared for proofreading, then the errors discovered needs to be pretty minor and doubtless not a couple of per page, hopefully far much less. Proofreading doesn’t embrace modifying or rewriting.
Many an editor has had an writer strategy him with a manuscript that’s mentioned to wish proofreading however actually wants modifying. Modifying is much extra substantial than proofreading-it can contain rewriting sentences, deleting pointless content material, writing in new content material, moving round sentences, paragraphs, and even chapters, and likewise fixing grammatical and punctuation errors. Many editors will differentiate between copyediting, developmental modifying, or different varieties of modifying. An excellent editor hopefully will do all of them for you, however do not forget that not all editors are the identical. You would possibly discover an ideal editor who can do a developmental edit to enhance your guide’s content material, to develop your characters or assist to strengthen your plot, however he may not be so nice at realizing comma guidelines, learn how to catch cut up infinitives, or at fixing subject-pronoun settlement points.
Each guide wants modifying. If an writer says a guide wants proofreading, it most definitely wants modifying until the writer has already had another person edit the guide, and even then, provided that that particular person is certified as an editor.
Most editors will do a free pattern edit of some pages of a manuscript so the writer can see what must be carried out when it comes to editing-sentence construction, group, grammar, and punctuation-and after the pattern edit is finished, the writer will typically agree it’s modifying, not merely proofreading that must be carried out, if the editor is aware of what he is doing. It would not harm to get a couple of modifying samples earlier than selecting an editor to be sure you discover an editor who will give the guide the total consideration to element that it wants.
After the editor finishes modifying the manuscript and the writer is proud of the edits, it is vital to discover a third social gathering who is basically good at proofreading to undergo the manuscript to catch these few errors the writer and editor didn’t catch; your editor would possibly proofread for you, however a third set of eyes is rarely a nasty idea. Simply ensure that the particular person is a professional proofread-your spouse or greatest good friend are most definitely not.
As soon as the proofreading is completed, the manuscript is finished and prepared for format. Right here is the place “proofreading” once more turns into a time period that authors fail to grasp and that may frustrate each the editor/proofreader and the format particular person.
It has been mentioned many occasions that no guide is ever completed. We merely select in some unspecified time in the future to desert it-which typically means we consider it’s prepared for publication. No guide that has ever been written has been excellent, and no guide has ever suited everybody’s tastes. You would possibly produce a fantastically written, grammatically appropriate, completely punctuated guide, nevertheless it might nonetheless have some rewriting carried out to make it higher. The issue is, as soon as the guide is distributed to the format particular person, the writer should restrain himself from rewriting. An writer needs to be completely assured that the guide is prepared for publication when it’s despatched to the format particular person. If it is not, then hold modifying and proofreading. Simply do not do it after the guide is laid out.
Format folks don’t learn the books they lay out; they don’t seem to be editors or proofreaders, and they won’t repair your typos and different errors until you discover them and ask for them to be fastened.
The format course of consists of changing the manuscript into a brand new program. Immediately, authors typically write books in Microsoft Phrase or another phrase processing program, and editors will edit the guide in the identical program. However when the guide goes to the format particular person, the textual content is transformed right into a design file, corresponding to InDesign, a program made particularly to design a guide.
The format particular person will ship the proofs-the accomplished laid out guide in pdf format (or sometimes paper)-to the writer to approve. At this level, solely proofreading needs to be carried out. The pdf isn’t the guide however a replica of the guide, and it can’t be edited instantly. I do know many editors and format individuals who have been extraordinarily annoyed with authors who resolve at this level that they should insert sentences and paragraphs, reword phrases, and flip round chapters. As soon as the writer receives the proofs, whether or not as a pdf or in paper kind, the writer ought to solely search for typos, and each change needs to be deemed completely obligatory. Solely the format particular person, not the editor, could make any adjustments the writer desires, though any adjustments needs to be run by the editor to verify grammatical errors, of which the writer is likely to be unaware, is not going to be launched into the textual content 교정/교열.
It may be very time-consuming for everybody concerned if the writer decides to make adjustments to the proofs past fixing a couple of typos; a paper printout of the laid out guide have to be marked up, or a separate doc created wherein are written down all of the requested adjustments with page number and page placement for straightforward reference. The extra corrections requested and extra in depth they’re, the extra probability that additional errors will likely be launched into the guide. Stylistic preferences don’t rely as corrections and shouldn’t be made at this point-only the correction of significant errors. In short, after the guide is laid out isn’t the time to rewrite.
Many format folks, and particularly the print-on-demand subsidy publishing homes, will cost authors for any adjustments they make to the guide as a result of so many authors have failed to grasp that after a guide is laid out, rewriting isn’t applicable. Different format folks will enable a set number, corresponding to twenty-five or fifty, corrections at no cost, and something over that will likely be charged by the hour or by the person correction. Some format folks will even request the writer make the adjustments within the Phrase doc if main rewriting is required, after which the guide will must be laid out once more, and the writer will likely be charged accordingly because it could be much less time-consuming for the format particular person to put out all the guide once more than individually should insert a few hundred small changes-and once more, do not forget that every correction made has the potential for introducing a brand new typo.
Authors, make your life simpler and your format particular person and editor’s lives simpler. Study the distinction between proofreading and modifying and when one or the opposite is required. If you signal off on that manuscript as completed and ship it to the format particular person, ensure that it’s as excellent as it may be to save lots of everybody time, cash, and frustration. Then the final stage of the guide’s manufacturing will go simply and the guide can shortly be despatched to the printer.
