When I manage an editing project, I develop a style sheet specifically for the manuscript. The style sheet lays out the conventions that have been applied to words and phrases that appear in the manuscript. For example, the style sheet I prepared for the draft of Orrin Hurlbutt’s book was extensive due to Orrin’s reference to a wide range of military and non-typical English terminology.
I also prepare an editor’s report (short example below) for the author, outlining the reasoning behind my recommendations. The report may give feedback to the author about the way the chapters are organised, the benefit of a contents table, a reminder to acknowledge the source of a quote, and so forth.
Specific remarks appear in the text as comments and marked-up text points out to the author some alternative or preferable phrasing or spelling.
Here are some short examples of my editing work.
CHILDREN’S FICTION (showing the final version, post-edit)
The-Pawsvillie-Mysteries-showing-mark-upRECIPE BOOKS (example of edit report)
Here is feedback I gave to a nutritionist when I edited her recipes in 2018:
Dear A, thank you for yet another enjoyable book. Your photographs are attractive and enticing, and the recipes look amazing.
In terms of this edit/proofread, I have adjusted the following:
- Standardised the font size where it had varied/become smaller
- Applied some consistencies across the some expressions – eg, Italian (cap I), plant-based (hyphenated), nutritional yeast flakes (lower case)
- Lower case formatting applied to words (ingredients) following the expression ‘Suggested Sides’
- Numbers less than 100 expressed in text where logical
- Standardised spacing where a range is recommended, ie 5 – 10 changed to 5-10
- Inserted page breaks at the end of each recipe to ‘hold’ them
- Standardised an empty line following the heading “Instructions”.
I have not amended the Americanised spelling of words such as ‘flavor’, ‘savory’, etc as I recall this is your preference.
Best wishes, Beverley Streater
ADULT FICTION