Here is a list of terms I have used on various pages of this website. In the world of publishing, there can be differences in what is meant by each term. What one person calls a copyedit, another might call a line edit.
To be absolutely clear what I mean, here are definitions of the terms I’ve used across various pages of my website.
| Word or phrase | Definition |
| Beta reader | A beta reader is a test reader – someone who has been asked to give feedback on a novel from the point of view of your typical reader. |
| BSI symbols | British Standards Institution. These are a series of symbols recognised and used in traditional publishing by proofreaders and editors to mark up a text. |
| CIEP | The Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading. This is a professional organisation for proofreaders and editors which sets standards through industry-approved training programmes. |
| Copy | Copy refers to the text of a manuscript – the words that are written. |
| Copy edit | To copy edit is to read through, check, and edit a text before it is typeset, looking out for accuracy, consistency and sense, and fixing problems. |
| Global checks | Macro-level (i.e. full text) checks. These are checks that I make before I read the manuscript word-for-word. |
| Hit publish (self-publishing) | Indie authors choose a self-publishing platform such as KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) or IngramSpark. They ‘hit publish’ when their manuscript is uploaded and formatted and they are ready to share it with the world. |
| Indie authors | Independent authors take control of all aspects of their book and publish it using self-publishing platforms. That is not to say they have to do everything themselves. Indie authors will source and commission professional help for various stages of the process, such as cover design and editing. |
| Line edit | To line edit is to check a manuscript on a stylistic level. Could the word choice or word order be improved to create a better effect? A line edit will consider how a text is received by readers and whether anything can be done to make it more effective. |
| Manuscript | The manuscript is the complete, unpublished text of a novel. For most authors, that means it’s your Word document. |
| Mark up | To mark up a text is the action of labelling and annotating a manuscript. |
| Proof | A proof is a trial print of a page, used for a final read-through in order to spot any remaining errors. |
| Proof-editing | Closer to a copy edit than a proofread: this is the service I often give to indie authors who want one editing pass over their manuscript. Authors who, once they have reviewed the edits made, will hit publish to their self-publishing platform of choice. This editing pass combines elements of copy editing – where changes are made into the manuscript –and proofreading, where final consistency checks are completed. |
| Proofread | To proofread is to read and check the typeset proofs of a text and mark up any errors. |
| Sample edit | A sample edit is, for example, 1000 words taken from the middle of a manuscript which are proofread or copyedited and returned to the author as an example of how the process works. This is an important stage in the editor–author relationship and is used to help the editor quote for the project as a whole. |
| Style sheet | A style sheet is an overview of the style choices of a particular author, novel, series or publisher. |
| Track changes | A function on Microsoft Word which flags changes that have been made to a manuscript so that the author can choose to ‘accept’ or ‘decline’ them. |
| Traditional publishers | Traditional publishers buy the rights to an author’s novel and use their team to prepare and launch the book. Authors and traditional publishers share royalties. |
| Typeset | To typeset is to arrange and lay out the format of a text for publication. |
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