[JodyJS Posts: 1,319 Status: Offline Available for preorder! Out 12/12/23]

Hi! I've got some publishing production questions I've wondered about for a long time. Maybe someone here can help...Harold?

I know that after a manuscript has been copy edited and a back-and-forth has occurred between copy editor and author (and editor) about what to change and what to leave that the manuscript is then "fixed" and typeset (copied and pasted?) into a PDF that looks like the layout of a book (I'm thinking of novels here, fwiw.)

Then a proofreader checks the PDF against the marked up (foul) manuscript to see that all the changes were made and none were introduced. Do I have this process right so far?

My questions are: who makes the changes to the manuscript that the AU and CE agree to and how are they made? (I'm partially wondering how errors could be introduced between CE and PR.) Is typesetting really copying and pasting or does someone literally retype the entire novel? Please educate me.

Thanks in advance!

[dewsanddamps Posts: 2,320 Status: Offline]

Jody, don't know if this helps, but I have a book right now that has the pages already designed--and has for a year. (This book has spun on forever bc the publisher was purchase mid-project, length was changed, etc.) But we've made multiple passes lengthening, shortening, and adding words after passes by the sensitivity reader, copy editor, and fact checker. There are also boxes in the text for documents that have to go right after the text which refers to them, so every time we have to add a few words we risk bumping one of those boxes onto the next column and messing everything up. There have been times when I've needed to delete eight words from the three lines below the box in column 3, or add seventeen words to column four so the page turn's in the right place. Repeatedly. For a 200+ pp ms.

I think it would be pretty easy to introduce an error that way, if that's what you're wanting to do.
 

[JodyJS Posts: 1,319 Status: Offline Available for preorder! Out 12/12/23]

Whoa. I had no idea, Dews. Yeah, agree. Super easy. Thanks!

[HaroldU Posts: 859 Status: Offline Exec. Editor, Kane Press]

So, as dewsanddamps said, there are very possibly changes to the copyedited manuscript, and even if there aren't, someone has to accept or reject all of the copyeditor's changes, and answer all of their questions, for the manuscript to be "final."

Typesetting is much more than copying and pasting into a PDF! Now that we have electronic files, the manuscript no longer needs to be keyboarded, but the text does have to be copied into a design file (typically InDesign) and then all the design choices that have been made need to be applied--how chapter titles are set, headers, etc.

You then have what's called a "galley"--if it hasn't been set in pages. Back in the days of physical typesetting, galleys were long pages just showing the text before it had been pasted into a "mechanical." But I digress. You might also have "page proofs." And yes, those then need to be proofread, to make sure that all of the copyeditor's changes were made, and that all the formatting has been correctly applied, and that no new errors have been introduced.

It's quite a process, and it mostly takes place out of sight.

[Mindy Alyse Weiss Posts: 3,666 Status: Offline A long journey - but I'm determined to get there!]

Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom, Harold. I always learn so much from you.

[JodyJS Posts: 1,319 Status: Offline Available for preorder! Out 12/12/23]

Thanks, Harold. So who typically makes the changes to the CE'd file? And who copies the text into InDesign? I'm assuming there are no longer "typesetter" jobs in publishing?

[HaroldU Posts: 859 Status: Offline Exec. Editor, Kane Press]

Thanks, Harold. So who typically makes the changes to the CE'd file? And who copies the text into InDesign? I'm assuming there are no longer "typesetter" jobs in publishing?

I don't know if there's any one procedure. It's worked out between the editor and the copyeditor.  The person who brings the text into InDesign is the book designer.

No, there aren't typesetters in publishing. When I started, way back in the 20th century, there were still companies that did typesetting in NYC. No more.

[JodyJS Posts: 1,319 Status: Offline Available for preorder! Out 12/12/23]

Ha! Thanks, Harold!

FWIW, I see authors thanking their book designers all the time, which is great, but I have never been told who designed my books. Now that I know that's a thing, I'll ask going forward!