The following editorial checklist will help you evaluate your finished nonfiction manuscript and pinpoint any potentially weak areas. It will assist you in coming across professionally rather than smacking of amateurism.

Title. Is it catchy? Short? Appropriate?

Opening. Does it arouse interest and hook the reader?

Organization. Do you tell readers what you're going to tell them, then tell them, and then tell them what you told them? Is the book logically presented? Have you used headings and subheads to help communicate your nonfiction message?

Credibility. Is your manuscript built on a foundation of accurate information? Are the facts the most current available? Names and places spelled correctly? Figures right? Web site URLs accurate? Can the reader sniff the unmistakable aroma of authenticity in the pages? Have you avoided issues which could be too quickly dated?

Sentences. Are their lengths varied? Their structure and meter? Mix 'em up, shrink 'em, stretch 'em, make 'em gallop, let 'em be languid. Just please don't let them go on forever.

Paragraph breaks. Your manuscript needs frequent paragraph breaks. This is more appealing to the eye than long blocks of text.

Conclusion. Does it just stop, or is the package tied together and truly finished?

Spelling. Pleez spel krecktly! Use your computer spell checker; look up questionable words in the dictionary or on the Web.

Punctuation. Does it clarify what is written? Give impact? Do you add zest by using varied types of punctuation such as semicolons, colons, dashes, ellipses, parentheses, and quotation marks? Or do you simply stub your toe on a comma over and over again?

Grammar. Is it correct yet alive? Be sure you haven't used plural nouns with singular verbs, and vice versa. Use common sense when applying the rules, and don't be inhibited by old forms that have become obsolete. For instance, in spite of what your stern English teacher taught you, starting a sentence with and or but is acceptable practice today. Even slang has its place. Carl Sandburg observed that "slang is language that rolls up its sleeves, spits on its hands, and goes to work."

Consistency. In preparing your book to be typeset, it is important that you observe uniformity. If you spell out California in chapter one, abbreviate it as Calif. in chapter six, and use CA in chapter eleven, you have no consistency. To avoid this problem, why not try a trick used by many professional editors? They establish a style sheet. It typically covers such things as abbreviations, how numbers will be expressed, and other points relevant to each manuscript. When we come across something that could be expressed more than one way, we enter our choice for how to express it on the sheet. Then when we run across the same thing, or a similar example, later in the manuscript, we can see how it appeared before. For more information on copyediting in general, we recommend Copyediting: A Practical Guide by Karen Judd.

Presentation. The physical appearance of your work is also important. You want a manuscript you can be proud to send out for advance comments or for editing. Dirty copy is likely to result in more errors and greater costs. And please don't get carried away trying to emphasize everything. Occasional italic is fine to stress a word or phrase. The overuse of italic and underlines and bold and CAPSor worse, a combination of thesesmacks of amateurism.

Each of us has an innate style of expression. The more we practice the writing craft, the more distinct that style becomes. Your style may develop to the point that people reading unbylined work will recognize it as yours because of your unique way of expressing yourself. Style wears many faces. It can be as simple as Ernest Hemingway or as complicated as William Faulkner; as lighthearted as Dave Barry or as profound as Jerzy Kosinski. The more you write, the more compelling your style will become. By practicing and using the guidelines in this article, you and your editor can turn a manuscript that is like a mild processed cheese into copy with the bite of sharp cheddar.

Copyright 2005 Marilyn Ross