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.