Evaluating Manuscripts for Copy-Editing: The View from a Managing Editor

To evaluate the editing needs of a manuscript in order to estimate the hours required to copy-edit it, a managing editor relies heavily on information about the nature and size of the book’s audience; on the quality of the writing, including clarity, spelling and punctuation, grammar, and consistency of hyphenation and capitalization; on apparent factual accuracy; and on the extent of the scholarly apparatus as well as tables and figures. Acquisitions editors can play a key role in determining the level of copy-editing a manuscript receives through the information they share about the author and the manuscript.