Copy Editing Guidelines

General guidance for editing Nimble Books manuscripts

Please use the 15th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style. I highly recommend a $30 subscription to the online version.

Mechanical issues

• Use Word 2007 (.docx) if at all possible. If necessary, .doc format is accceptable.  Track Changes on.
• Change all ^p^t to ^p (ie remove leading tabs from paragraphs).
• All sentences should be followed by a single stop.
• Expand acronyms at first use.
• Check spelling of all proper nouns.
• Make sure authors use consistent transliteration schemes (e.g.  ”Peking” v. “Beijing”).

For my style philosophies and idiosyncrasies see the Nimble Books Style Guide and my regular #usage posts on Twitter.

The following sections provide tips on issues to watch for with particular types of manuscripts.

Edited collections

• Make sure usage is consistent among authors.
• Ditto reference styles.
• Watch out for internal cross-references.

Military, political, and naval books

• Ship names: USS Harry S Truman (CVN-75)
• Hyphenate all US navy ship numbers and all other navies by default unless author or publisher indicates that historical practice in the navy under discussion was to use spaces rather than hyphens (“MAS 512″).