End Notes: A Letter from the Editor

EndNotes: A Letter from the Editor

Sending your manuscript to a publisher can feel like sending your eldest child off to her first day of kindergarten. Sure, she’s ready. She’s intelligent, thoughtful, a leader, someone who thankfully takes after your spouse. You’ve sat her down, prepared her for some of the trials she might face, explained as much as you could. But if you’re anything like me, as soon as your child leaves your sight, anxiety begins to gnaw at you. Not so long ago she was an infant. Did you prepare her as best you could?

Similar doubts, anxieties, and uncertainties can accompany manuscript submission. Like a parent with a kindergartener, you may have spent the last five years raising it—from infancy to maturity, with research and contemplation, writing and revising, coffee and more coffee. Your project is in the best shape you can muster. And then, with the press of a button, your work is in the hands of someone else, some mysterious editor who might cut your favorite chapter or suggest extensive rewrites. Who is influencing your manuscript? What’s going to happen to five years of your life’s work?

Alas, I can’t guarantee that you won’t have to rewrite anything, but I can offer you some insider knowledge. Eventually, after some serious prying, my daughter told me what happened on her first day of kindergarten. Knowing what she was doing and who was teaching her helped ease my anxiety. It is my hope that if you know what to expect, you might have a bit less anxiety the next time you press send on a submission email.

Manuscripts go through three types of revision. The first is macro editing. Usually, the acquisitions editor performs this task. As you might have guessed, a macro edit examines your manuscript at a macro level. What’s your main thesis, and do you prove it? Do your chapters all help build your argument, or does a chapter stray too far off topic? Perhaps you need an extra chapter to help prove your point. Add a section here, cut a paragraph there, rend this chapter asunder. The intent of the macro edit is to make sure you have submitted exactly one well-argued, well-articulated, and well-structured book.

Next, your manuscript will be copyedited. At Zondervan, this step is often completed by a production editor. While the macro editor is looking at the big picture, the copyeditor is looking at the details. Anything a paragraph or smaller is the domain of the copyeditor. Are the facts right, and do you provide all the right sources? Do your sentences have dangling modifiers? Does chapter 7 overuse the word cornucopia? Are you a too-manycommas person or a not-enough-commas person? (This is a trick question. Because you’re reading the essay at the end of an academic catalog, I know you’re a too-many-commas person. I was one too.) The intent of the copyedit is to make sure your sentences are clear and concise, pristine and perfect, ready to be read by your readers.

The final type of manuscript revision I’ll mention today is proofreading. The job of the proofreader is to fix those pesky typos, errors, and mistakes that persist in your book. This unsung hero of the publishing world isn’t worried about commas unless those commas are typos. The proofreader isn’t looking at sentence structure unless that sentence is nonsensical. When you misspell the name of your own doktorvater and forget the colon in the title of your previous book, the proofreader will help you save face. The proofreader’s domain is the jot and the tittle, and a good proofread will not leave one out of place.

This fall, I’m sending my youngest kid to kindergarten. Many of my anxieties have evaporated because I know what to expect. I’m writing this letter in the summer, and I’m nearly ready to beg his kindergarten teacher to let him start early. Likewise, I hope that knowing what to expect from your editors and proofreaders will make submitting your next manuscript a little easier. Matthew Estel, PhD Senior Editor Zondervan Academic

Do you have a question for Zondervan Academic? Email your question to Matthew.Miller@harpercollins.com.