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Reviewing your text
In providing a design and production
service for self-publishing authors we tend not to comment
on the content of what the author has written, though
we might sometimes offer advice from a sales point of
view. When we receive your manuscript we will assume
that you are happy with it as it stands, and we will
follow the copy as it appears. We do not take responsibility
for the content and, unless you request copy-editing
or proof-reading, we do not undertake to read through
the whole text. Our review of the text is limited to
examining the content and structure with a design or
production ‘eye’. However in the course
of copy preparation we might notice things that prompt
us to suggest that copy-editing, or other editorial
work, would be beneficial if the author has not already
requested it.
The following editorial services are available (at extra
cost), and can be a very worthwhile investment.
Copy-editing
We recommend that all authors
seriously consider having their text professionally
copy-edited. It is true for all of us that when we read
what we ourselves have written we automatically know
and understand what we meant (at least most of the time!),
but it takes another to spot things that we have missed,
or to help clarify what we mean for the benefit of other
readers. Bookprint employ experienced professionals
who can work through your manuscript and copy-edit it,
perhaps only ‘lightly’ if that’s all
that’s required, to help ensure that the text
is professionally presented and as easy as possible
for the reader to follow.
This standard procedure is quite ‘mechanical’,
possibly including some simple re-writing where required
to clarify your meaning,
as well as the following as a matter of course: checking
spellings, grammar and punctuation for consistency;
identifying levels of headings; identifying extracts,
quotes, and elements to appear in different typestyles;
applying ‘house style’ (e.g. single or double
quote marks, capitalisation or not of Deity, etc); and
checking/creating copy for preliminary pages.
For a short to medium length book of fairly straightforward
text, copy-editing like this might cost only a few hundred
pounds, and we believe it is a wise investment: it can
lift the book to a better level and help it to achieve
what you, the author, intended. However we only embark
on this work if you have requested it, or agreed to
it.
Substantive editing
As a further option in addition
to the above standard ‘mechanical’ level
of copy-editing, we could also arrange for a deeper
level of professional editing if you wish. This would
provide a full editorial survey of your text and go
into the sense, meaning and clarity of what you have
written and perhaps offer suggestions for some
re-writing or re-ordering of the content – all
with the aim of structuring your text so that it says
exactly what you mean as clearly as possible. This service
would cost extra again, and the amount would depend
on the work and time involved. For this level of editing
we might arrange for the editor to talk with you and
charge you direct.
In our experience, fewer manuscripts from self-publishing
authors require this deeper level of editing, but most
benefit from copy-editing as described above.
TYPESETTING
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