This essay was originally published in The Grub Daily and also appears in The Sane Person's Guide to Self-publishing.
Both in my work at The
Worcester Review and as a freelance book designer, I regularly receive
manuscripts for publication that require serious attention before they can even
be imported into InDesign for layout, not because they’re poorly written, but
because they are full of sloppy formatting.
If the individual responsible for layout is an experienced
professional, it all should work out okay in the end, although cleaning the
copy will require a lot of hours and a good eye for detail. If the individual
responsible for layout is inexperienced or rushed for time, the result might be
sloppy or you may have to go through several layout revisions, causing delays
in getting your book to readers.
By learning a few little things, you can fix up your
manuscript to save yourself and your layout editor time, and—for
self-publishers—save yourself money, while taking an active role in making your
book look as good as possible.
1. Finish all editing before you give your manuscript to the
layout editor. Layout editors are not copyeditors. They will not be looking for
typos. It’s fair to expect the layout editor to modify design choices after
they send you galleys, and any errors he or she inadvertently introduces while
completing layout must absolutely be corrected, but if the errors are yours,
you might have to pay.
2. Be sure that if you used “Track Changes,” you have
completely accepted or rejected any modifications. Track changes can cause huge
headaches when importing a document for layout. My advice: For each draft, make
a whole new doc instead of getting tangled in the web of Track Changes.
3. Be consistent when typing your manuscript. Here are some
things writers often do inconsistently:
Paragraph
format. Microsoft Word and other similar word processors “learn” from you
as you type, which means they see what you’re doing and make predications as
you proceed. For instance, if you hit tab to indent a couple of paragraphs in a
row, Word will begin automatically indenting future paragraphs. This is great
in theory, but it often leads to inconsistency. The best solution: In the
“Paragraph Style” menu, choose the option to indent the first line of each new
paragraph. Use that style 100% of the time for the body of your work. Never,
ever use the tab key. The tab key can cause layout woes.
Paragraph
spacing. Look at any traditionally published book on your shelf. Notice
that there are no extra spaces between paragraphs. Many writers hit the enter
key twice at the end of each paragraph, leaving a little extra gap. Don’t do
that. Only hit the enter key more than once if you are indicating a section
break within a chapter. In fact never hit the enter key to add extra space of any kind to your manuscript. Only hit enter to end a paragraph.
Special
characters. While you’re looking at that traditionally published book, look
for a dash. See how pretty it is, all emphatic and visual? Those are called “em
dashes.” Is that how your dashes look, or are yours shorter, stumpier, less
visible?
Here’s how you want your dashes to
look:
Word—word
You format them by typing a word,
then typing two hyphens with no spaces between the word and the hyphens, then
typing the next word and hitting the space bar. Magically an “em dash” appears.
Here are some
WRONG examples. Avoid any of these!
word – word
word - word
word— word
word –word
Word-word
Usage.
If you’re self-publishing, also be consistent with word usage. For instance, do
you sometimes capitalize “Black” when referring to African Americans but not
other times? Make a style sheet for yourself for these little details (even if
you’re paying a copyeditor).
4. Lastly, if you’re self-publishing, you will need to
create all the front matter for your book. Layout editors just arrange what
you’ve given them. To create front matter, once again consult that
traditionally published book. Your book will need a title page and copyright
page. You’ll need to write the text for that, including your copyright
information, ISBN number, etc. You may want a dedication as well. All these
details are up to you.
The bottom line for writers is this: Even when we’re working
with a team, we writers still have to do as much as we can to make sure our
work is the best it can be. To be a publishing writer, we have to learn a
little bit about each part of the process of creating a book, including the
nitty-gritty. But if that means the final version of my book is professional and
beautiful, it’s fine by me!
