Book & eBook Writing Book Editing & Proofreading

Question 1

What is the primary focus of a developmental editor?

Accepted Answer

Big-picture story structure, plot, pacing, and character development

Answer

A developmental editor evaluates the manuscript's overall structure, narrative arc, character consistency, and pacing before line-level editing begins.

Question 2

What does a 'line editor' primarily do?

Accepted Answer

Refines sentence-level prose for clarity, flow, tone, and style

Answer

Line editing focuses on the craft of writing at the sentence and paragraph level—improving word choice, rhythm, voice consistency, and clarity without changing the story.

Question 3

What is the difference between a copyeditor and a proofreader?

Accepted Answer

A copyeditor corrects grammar, style, and consistency; a proofreader catches errors introduced during layout

Answer

Copyediting happens on the manuscript before layout to fix grammar, punctuation, and consistency, while proofreading is the final quality check after typesetting to catch new errors.

Question 4

What is a 'style sheet' in the context of book editing?

Accepted Answer

A document tracking character names, spellings, capitalization decisions, and style choices specific to a manuscript

Answer

An editor's style sheet is a running reference document capturing all manuscript-specific decisions—character names, invented words, hyphenation choices—to ensure internal consistency.

Question 5

What does 'stet' mean when used in editing markup?

Accepted Answer

Let it stand — ignore the marked correction and keep the original text

Answer

'Stet' is a Latin proofreading term meaning 'let it stand,' indicating that a previously marked change should be ignored and the original text retained.

Book & eBook Writing Practice Test

Book & eBook Writing Practice Test

Book & eBook Writing Book Editing & Proofreading