Page Proofs
Yay!! They've arrived!
I'm sure some here are wondering what I mean. I know I did, back when.
Page proofs may have evolved in format -- more on that later -- but the principle remains the same: pages as they will be printed are shown to the author. A last chance to catch authorly mistakes, yes, but mostly a chance to catch typesetting mistakes. For the people who make the physical book happen are not the people who read a word of it. They don't have time, nor are words their responsibility.
Important to know, that. Because words are the author's whole reason for being on the page.
The manuscript -- having been edited, revised, reviewed for fact if nec., copyedited for grammar and house style, and, with any luck, being complete and ready for press -- next goes to design. Font style and size. Page numbers. Headers, footers, title page, copyright page, chapter heads, any little dingbats for scenes. The way the material will appear to readers. This step matters whether ebook, billboard, or print book. The editor in charge and sometimes, not always, the author, will comment and ask for changes in the design if necessary. Sometimes marketing or another dept. weighs in. There are reasons YA books have the amount of white space between lines and words that an adult book does not etc. None of this, btw, requires reading a word.
Once the design has been approved, the book can go "to press." These days, we're talking (most often) about a digital file that will communicate with the printing presses, rather than type set by hand. Because yes, for my first books, each letter was set by hand.
We used to call "blues" the galley pages that were basically a first printing from the typeset, although authors would be sent white paper copies. (I was a production editor in a previous incarnation, so blues were my mainstay pre-fiction.)Today, it's simply a printout of the way each page will be printed.
Page proofs.
The task, for me as author and for my editor, is to ensure nothing's slipped up during the whole "no one's reading" part of the process. Things do. Over the years (and printers) I've seen the wrong author name on the headers, the same paragraph repeated in several odd locations, and my personal favourite, the text from the wrong book entirely, but with all the front parts the same. So this is a vital stage.
While software can do a great deal, there are also preferences to be applied. DAW (and I) don't like names to be split across lines or pages (and thus hyphenated). So those bad breaks are noted and will be fixed. Reading page proofs can also point out other embarrassing text problems. I just noticed I've overused "rebellion" on consecutive pages and need to replace one with another word of similar length. At this stage, changing a word can bump lines down and, worse, over a page break. When that leaves one line on a page and moves everything over? yuck!
The how of "marking up" proofs has changed greatly. I used to write on the pages in red, sign each page, then courier the originals (keeping a copy). Later, I wrote on the pages, scanned any with changes, made a summary list, and email the pdfs to the publisher.
Today? Still writing on the pages (it's important), but now I transcribe to a fabulously neat pdf with comments that automatically creates a list. Whew! All hail tech!
It's all worth it. Page proofs are my chance to reassure myself that yes, these are the words I meant to say and yes, they're all here. I've made notes of things to be VERY SURE were fixed and so far, all have been.
Best of all?
Page proofs are my last job. Once done, what comes next is hugging the real book.
Something I hope you're looking forward to as well.
(And, in the meantime, feel free to read A TURN OF LIGHT on my website. In raw manuscript, of course.)
Ta for now!
I'm sure some here are wondering what I mean. I know I did, back when.
Page proofs may have evolved in format -- more on that later -- but the principle remains the same: pages as they will be printed are shown to the author. A last chance to catch authorly mistakes, yes, but mostly a chance to catch typesetting mistakes. For the people who make the physical book happen are not the people who read a word of it. They don't have time, nor are words their responsibility.
Important to know, that. Because words are the author's whole reason for being on the page.
The manuscript -- having been edited, revised, reviewed for fact if nec., copyedited for grammar and house style, and, with any luck, being complete and ready for press -- next goes to design. Font style and size. Page numbers. Headers, footers, title page, copyright page, chapter heads, any little dingbats for scenes. The way the material will appear to readers. This step matters whether ebook, billboard, or print book. The editor in charge and sometimes, not always, the author, will comment and ask for changes in the design if necessary. Sometimes marketing or another dept. weighs in. There are reasons YA books have the amount of white space between lines and words that an adult book does not etc. None of this, btw, requires reading a word.
Once the design has been approved, the book can go "to press." These days, we're talking (most often) about a digital file that will communicate with the printing presses, rather than type set by hand. Because yes, for my first books, each letter was set by hand.
We used to call "blues" the galley pages that were basically a first printing from the typeset, although authors would be sent white paper copies. (I was a production editor in a previous incarnation, so blues were my mainstay pre-fiction.)Today, it's simply a printout of the way each page will be printed.
Page proofs.
The task, for me as author and for my editor, is to ensure nothing's slipped up during the whole "no one's reading" part of the process. Things do. Over the years (and printers) I've seen the wrong author name on the headers, the same paragraph repeated in several odd locations, and my personal favourite, the text from the wrong book entirely, but with all the front parts the same. So this is a vital stage.
While software can do a great deal, there are also preferences to be applied. DAW (and I) don't like names to be split across lines or pages (and thus hyphenated). So those bad breaks are noted and will be fixed. Reading page proofs can also point out other embarrassing text problems. I just noticed I've overused "rebellion" on consecutive pages and need to replace one with another word of similar length. At this stage, changing a word can bump lines down and, worse, over a page break. When that leaves one line on a page and moves everything over? yuck!
The how of "marking up" proofs has changed greatly. I used to write on the pages in red, sign each page, then courier the originals (keeping a copy). Later, I wrote on the pages, scanned any with changes, made a summary list, and email the pdfs to the publisher.
Today? Still writing on the pages (it's important), but now I transcribe to a fabulously neat pdf with comments that automatically creates a list. Whew! All hail tech!
It's all worth it. Page proofs are my chance to reassure myself that yes, these are the words I meant to say and yes, they're all here. I've made notes of things to be VERY SURE were fixed and so far, all have been.
Best of all?
Page proofs are my last job. Once done, what comes next is hugging the real book.
Something I hope you're looking forward to as well.
(And, in the meantime, feel free to read A TURN OF LIGHT on my website. In raw manuscript, of course.)
Ta for now!
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