As an author, you've done all the hard work. You've written a book. You've edited it to the point where you don't think you can improve it any further. And you've decided to commit to handing your "baby" to a professional editor for a final polish.
You wait to receive it back.
You eagerly open the email and download your revised manuscript. It's exciting.
But wait!
My perfectly crafted pages are covered in red marks. There are lines leading to the side of the page. There are crossings out and new things added. And everything is overlapping and going to those balloons in the right margin.
WHAT'S GOING ON?
Stop. Breathe. This is normal. You just need to configure the Track Changes on your computer so that you only see the "important" things. Much of what you are looking at refers to formatting changes, some might be spelling changes, but anything important should have a "comment" explaining what has changed, and why. Follow these instructions and you should find understanding your editor's work a lot easier.
Firstly, you need to find your way around the word document.
At the top of the page there will be a banner/menu which stretches the full width of the page. Above it will be a series of words (File, Home, Insert, Draw, Design... and so on).
Click on Review (This opens a new banner/menu that is specific to the editing process).
Slightly to the right of centre, you'll see a dropdown menu called Track Changes. Click it. You have now turned on the Track Changes function. To confirm it is ON, look at the bottom left of the page and it will tell you if it is ON or OFF (you want it ON).
To the RIGHT of this control function will be a series of other dropdown menus. The first should show "Simple Markup." If you click it, the options you are given are "Simple Markup," "All Markup," "No Markup," and "Original." If, in your document, you are seeing lots of RED alterations, you are in "All Markup" mode. You don't want to be. Instead, click "Simple Markup." The red writing disappears and you are left with lines leading from the text to the right side of the page.
On the right, you'll see one of two things. Either you'll have a series of blue balloons down the edge of the page, or there will be a series of text boxes containing writing (depending on how your edition of Word is set up). These are your editor's COMMENTS. These are the "important" things. These are what you WANT to read. If you are not seeing any of this, click "Show Comments" to the left of the Track Changes button on the top menu.
To open each one, click on the individual box/balloon. It will expand to reveal what was changed (and why), or will contain a comment, suggestion, or opinion (usually with a reference to your chosen style guide, dictionary, or reference material). It will have a line leading to the word or sentence in the text that it is referring to.
It is now over to you.
If you agree with the comment, you can either accept it by clicking the button in the text box, or you can ignore it for now, and click to accept all comments at the end.
If you don't agree, you can add a comment to the box to explain, or to ask the editor for more information, or you can choose to ignore it and change anything back to the way it was originally (it is ultimately YOUR book, so you have the final say. The editor simply "suggests" or recommends a course of action).
And that is it. You simply need to go through each individual comment. Read it. Check it. Then decide if you agree or not.
You might decide to accept most of the changes, but don't agree with a few comments. In this case, you can contact your editor to query the issue, or you might decide to go ahead with your own changes, regardless. You should have been given a "clean copy" of your manuscript (with ALL changes accepted). The simplest way to go forward is just to make any final corrections to this copy. What you are left with is a FINAL edited version of your book with changes that you have checked and agreed to.
Does it sound like a lot of extra work? Did you think that it was a case of simply giving it to the editor, and what you get back is "ready to go"? These are questions (or miscomprehensions) that many new authors are unclear about. Yes, you could just accept all changes without reading them, but there might be suggestions for improvement that you've missed. There might be suggested changes (to comply with a style guide, or a specific spelling) that have not been completed, but which have been referred back to the author to make a decision on, or there might be one of a hundred other possible reasons.
Therefore, always try to read every comment.
This is a brief explanation of how the basics of MS Word Track Changes works (from the author's perspective). There are other functions that you can experiment with, but these are the essentials.
If you need further, detailed explanations, the following links might be quite helpful.
For those with specific issues regarding speeding up Track Changes when you have a large book file with lots of alterations, read this interesting article by Hazel Bird of Word Stitch Editorial (this is better suited to the editors out there).
For clients of ProofWrite UK, all editing packages include a "working copy" of your document (using Track Changes as explained above). It comes with a cover letter explaining how to use Track Changes (or you can refer to this blog). You also receive a "clean copy" and a Style Sheet specific to your project.
Check out my website ProofWrite UK for services that I offer, details of editing packages, detailed information, and offers.
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