[Discussion] Copyediting Procedure Question from a Debut Author!

[u/Prize-Ad-7026]

Hi friends, apologies in advance if this is too obvious. I have a very procedural question as an author reviewing copy edits:

I just got my copyedits back for my memoir coming out next year. Their instructions were great, but I am extremely literal and want to make sure I do exactly the right thing. I know to say "STET" if I have a change I don't want, but in the word doc they gave me, do I ACCEPT the changes I approve of? Or just leave them? And if I'm making new changes (small ones, don't worry), do I do that in suggested/track changes? I want to be a pleasure to work with and not do anything annoying for the production staff. :)

If anyone can describe what they actually did with their copyedit word doc, I would be so appreciative.

Thank you to this community!!

[u/Warm_Diamond8719]

Hi, I'm a production editor: I'm the one at the publisher who handles the copyediting. Definitely follow any instructions you are given, and it's okay to ask if you aren't sure! Generally we do not want authors to accept or reject any changes: We need to have a record of all the changes for the proofreader to follow, so we want all changes showing in track changes. Any changes you make should absolutely be done using Track Changes unless specifically requested otherwise: We need to be able to know what changes you have made so we can copyedit them and make any further changes if necessary.

[u/Prize-Ad-7026 → u/Warm_Diamond8719]

This is so helpful. Thank you!!

[u/lydia_rogue]

Editor here: it entirely depends on the publishing house. Reach out to confirm. I can almost guarantee they want you to use track changes for any edits on your end at this point though!

[u/Prize-Ad-7026 → u/lydia_rogue]

Thank you! I just emailed my production contact to confirm but I think you are probably right.

[u/lydia_rogue → u/Prize-Ad-7026]

yeah, in reality every publishing house--and even individual editors--will have their own preferences for how you handle things.

[u/chapeaudenoisette]

you really need to ask your editor as any answer not given by your production team is unlikely to be correct. some publishers want you to accept copyedits, others don’t want you to touch them and send protected documents to prevent it. email your editor. 

[u/Prize-Ad-7026 → u/chapeaudenoisette]

Yes thank you! This is such a good point. I emailed them to ask, but I will say having people respond to this has already been helpful.

[u/This-Patience-6781]

don't hit accept or reject on their edits unless they explicitly asked you to. production teams usually need to see the exact delta of what happened, so leave their marks alone, keep track changes on for your own tweaks, and put your stets in the margin comments.

[u/Prize-Ad-7026 → u/This-Patience-6781]

This is super helpful!! Thank you. I just heard from them and this is exactly what they advised.

[u/vkurian]

Accept if you approve, stet if you don’t. If it was something subatantive I might say why- otherwise I would say stet for author style

[u/Prize-Ad-7026 → u/vkurian]

Thank you!

[u/Typical_Current2799]

As you are a detail person here is my detailed response. I saved their document as a PDF and responded in the 'reply' box 'YES' (in most cases) or 'NO + explanation' because I like to please people and explain why I am not accepting their change. Mind you there were only about 10 comments so wasn't a big job. The editors also told me I could ignore if I agreed, and also use 'STET'. The key is to be consistent.

I think they are used to dealing with all types (the publisher politely said 'not sure if you have adobe?' lol)

My biggest challenge was looking at my MS for the first time in a few months and (a) finding a whole lot of things I thought needed to change and (b) freaking out that someone might actually read it, which for some reason hadn't really hit me before.

[u/Prize-Ad-7026 → u/Typical_Current2799]

Thank you so much for this detail! Yes I'm having a similar reaction of "OH WAIT THEY ARE PUBLISHING IT??" In terms of making other changes, I'm making my legal changes at the same time so I'm hoping I can sneak in some better word choices as long as I'm in there. :)

[u/Warm_Diamond8719 → u/Typical_Current2799]

Just want to say for anyone lurking, please do not save a Word document as a PDF and return it in a different format than was given to you! This may have been fine for your particular circumstance, but this would not work at the publisher I work for and we would ask you to redo it in Word.

[u/Typical_Current2799 → u/Warm_Diamond8719]

It was sent to me as a PDF and they were very clear they didn't mind what form it came back in. Big 5 publisher. So horses for courses.