Documentation

Use the copyediting and proofreading procedures to edit within the Well-Formed Document Workflow.

Using Microsoft Word

Note: Never work in Google docs, only locally in Microsoft Word. Any change made to a scribed document by manipulating it as a Google doc will remove all of the ScML styles.

The Scribe Add-In for Word (SAI)

The Well-Formed Document Workflow uses the industry-standard program Microsoft Word and the Scribe Add-In (SAI)) when copyediting manuscripts.

ScML styles have been applied to the manuscript through the Word Scribing process, uniquely identifying each paragraph and character style in use. Styles must be maintained and deployed correctly at all stages of editing and production.

The SAI includes many features used in the scribing and editing processes. Subscribers to the WFDW have access to the full suite of tools, but everyone can use the SAI Lite, which includes the key tools to edit a compliant manuscript.

Note for Freelancers: Coordinate requirements and expectations with the publisher (or Scribe) before working on any file. Some aspects in the procedure can only be accessed by WFDW subscribers. If needed, contact the publisher or Scribe to arrange for full access to the SAI and the Digital Hub.

The Scribe Word Template

In MS Word’s Styles pane, a paragraph style is denoted by a pilcrow (¶) next to the style name, while a character style is marked by an underlined letter “a.”

ScML styles are designed in Word to represent a standard treatment of each element in a commonsense way. For example, the levels of headings get gradually smaller, as one would expect in the printed book. The final rendering of these styles is determined for each output, using the InDesign style sheets for the typeset book and the cascading style sheet (CSS) for ebooks.

Paragraph styles in Word use font size and indentation to represent the book’s structure, and character styles use colors to show that ScML styles have been applied. All paragraph styles in the Scribe Word Template are defined with a roman base font.

Every paragraph in the document must use an ScML style, and character styles must be used to apply italics, bold, and so on, not the I or B buttons in Word’s toolbar. The most common character styles will be i for italic (rendering in green) and b for bold (rendering in pink).

Draft View

To see what paragraph styles have been applied in a manuscript, look at the document in Word’s Draft view.

Set the “Style area width” to 1 inch.

• PC: Go to the File tab > More… > Options. In the Options menu under “Advanced” and “Display.” Type type “1 inch” after “Style area pane width in Draft and Outline views.”
• Mac: Go to Word Preferences > View to access the “Style area width” field.

The style name associated with each paragraph will be shown in this Style area in the left margin.

• PC: Character styles can be seen in the Styles pane by clicking the arrow in the corner of the Styles section of the toolbar.
• Mac: Character styles can be seen in the Home tab if the Style window has been included in the toolbar.

The Style window will show the name of the character style, or it will show the paragraph style if no character style has been applied to the selected text.

Applying Styles

See the Word Scribing for full information about how to apply styles to a manuscript.

To apply a style, use the SAI’s Style Galleries. Built-in style galleries are available, and users can also create their own.

Do not apply character styles through Word’s toolbar. If italics are needed for text, select the text and apply the i character style from the Style Gallery.

When changing a paragraph style, the proper style articulation must be maintained in order to keep the file compliant with WFDW requirements. “Articulation” in the WFDW refers to the ScML style variations that account for spacing and indentation needs of each paragraph. Some examples of how the Digital Hub applies articulation can be found here.

All structural and spacing distinctions are handled through the chosen ScML styles. Do not use blank paragraphs to show space breaks, and do not add angle-bracket markers (e.g., <h1>) to indicate style instructions.

If the correct style selection is not known, insert a comment into the document for the publisher (or Scribe) to address when reviewing the copyedit.

Removing Character Styles

If text has a style applied that must be removed (e.g., an italicized comma after a book title), select the character(s) to be changed with the cursor and apply “Default Paragraph Font.” This tells Word to use the base font of the paragraph.

Do not remove character styles through Word’s toolbar. This will change the appearance of the text in Word, but the applied ScML character style is the aspect that carries through to other formats.

Copyediting

{~?~Mention that there are proprietary things, too, like macros and stuff. This page indicates aspects for all, to be supplemented by other things as you see fit, just don't contradict the WFDW.}

Editorial Requirements

Review for aspects related to the author’s voice, author’s purpose, and the intended audience. (Additionally, determine the audience’s prerequisite knowledge, defining or not defining terms as needed.)

Check vet notes, project specifications, transmittal instructions, the required style guide, and publisher guidelines.

Check time and delivery date requirements.

Check and apply any copyedit sample feedback.

File Type and File Naming

Save files as .docx.

When working with multiple files, name to sort in order (e.g., append “-00fm” to the file name for front matter material, “-01” for the first chapter).

Content Presence and Order

Check that all content is present in the file.

Use the SAI’s Cleanup tool “Mark for Editing” to reveal any errors for potentially hidden text.

Add queries / query marks / placeholders for missing content.

Ensure all content is in the proper order.

Front Matter / Titles and Heads

Ensure Library of Congress Catalog-in-Publication Data is present or marked as TK (“to come”).

Ensure table of contents (TOC) includes all required sections, including TK materials.

Ensure TOC listings match the corresponding text (chapter titles, heads) in the body for wording, italics, and capitalization. (Note: Publishing conventions can result in some valid mismatches, such as “List of Figures” in a TOC pairing with “Figures” as the chapter title in the book.)

Ensure TOC levels correspond with the head levels in the book; ensure levels are logical.

Check head capitalization, sense, and parallelism.

Ensure formatting conforms to an existing design.

• Is the word Chapter used with chapter numbers?
• Are chapter and part numbers spelled out, or do they use numerals?
• Does the wording of note heads match the design?

Edit any lists of running heads.

Edit alt text.

Compare front matter against cover/jacket images.

Edit CIP data and compare the title and author name(s) to interior text.

Macros, Wildcards, Regular Expressions, and Searches

Run any relevant macros and perform wildcard checks.

• Use the SAI’s Find and Replace to build and manage search routines.

Make a copy of the file, accept all changes, and convert the .docx to .sam in the Digital Hub.

• Do the file stats for .docx and .sam reveal any errors?

• Do the searches from the Regular Expressions Resource (or the Sublime Text Package Regular Expression Result Counts) reveal any errors (punctuation of quotations within quotations, direction of quotation marks and apostrophes, use of prime and double prime characters rather than single and double quotation marks)?

Perform any other consistency checks.

Punctuation

Use the SAI’s Cleanup tool “Mark for Editing” to reveal any errors.

• Check for unmatched paired punctuation.
• Check for missing paragraph-ending punctuation.

Check that punctuation following italic, bold, and bold-italic is consistently rendered and in line with preferences.

Check for correct/consistent use of hyphens, en dashes, and em dashes.

Check colons and confirm they are preceded by a complete sentence.

Check for s’; treat singular and plural possessives per the style guide.

Bibliography/References, Notes, and Glossaries

Edit parenthetical citations to adhere to the style guide.

Edit footnotes/endnotes to adhere to the style guide.

• If there are blind endnotes, ensure key terms or phrases have been identified and match between the body and the note paragraphs.

Edit bibliography/references to adhere to the style guide.

Compare parenthetical citations and/or endnotes/footnotes against the reference list or bibliography.

• Use the SAI’s Auto-Edit “Bibliography Tools” to perform checks.
• Change “Bibliography” to “Selected Bibliography” if not all works cited are in the bibliography (or “Recommended Reading” if very short).

Ensure that glossary paragraphs are formatted consistently and that glossary terms in the body match the terms in the glossary paragraphs.

Check alphabetical order of bibliography/references, glossary, and similar items.

URLs

Apply url style to any new URL inserted during copyediting.

• Use the SAI’s Auto-Edit tool “Check URL Link Quality” to perform checks.
• Also, the Digital Hub can be used to convert the file to an ePub. Then in Kindle Previewer, use “Run Quality Checks” in the File menu to check the ePub file for linking errors.

Check that URLs link to the intended locations.

Correct any spaces or prohibited characters (such as em dashes, spaces, or ellipses) in URLs.

• Use the SAI’s Cleanup under the “Mark for Editing” tab. Under “Mark for Scribing Review,” select “Prohibited characters in url styles” and others as needed.

Figures and Illustrations

Edit all figure heads and captions according to the style guide.

Edit any figure text according to the style guide.

Check mentions of figures in running text.

Check figure callouts for format and proper location.

Check consistency of figure heads, attributes, and captions.

Check against list of illustrations if present.

Tables and Tabs

Edit all table heads according to the style guide.

Edit all table cells according to the style guide.

Check for mentions of tables in running text.

Check table callouts for format and proper location.

Check consistency of table heads, notes, and so on.

Ensure tables are built as Word tables.

Ensure consistent use of tabs. (Multiple tabs should not be used to force alignment within Word.)

Block Quotations and Run-In Quotations

Check length of all run-in vs. block quotations using the SAI’s Cleanup tool “Mark for Editing.”

Check that text and punctuation introducing block and run-in quotations are consistent and follow the rules of the style guide.

Verify that there is a citation.

Ensure that quotations’ wording has not been changed.

Numbers and Dates

Ensure numerals are used or spelled out consistently and follow the style guide.

Lists

Check introductory sentence or phrase.

Check punctuation.

Check consistency of handling of list items.

Edit for grammar, sense, and parallelism.

Recurring Elements

Edit any other recurring elements (e.g., sidebars, pull quotes, boxes) for consistency.

Abbreviations and Acronyms

Check use of abbreviations and acronyms for consistency.

Check that first instances of abbreviations or acronyms are spelled out (as needed, per chapter, or at first mention in book).

Epigraphs

Check handling of epigraphs for consistency.

Remove quotation marks around epigraph text.

Use em dashes in front of epigraph tails.

Cross-References

Check cross-references (e.g., page, chapter, section, figure, table, part).

Body Text

Begin reading body text.

Create a style sheet (or open the existing style sheet) using Editorial Style Sheet in the SAI. Keep the style sheet open and enter any decisions you make using SAI shortcuts.

Write down a list of searches and changes to make as you edit.

Edit capitalization to meet the requirements of the style guide.

Depending on project needs, check for directional language that should be rephrased (as the pagination will shift during typesetting)—for example, above (previously, earlier) or below (later on, next).

Use the SAI’s Cleanup tool to remove extra spaces (double spaces, spaces before punctuation, etc.).

Spelling and Grammar Check

Make a copy of the file, accept all changes, and run Word’s “Spelling & Grammar” check.

• You may opt to do this earlier in the process, but always check again after editing the files to ensure that no errors were introduced.

Comments

Check comments for clarity (including any query marks in notes).

Rendering (General)

Remove any unintentional highlighting. (Turn off track changes for this.)

Change colors used for rendering to black as needed by using the SAI’s View Text in Black. (Turn off track changes for this.)

Ensure foreign terms are formatted correctly.

Style Sheet

Check style sheet against book for completeness and accuracy.

Scribing

If the scribing has changed, check that the document still meets the requirements of WFDW scribing, including proper style usage and presence of structure tags as needed.

Special Characters and Digital Hub Conversion Alerts

Make a copy of the file, accept all changes, and upload the .docx file to the Digital Hub to view a list of all special characters in the document.

Are all characters Unicode?

Does processing the file to .sam or ScML in the Digital Hub reveal any errors?

• Check .sam stats in the Digital Hub.
• Example: Processing to another file format may reveal mismatches in footnotes or endnotes.

Do the counts of note styles match?

• If footnotes are used, the counts of fn, fnnum, and fnref should match.
• If endnotes are used, the counts of en, ennum, and enref should match.

Review

Double-check any crucial items listed in vetting notes and/or publisher guidelines.

Check items under Macros, Wildcards, Regular Expressions, and Searches as needed.

Check for any known issues.

Add other items to the style sheet as needed.

Copyedit QC Checklist

Note: Some checklist items are intentionally vague, to be used as catch-all checks, or may not be applicable to a particular project.

File Type and File Naming

SAI File Checks

Digital Hub and Sublime Text Checks

Convert the .docx to ePub 3 in the Digital Hub. This will produce .sam, .scml, and .epub files.

Scribing

Compare

Special Characters and Digital Hub Conversion Alerts

Style Sheet

Content Presence and Order

Design and Series Consistency

Front Matter

Edits

Rendering (General)

Quotations

Block Quotations and Run-in Quotations

Epigraphs

Comments

Spell Check

Punctuation

Lists

Figures and Illustrations

Tables and Tabs

Recurring Elements

Bibliography/References, Notes, and Glossaries

URLs

ISBNs, Phone Numbers, and Zip Codes

Abbreviations and Acronyms

Capitalization

Cross-References

Numbers and Dates

Indexes

See the Index QC Checklist.

Scribe internal documentation:

Manuscript Edit Procedure: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PrGQ6na5ILAmNeQuJIniHmFAO3oXKsV0/edit

Proofread: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1soXRPVfaG_u1Z2v31x4LK0EIMG5ie_ulcjHOe1072g8/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.1olay411kzqk