The Tricks to "Track Changes"

Photo (and effort?) by Maria Kang

Couldn't resist posting this party photo from the Christmas holidays. Not that I'd ever go to that much trouble, but if you had some nimble-fingered children to help . . .  A truly creative idea.


Out of the family archives . . .

"I want to be just like mommy."

The Tricks to "Track Changes"

 This past week I had the interesting experience of the editor being edited. It's been a long while - years filled with a lot of experience editing my own and other authors' work - since the last time I was edited. I came away from the experience of editing Rebel Princess with several conclusions.

1.  Even with all my experience, I needed to broaden my understanding of Microsoft Word's Track Changes, the most commonly used interactive editing program around. (I had always relied on my editors to produce the final totally clean copy. This is not the case with Kindle Scout.)

2.  Being edited by someone with whom you have NO interaction is way different from the kind of editing I've experienced in the past. (Kindle Scout provides an editor who does line edits and offers an overall critique on content, but there is no further interaction. After that, it's DIY. The author is on his/her own. A major surprise.)

3.  It's possible for the hotshot editor (which I consider myself) to make mistakes. Which I most certainly did. (I was particularly grateful to my editor for catching a plot revelation that snuck in too soon. There were also some other cogent comments for which I was grateful.) [By the way, I use "snuck" quite deliberately. It is the past tense of "sneak" I learned in school and is still listed in the dictionary, even though it's going out of style because word processing programs list it as a "spelling error."]

4.  It is also possible for editors to make mistakes. Which my Kindle Scout editor obviously did, as I spent about fifty percent of my Track Changes updates okaying words or punctuation that were perfect to begin with. Aargh! (I can only assume he did a Search & Replace, changing both the planet and nationality "Psyclid" to lower case, only to realize I had it right in the first place. I must have had to  "okay" about a thousand capital Ps as I went through the manuscript. Same for ellipses. I do mine right out of the Chicago Manual of Style and have no idea why each one had been played with, forcing me to okay the change back to the way they were when I submitted the manuscript. Double aargh!)

5. And, yes, you are allowed to reject editorial changes. Be sure you've considered the suggestion fairly and then, if you're absolutely "certain sure," hit the X for Reject. 

6.  If I, who have used Track Changes many times, had difficulties creating "clean copy," it seems likely other people might have the same problem. So below please find the instructions I send to my editing clients and also the instructions I revised just for Kindle Scout (and other "single edit" publishers). I hope all the authors  (fiction or non-fiction) who read this blog will find the list helpful the next time they're faced with a page of red or blue or green that has to be turned back to black. 

THE "HOW TO" OF TRACK CHANGES

Grace Note:  I do all my writing in Word Perfect but keep an older copy of Microsoft Word for editing purposes. In my copy Track Changes is in the Tools menu. If necessary, check all Menus until you find it.

1.    In Tools, select Track Changes. 

A new set of icons will appear.  Run your mouse over them to see what they do.  The important ones are: Accept Change, Reject Change, & Comment.

2.    To accept a change, place your cursor on the tiny triangle & click on “Accept Change.” (You’ll know the cursor is in the right place when the little dotted line darkens to solid.) See also #6 below.

3.    To reject a change, place your cursor on the tiny triangle & click on “Reject Change. (You may have to manually delete any words your editor added.)

4.    To write a comment, click on the “Comment” icon.

5.    To erase a comment, place your cursor on the comment box in the margin and use “Reject  change “ to make it disappear.

6.    Frequently, even after getting rid of the triangle, some colored characters will     remain.  They can be turned to black by putting your cursor on the word (or     character) and clicking either Accept or Reject, depending on the situation. (On  rare occasions only a portion of the colored section will change, and you’ll have     to keep repeating the Accept or Reject until every character has turned black.)

7.    When you’ve turned as much of your manuscript back to black as you can, return it to your editor with your comments. Usually there are a couple of back-and-forth exchanges before the editor cleans up the final copy, turning everything back to black. 

Grace note:  For those working with publishers who provide only ONE edit, see the instructions written for Kindle Scout authors below. 

 TRACK CHANGES FOR "SINGLE EDIT" PUBLISHERS

1.    In Tools, select Track Changes.

A new set of icons will appear.  Run your mouse over them to see what they do.  The important ones are: Accept Change, Reject Change, & Comment.

2.    To accept a change, place your cursor on the tiny triangle & click on “Accept Change.” (You’ll know the cursor is in the right place when the little dotted line darkens to solid.)  See also #6 below.

3.    To reject a change, place your cursor on the tiny triangle & click on “Reject     Change. (You may have to manually delete any words your editor added.)

4.    To write a comment, click on the “Comment” icon. (This is not applicable to Kindle Scout and other "single edit" publishers as you are not working on a “back & forth” basis with your editor.)

5.    To erase a comment, place your cursor on the comment box and use “Reject change “ to make it disappear.

6.    Frequently, even after getting rid of the triangle, some colored characters will remain. They can be turned to black by putting your cursor on the word (or character) and clicking either Accept or Reject, depending on the situation. (On rare occasions only a portion of the colored section will change, and you’ll have to keep repeating the Accept or Reject until every character has turned black.)

7.    When you’ve turned your manuscript back to black, CONGRATULATIONS.  It means you made it through all the editing changes.

8.    But, WHOA, you’re not really done. When authors work with print publishers and most e-publishers, your editor does the final run-through. For authors working with "single edit" publishers, such as Kindle Scout, it’s do-it-yourself. And since it’s almost impossible to spot every last little Track Changes edit the first time around, go back to the top and scroll through the whole blasted manuscript, looking for those lingering flashes of color.

9.    That’s it. Cross your fingers, send up a prayer or two, and you’re ready to send your baby back.

~ * ~

Thanks for stopping by,

Grace

For Grace's website, listing all books as Blair Bancroft, click here.
For a brochure for Grace's editing service, Best Foot Forward, click here.