Six Steps to a Quality
Editorial Process
Using a standard editorial process
helps improve quality and prevent
mistakes—no matter your industry.
Nearly everyone involved in communications would
agree that using a standard editorial process helps
ensure quality publications. But what does “standard”
mean? Does quality control differ by industry? Or do
commonalities exist?
Dragonfly asked four pros how they develop
meaningful content and avoid mistakes. We talked
to Alison Knopf, editor of Alcoholism & Drug Abuse
Weekly; Alexis Nesbitt, a freelance designer; Stephen
Wagley, executive editor for reference books at
Oxford University Press; and Margaret Walker, a
technical editor.
“Writers must hit their deadlines. A late submission means that quality
checks will be rushed or skipped altogether.”
Despite the wide differences in the publications they
We also might come up with actual pieces of the
handle—newsletters, books, proposals, and marketing
copy—headlines, slogans, or taglines, for example.”
materials—all four experts described a similar editorial
Once an account executive gets client approval for
process:
the concept, the writer can get started.
1. Decide what to write
2. Substantively review content
3. Copyedit the content before layout
A newsletter reporter might write copy over the
course of five or six hours; a book contributor might
take five or six months. In any case, writers must
4. Get the final content approved
hit their deadlines. A late submission means that
5. Proofread content in layout
the rest of the production processes will have to be
6. Check the printers’ proofs with care
compressed—hurrying the quality assurance process
or skipping some steps of it altogether.
Here’s what they had to say about each step.
“It’s important not to fall into the trap of reporting up
until the last minute, so you don’t have time to write,”
1. Decide what to write
Knopf says. “Sometimes you might need to be a little
less ambitious about the story you’re doing so you can
It sounds obvious, but the first step in any publishing
make the deadline.”
process is to decide on the content. At a newsletter
like ADAW, with a small staff, the editor herself may
decide what goes in each issue—and may also report
2. Substantively review content
and write the stories.
Someone “in charge” must review the content and
For a reference book like the ones from Oxford, the
do one of three things: approve it, approve it with
content decisions are made by the book’s editor-
revisions, or reject it.
in-chief (“Usually a major academic,” Wagley says)
with help from an editorial board and an Oxford
For a book publisher, a developmental editor or
developmental editor.
subject matter expert on the book’s editorial board
does this review. For ADAW, the executive editor does
At an ad agency, even more hands may stir the pot.
it. At an ad agency, both an account executive and
Nesbitt says, “After we learn from a client that they
creative director do a review. The account executive
need a new campaign, we’ll have a brainstorming
ensures that copy follows the general guidelines set
session with the creative director, a designer, and a
out for that client; the creative director ensures that
writer—sometimes with all our designers and writers—
the piece is on point with the overall message and
to decide on the concept that will drive the campaign.
creative direction of the campaign.
“The creative director might take it upon himself to
copy to be perfect, but they don’t want to spend the
snazz up the language,” says Nesbitt, “or tell the
time to get it that way.” Particularly at an ad agency,
author ‘This sounds cheesy, rewrite it,’ or ‘This is too
she says, any time spent on editing may be seen
much; you’re overselling.’ He’s essentially providing
as stealing precious, budgeted hours away from
quality control in terms of the writing.”
designers.
3. Copyedit content before layout
4. Get final copy approved
Once content has been approved but before it goes
After substantive editing and copyediting, a piece
into layout, nearly all publishers (well, all sensible
goes back to the writer for approval of the changes
ones) have the material copyedited.
and perhaps for resolving queries.
“In the case of our reference books, we’re publishing
The copyeditor generally works in Microsoft Word
scholarship,” Wagley says. “So we need to make sure
using the Track Changes function, with a specific
that we haven’t inadvertently changed something and
three-part mission: to correct errors in spelling,
made it wrong.”
grammar, and punctuation; ensure consistency with
a given editorial style; and enhance readability by
Ad agency clients need to review the final copy,
revising or querying awkward or confusing language.
because this is usually the first time in the process
that they will have seen it. If the client has already
In some cases, the copyeditor may also be
approved the overall creative direction for the
responsible for fact-checking. At Oxford, Wagley says,
piece, Nesbitt says, “They’ll often approve the
“One thing we have learned over the years is that you
copy immediately.” Or “the client may feel that the
cannot depend on authors to get things right—even
direction—even if initially approved—is now wrong
“One thing we have learned over the years is that you cannot depend
on authors to get things right… So we check dates, we check names, we
check bibliographies. Our copyeditors are so important in this regard...”
their own book titles, even if they’re an expert in the
for them. Or they may have neglected to give clear
field. So we check dates, we check names, we check
direction and the content is compromised. At that
bibliographies. Our copyeditors are so important in
point, it’s bounced back for a rewrite.”
this regard, because they may be the person acting
for Oxford University Press who gives an article the
Many, but not all, newsletter and magazine editors
most attention it’s going to receive.”
show reporters a PDF of their articles in layout for final
fact-checking. The tight turnaround of a weekly like
Despite the importance of the copyediting step,
Knopf’s may not allow time for more than a final read-
Walker says that she often has to fight to get enough
through by the editor-in-chief or someone else who
time to perform a copyedit: “Everyone wants the
hasn’t seen all the copy iterations.
Once the copy is approved—either immediately or
during layout. She often does a complete word-for-
after further revisions—the text should require minimal
word proofing of the source material against the
changes as it moves forward into a finished design.
layout, or more: “On a problem piece, I’ll even go
back and double-check that every single change was
done correctly—even look at the original creative brief
5. Proofread copy in layout
to make sure that any elements listed there have been
included.”
After a designer has formatted the copy—whether
by placing it in a simple two-column format or
Knopf says, “The most important thing is never
turning it into an elaborate brochure with display text
to proofread on screen. You have to print out [the
treatments, pull quotes, and graphics—the material
layout]. Because something happens visually when
must be proofread.
you see things on the screen repeatedly—you start
to miss stuff. On paper, you see things in a new way,
That means checking the formatting against
especially if you’re proofing something you wrote
specifications and correcting any errors or style
yourself.”
discrepancies overlooked by the copyeditor or
introduced during the design process.
Moreover, it goes without saying that every change
sent to the designer must be proofread; that is, after a
In some cases, proofreading consists of a “cold read,”
change is made, someone other than the person who
with no comparison against the source. “Oxford used
made it must go back and check that it was accurately
to do [comparison proofing] 10 or 15 years ago,” says
done—and that no other errors were introduced.
“On paper, you see things in a new way, especially if you’re proofing
something you wrote yourself.”
Wagley, “back when compositors actually composed.
Walker describes a project that went south because
But they no longer do that; they no longer typeset or
the designer decided at the last minute to increase
even keyboard the manuscript. So our proofreading
the font size on a section of brochure copy. Problem
is essentially another copyedit—correcting any typos
was, he didn’t have a proofreader check behind
still in the manuscript and checking for correct fonts in
him. “When he increased the font,” Walker says, “it
headings and other elements.”
bumped the last five words of the copy off the page.
The mistake wasn’t caught until after the brochure had
In other shops, comparison proofing is still the
order of the day. Walker says she always checks,
at minimum, the beginning and ending of each
paragraph to make sure that no text was dropped
been printed.”
6. Check printers’ proofs with care
The bottom line
This is the last chance to look at the piece in its
Not every publication follows an identical production
entirety and catch any anomalies before it is printed.
process. But the guiding force behind every process
must be full attention to quality control by all those
In the final stages of publishing a book, Wagley
involved, from start to finish.
says, “We may only have a day or two to check page
proofs. So we’re not looking at the words anymore.
This theme was repeated again and again by these
We’re asking, are the running heads correct? Are the
pros.
folios correct? Do the pages align? Is the art in the
right place? Does it have the right caption?”
As Nesbitt says, “You have to be thinking about
quality all the time. It sounds like a cliché, but
In the same vein, Nesbitt explains that when she
everyone has to take ownership of it, not just the
checks printers’ proofs, “as a designer, I’m looking
proofreader—including the boring stuff, like checking
for any weird visual anomalies. Is there a photograph
corrections. It’s not the romantic part of putting out a
that looked fine on the screen but now looks blurry? Is
publication, but it has to be done.”
there a place where a color has translated weirdly or is
Wagley concurs that producing high-quality
too dark?”
publications “takes a lot of attention. You can always
Nesbitt cautions that reviewers may want to pay some
forget something, miss something. We have very
attention to words. She describes a situation in which
good people here and, still, anything can go wrong.
she accidentally sent the previous version of a
Getting it right takes a lot of attention.”
“Quality is not just about writing and copyediting and layout … it’s about
great content that comes from great sources.”
newsletter to a printer—the spring instead of the
In the end, Knopf says, you can have all the
summer issue. “When the production manager got
production checklists and editorial processes you
the proofs, she just glanced at the colors and bleeds
want, but if you’re publishing material that your
and OK’d the file without putting it through the
readers don’t care about, it’s not going to matter.
proofreader because we were on a tight deadline. So
“[Quality] is not just about writing and copyediting
the newsletter had the wrong month on it, the wrong
and layout,” she says. “It’s about great content that
season, but it wasn’t caught. We printed 5,000 copies,
comes from great sources.” That may be the hardest
all of which were thrown away at our expense.”
standard of all to meet.
But if we provide our readers with great information,
they’ll forgive occasional errors—especially if we
acknowledge serious mistakes of fact or analysis that
could confuse people or cause trouble.
We’re often asked how many mistakes it’s okay to
make in a document. That’s unanswerable, of course.
How many cars is it okay to manufacture with faulty
airbags? How many angels can dance on the head of
a pin? Our advice: Aim for perfection and settle for
copy that’s consistently very clean.
********************
About the author
Samantha Enslen runs Dragonfly Editorial, an
editing and copywriting firm that specializes in
communicating complex ideas clearly. Sam spent
seven years as an editorial manager at CSC, and she
was a contributing editor to The Editorial Eye. You can
reach her at sam@dragonflyeditorial.com.
About Dragonfly Editorial
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