Editing

Once you have your manuscripts in place, the process of preparing them for production begins.

Again, make sure that you clarify your team’s division of labour and channels of communication before you begin the process of editing.

One basic consideration is version control. Are you working on the right document? Saving all work regularly and backing up is another critical thing to remember. If you are not using computers, make photocopies.

This stage can get hectic and clear expectations are important. Re-read the section in Strategy Overview about Managing Teams (on page x) note: for print version before proceeding.

Top Tips

• Read through – Always read the whole document once through before making any changes.
• Take care and respect whether your organisation edits heavily toward specific goals or lightly toward authors’ voices.
• Accountability – Make no changes for which you do not have a solid reason. Ask questions when you are not sure what something means.
• Consistency – Use your style guide and common sense to achieve this with punctuation, capitalisation, spelling, etc.
• Humility – Editing can become a power trip; save time and be respectful, only change what you must to achieve goals.
• Fact checking – Who is accountable for information going out? What are your sign-off procedures? Is information accurate and up to date? Use the Internet or check with your author. Allow time.
• Clarity & readability – Break up long paragraphs and sentences. Use active voice. Avoid jargon. Does it flow logically?
• Content – is all the essential, logical information included?
• Tightening & cutting – Eliminate redundant wording, excessive use of adjectives and distracting detail. Fix vague language and repetitive wording – use your thesaurus. Cut the least important information out but save versions if you need to go back and retrieve.

When to ask the author. Check in with the author if;

• material is technical, specialised, or unfamiliar to you
• when changes may substantively alter the author’s intended point
• you don’t understand what the intended point is.

Copy editing

A few things to look out for:

• Format: fix inconsistencies in heading style, font, boldface, italicisation, alignment, etc. Incorporate any needed line breaks.
• Misspellings & spelling consistency
• Acronyms: State in full at first mention and then abbreviated in brackets. Use acronym eg. UNESCO after first mention.
• Editing & Layout – a circular process

Give authors a clear idea of length or number of words in relation to your content map and layout. This will still change once everything comes in and the layout evolves, eg. an excellent photograph becomes available or an article cannot be written in time for this edition.

Edit before placing it into the template. Once you have placed it, you may need to edit it again for length. This can be a circular process depending on how your team and production process is structured.

Proof reading

This final stage of editing usually happens after layout, and almost always happens on hard copy.

Use proof readers standard marks to ensure clarity between team members and your style guide to ensure consistency. You can view these standard marks online at  http://www.merriamwebster.com/mw/table/proofrea.htm

If lots of errors get fixed, you might need to do two rounds of proof-reading. TIP: use different coloured pens!

It is also possible to edit on word processing programs such as Open Office using the “Record Changes” function.

Printing & distribution

Print management

Now for the exciting bit. You are ready to send your project to print. It might be as easy as making sure you have a box of paper and a toner cartridge next to a healthy laser printer or a full colour printing company ready to go. Making the decision about how you will print your project is about cost, but also reliability and quality. Over time, you might develop relationships with a few different printers, from a high speed copy shop to a commercial printing firm.

However you print, it will require co-ordination. If you are using a graphic designer, they can often be hired to manage the print process. What paper will be used? What finishing do you require (eg. cutting, covers and binding)? Do you have an environmental policy that matters (eg. recycled paper and soy based inks)?

If you are using a printer they will send you a proof sheet. This is your FINAL CHANCE to make changes before ink hits paper and you become legally responsible for the costs and dead tree involved. Be sure it is correct. A few errors in a large project are not a problem, but a spelling mistake in a t-shirt can look very sloppy indeed.

You need to be very clear about the instructions you give and make sure they are in writing.

If you are printing it yourself, do you have the right equipment available for cutting and stapling. What about postage? Envelopes? Labels?

Distribution

Big question, often overlooked. What method will you use (eg. mail, volunteers, community hubs, distribution company)? How much will it cost? How many copies will you distribute? Will you distribute to your constituents individually or to community hubs? If you will mail it to individuals, how large a geographic range do they encompass? How much will each copy weigh? Will you sell some material? Where? How can money be handled responsibly?

E-books and viral distribution

Nowadays you don’t need to actually print a publication in order to distribute a “print” publication. PDF files can capture your finished product in a non-editable form and send it out to your network for distribution. However, if you are unsure of your audience’s access to the Internet, you will want to rely on some hard-copy distribution. A combination of online and offline approaches in your Strategy is usually the best option.

You can create e-books (of both graphics and text), and distribute these globally (and inexpensively) via networks such as lulu.com or instabook.net which will also allow you to earn from your ‘digital’ products (books, in this case).

CD’s and USB sticks are great way of circulating content in areas where infrastructure (such as expensive or slow Internet connections) makes online distribution inappropriate for reaching the communities you work with. These CD’s can be distributed at markets on in other public arenas.

In some areas this method has been used effectively for distributing content that is censored or banned by the authorities; for example the whole online encyclopedia ‘Wikipedia’ was distributed on CDROM in this fashion.

Once you have printed and distributed your material, get ready to check that the message actually got across. See Evaluation for more on this.

Evaluation

Evaluation

Feedback and evaluation is vital to ensure both effectiveness and continuous improvement.

Evaluation should happen at two levels – process and outcomes. You can look at facts as well has feelings.

Questions to ask include:

Process

• What did you learn?
• Did you finish it on time and budget?
• How could you do this better next time.

Document your answers and try to update your stored knowledge for the next person who comes along. Link to documentation of processes in case of staff changes or emergency.

Outcomes

• Did our target audience receive or see our printed material?
• How many people did we reach?

What feedback can they offer?

• Did it achieve our strategic goals?

Evaluation tools

• Feedback mechanism in any publication, eg. phone, email and a request to hear from people.
• Simple online survey tools like Surveymonkey.
• Just asking your stakeholders.
• Monitoring enquiries, media coverage, audience behavior.
• Asking for all feedback to come to a central point. Compiling and reviewing it with your team.

Fact sheets – social education in India

Fact sheets – social education in India    

Project        Facts Against Myths http://vakindia.org/facts-myths.htm

Organisation    Vikas Adhyayan Kendra http://vakindia.org/

Goal            Inform the reader with facts to form a knowledge-based opinion on contemporary social concerns.

Format        Information fact sheet
Low cost, black & white
4-8 pages, question-and-answer
Frequency        Bi-monthly, since 1993

Facts Against Myths examines the common myths surrounding an issue and then presents the facts against these myths.

Launched in 1993 by Vikas Adhyayan Kendra (Development Research Center), a Mumbai-based secular, non-profit organisation, the aim of Facts Against Myths was to counter a growing fascist trend in India, which victimised non-Hindus, using false propaganda as a primary tool. Facts Against Myths attempted to use factual and verifiable information to counter the myths and prejudices being spread against Muslims and other religious minorities.

Over the years, the scope of the fact-sheet has widened. It now addresses various aspects of the dominant development paradigm as it adversely impacts individuals, communities and society at large. From the myths used to propagate the beauty industry, the nuclear industry, and the “gene revolution” to issues of health, HIV-AIDS and industrialisation.

What can we learn from those who bring out Facts Against Myths? Leslie Rodrigues, who has been the driving force behind this publication, says: “If you want to bring out a similar publication or indeed any documentation of social relevance, you must first have a powerful, pro-people critique of society. The style, the formatting, getting the information out on time: all these are important too but they are secondary aspects of the process. The main point is to take a stand. You need to be aware of what is happening around you, identify the main issues, understand the significance of various conflicting opinions and then take a stand that is democratic and pro-people.”

Results
How do they know whether the fact-sheet is serving a useful purpose? Leslie explains that people usually write in with praise, criticism and suggestions. He recounts how the edition on the beauty industry was heavily used by women’s groups who in fact placed bulk orders for extra copies. Many people send in requests for back issues. But what gives the publishers the greatest satisfaction is when they receive angry responses and threats from reactionary organisations who are the main proponents of myths. “That’s when we know that the truth as we have documented it, has really hit home!” laughs Leslie.

http://vakindia.org/
http://vakindia.org/a-fam.htm
http://vakindia.org/facts-myths.htm

Newsletter - women's centre in India

Project         Newsletter

Organisation    Saheli Women’s Resource Centre

Goal            Inform & educate client with latest news and advice

Audience        Supporters, clients & others

Format        Newsletter
Low cost, black & white

Frequency        Bi-monthly, since 1993

Sustaining a regular newsletter for 25 years entirely on voluntary effort is not easy. There is much to learn from the experience of this small women’s group.

Saheli Women’s Resource Centre is a New Delhi-based autonomous women’s organisation working for the past 25 years on women’s rights. It is non-funded and runs entirely on personal donations from supportive individuals. It has functioned as both a crisis centre and a campaign group. It brings out a quarterly newsletter to which people can subscribe.

Saheli’s newsletter is a very important vehicle of communication. Particularly because it runs on individual support, the newsletter keeps supporters informed about campaigns and activities. From reproductive health issues to domestic violence, from sexuality minority rights to economic policy, the Saheli Newsletter covers diverse and often difficult terrain. A critique of reproductive technologies, for example, needs to be presented in a simple, concise and jargon-free manner, one that would allow ordinary women to make meaning of their experiences with medical care in the light of the larger politics of the drug and medical industry.

The fact that Saheli works as a non-hierarchical women’s collective is both a strength and challenge as far as bringing out a time-bound publication is concerned. Communication in the absence of a formal structure can be a nightmare. The group maintains a Daily Diary where volunteers log the day’s events. It not only helps the group to understand what works and what doesn’t work, it’s also a piece of historical documentation. Writers by-lines are not included as a matter of editorial policy since this would “fail to acknowledge the inputs of others into the newsletter – be it to type, translate, proof, edit or even post the newsletters.” (Saheli:”25 Years of Continuity and Change”; August 2006)

The early issues of the newsletter tended to be text-heavy. Group discussions and study circles however brought a rich quality of intellectual rigor to the articles. In later years, the newsletter experimented with design changes, incorporated a more humorous style and used cartoons to pack a punch. In terms of content too, changes were brought in. Based on internal and external feedback, more issues began to be covered. The Saheli Newsletter continues to have wide outreach and relevance.

Newsletter - women's centre in India