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Unlock Your Copyediting Style Sheet With This Essential Guide
February 12, 2024
Your Guide to Your Copyediting Style Sheet
I’m Kaitlin, an editor for indie authors, and I have found that many new authors don’t know anything about their copyediting style sheet. This blog will change that!
Keep reading to find out what style sheets are, why they are important, and what information each one should have.
What is a copyediting style sheet?
A style sheet is a document your copyeditor or proofreader creates when they begin to copyedit or proofread your manuscript. As an author, you don’t need to create your own style sheet. It’s a tool your editor uses to keep track of all the elements of your story and style.
It’s basically a list of all the decisions your editor has made in terms of grammar, style, or spelling, as well as a record of the characters, places, and timeline in your novel.
When you hire a copyeditor to edit your book, a style sheet is one of the deliverables you will receive when you get your edits back. This is standard in the industry, and if an editor you are speaking with does not create one or does not know what a style sheet is … I would recommend you find a new editor.
Note: A style sheet is different from a style guide. A style guide is something publishing houses use to denote standard style choices and decisions for all their editors.
Why is a copyediting style sheet important?
A copyeditor’s greatest tool is their style sheet. This allows them to keep track of any decisions they have made in the course of editing your text. Do you use the Oxford comma (sometimes called the serial comma)? Your editor will note that on your style sheet.
Your editor will keep your story’s style sheet open as they read and edit your book. This helps them to keep track of all relevant information AND it serves as a way for them to check on grammar, punctuation, or spelling decisions they made in the past. A style sheet helps your editor keep everything in your book consistent.
Once you have received your edits and style sheet from your copyeditor, you will pass it along to your proofreader. Why? So they know what decisions have been made regarding style and grammar. This helps your them move faster through your text, and it allows them to make editing decisions consistent with what has already been done.
If you use a copyeditor who does not provide a style sheet, it makes it really difficult for the proofreader to do their job. It may also take the proofreader longer to edit your novel because they will most likely need to create a style sheet as they go in order to make sure their work is consistent.
A copyediting style sheet is useful for you as an author because it contains all decisions “at a glance.” When you write your next novel, you may decide to stick with the same style choices. If you do, you have them right there to reference! It is also helpful for you as an author to see the descriptions of your characters and locations all in one place. If there is a discrepancy your editor needs you to fix, you will have all the relevant information at your fingertips.
If you are creating a series, a style sheet is doubly important! You want the entire series to be consistent. The style sheet will help you do that. You can take the style sheet from book one and give it to the editor for book two. The editor will have tons of information about your series before they even begin editing! Your copyeditor for book two will add any relevant information to the current style sheet so that you can then pass THAT along to the editor for book three (and so on and so on).
The copyediting style sheet is not meant to point out all the errors an author has made! It is just a record of author and story preference. We want you as the author to keep your style. Good copyeditors will not stifle that. We will just record it on the style sheet for you!
Can you edit a book without a copyediting style sheet?
Sure. As I like to say, it’s not illegal. You definitely CAN do it. Do I recommend it? Um, absolutely not.
The goal of hiring a copyeditor is to elevate your story and your writing. One of my primary jobs as a copyeditor is to keep everything consistent. When things are inconsistent, it pulls the reader out of the story. No thanks! We want the reader to stay as engaged as possible while reading your book!
Editing without a copyediting style sheet is like taking a massive road trip without a map. You may eventually get to your destination (the end of the manuscript), but it’s gonna be messy and inefficient. And you’ll make mistakes along the way.
Let's break down a copyediting style sheet
With every project, an editor will create a style sheet from a personalized template. Therefore, the format of every style sheet may look slightly different, but all the elements will remain the same. If you’re curious about what one might look like, there are many free templates on the internet you can find with a basic search.
A style sheet should be organized into four sections with headings. Let’s go over each one!
General style
Here is what goes in the general style section of the copyediting style sheet:
1. A good rule of thumb here is to include anything that could be done in more than one way. for example, are you spelling it “OK” or “okay”?
2. I include anything I needed to look up or any query I have for the author (this is typically highlighted on the style sheet for the ease of the author).
3. Something that may come up more than once in the book or series, like a capitalization of a group.
4. Any miscellaneous items I used my best judgment on.
5. An alphabetical list of any words I needed to look up for spelling queries. (Think: brand names, compound words, hyphenations, variants, slang, or invented words.)
6. Decisions or style rules regarding numbers, punctuation, abbreviation, or formatting (are thoughts in italics? are words not in English italicized?).
Characters
This section is more than just a list of all the characters in your novel. It’s a record of anything you or your copyeditor may need to reference in the future. This includes physical descriptions, nicknames, age, stated personality traits, historical events referred to in the text, pronouns, and relationship with other characters in the story.
In fiction editing, phrases may be copied and pasted directly from your text (especially physical descriptions!) in order to make sure the most accurate portrayal of each character is on the style sheet.
Your copyeditor may list the chapter where each bit of information was learned so they have a point of reference if they need to check on something.
The character list makes it easy for you, the author, and your editor to find any discrepancies that occur in the text.
If you’re writing a series (or stand-alones in the same universe) you will LOVE having this character list! You will never have to search through your old documents to find a detail you have forgotten because it will all be on your style sheet!
Places
This is similar to a character list. All locations with significance will be listed on your style sheet. Just like the character list, descriptions or details from the manuscript may be directly copied from the text, as well as chapter numbers for easier reference later on.
If your novel is set in a real place, your editor will check to make sure the named locations are correct. They may check to see if certain distances are accurate as well.
If your novel is set in a fantasy world, your editor may draw a small map to keep track of fictional locations.
Timeline
This is a crucial part of a copyeditor’s job! Timelines are tricky, and they can be so easy to mess up.
Your editor will keep a running timeline on the style sheet where they will write down any mention of time. Your characters are going to the Harvest Parade on a Friday? It goes on the style sheet. Your character will have a birthday in two months? It goes on the style sheet. There’s a flashback? Yup, you guessed it … on the style sheet!
It’s much easier to see discrepancies or errors in the timeline when all the information is pulled together. Remember that Harvest Parade your characters were going to on Friday? What if on Wednesday your characters keep referencing the parade “tomorrow”? Or what if your story is set in the real world and you have the date of a major world event wrong? Your editor will catch that. If your flashback doesn’t make sense with the timeline you created for the beginning of the story … this portion of the style sheet will make that clear.
Do you understand your copyediting style sheet?
Most editors will have a style sheet template they utilize with all copy editing projects. They will personalize it for your manuscript and send it to you when they have finished with your novel’s edits.
A style sheet is essential, and every copyeditor should provide one.
If you’re in the market for a copyeditor who loves handling all the details of a style sheet, contact me! I’m Kaitlin, an editor for indie authors, and I would love to talk with you about your project!
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