Editorial checklist
Sankofa Literary Society Posting Home
by Marilyn and Tom Ross
The following editorial checklist will help you evaluate your finished
nonfiction manuscript and pinpoint any potentially weak areas. It will
assist you in coming across professionally rather than smacking of
amateurism.
Title. Is it catchy? Short? Appropriate?
Opening. Does it arouse interest and hook the reader?
Organization. Do you tell readers what you're going to tell them,
then tell them, and then tell them what you told them? Is the book
logically presented? Have you used headings and subheads to help
communicate your nonfiction message?
Credibility. Is your manuscript built on a foundation of accurate
information? Are the facts the most current available? Names and
places spelled correctly? Figures right? Web site URLs accurate? Can
the reader sniff the unmistakable aroma of authenticity in the pages?
Have you avoided issues which could be too quickly dated?
Sentences. Are their lengths varied? Their structure and meter? Mix
'em up, shrink 'em, stretch 'em, make 'em gallop, let 'em be languid.
Just please don't let them go on forever.
Paragraph breaks. Your manuscript needs frequent paragraph breaks.
This is more appealing to the eye than long blocks of text.
Conclusion. Does it just stop, or is the package tied together and
truly finished?
Spelling. Pleez spel krecktly! Use your computer spell checker; look
up questionable words in the dictionary or on the Web.
Punctuation. Does it clarify what is written? Give impact? Do you add
zest by using varied types of punctuation such as semicolons, colons,
dashes, ellipses, parentheses, and quotation marks? Or do you simply
stub your toe on a comma over and over again?
Grammar. Is it correct yet alive? Be sure you haven't used plural
nouns with singular verbs, and vice versa. Use common sense when
applying the rules, and don't be inhibited by old forms that have
become obsolete. For instance, in spite of what your stern English
teacher taught you, starting a sentence with and or but is acceptable
practice today. Even slang has its place. Carl Sandburg observed that
"slang is language that rolls up its sleeves, spits on its hands, and
goes to work."
Consistency. In preparing your book to be typeset, it is important
that you observe uniformity. If you spell out California in chapter
one, abbreviate it as Calif. in chapter six, and use CA in chapter
eleven, you have no consistency. To avoid this problem, why not try a
trick used by many professional editors? They establish a style sheet.
It typically covers such things as abbreviations, how numbers will be
expressed, and other points relevant to each manuscript. When we come
across something that could be expressed more than one way, we enter
our choice for how to express it on the sheet. Then when we run across
the same thing, or a similar example, later in the manuscript, we can
see how it appeared before. For more information on copyediting in
general, we recommend Copyediting: A Practical Guide by Karen Judd.
Presentation. The physical appearance of your work is also important.
You want a manuscript you can be proud to send out for advance
comments or for editing. Dirty copy is likely to result in more errors
and greater costs. And please don't get carried away trying to
emphasize everything. Occasional italic is fine to stress a word or
phrase. The overuse of italic and underlines and bold and CAPS-or
worse, a combination of these-smacks of amateurism.
Each of us has an innate style of expression. The more we practice the
writing craft, the more distinct that style becomes. Your style may
develop to the point that people reading unbylined work will recognize
it as yours because of your unique way of expressing yourself. Style
wears many faces. It can be as simple as Ernest Hemingway or as
complicated as William Faulkner; as lighthearted as Dave Barry or as
profound as Jerzy Kosinski. The more you write, the more compelling
your style will become. By practicing and using the guidelines in this
article, you and your editor can turn a manuscript that is like a mild
processed cheese into copy with the bite of sharp cheddar.
© Copyright 2005 Marilyn Ross
Marilyn and Tom Ross are the coauthors of 13 books including the best-
selling Complete Guide to Self-Publishing and the award-winning Jump
Start Your Book Sales. Through phone consultations and ongoing
coaching/mentoring, Marilyn empowers authors and self-publishers to
realize their dreams. She can be reached at 720-344-4388 or
S...@SelfPublishingResources.com. Visit http://www.SelfPublishingResources.com
for meaty information on writing, self-publishing, and book marketing
strategies.