In addition to working on copy edits for Venom, I also finished up page proofs for Web of Lies this past weekend. So here’s a little bit about what page proofs are:

So after I sent my copy edits back, a few weeks later I’ll get what are known as page proofs — or the typeset version of the manuscript. The pages are what the book will actually look like when it is bound and put on the shelf.

Basically, during the page proof stage, I’m just reading through the book looking for typos and punctuation errors. At this point, I can only make relatively small, minor changes to the book — no adding big chunks of text or anything like that. You don’t want the publisher to have to typeset your book again because you added 20 pages to it — that’s a big no-no.

After I’m done with the page proofs, I mail them back to my editor. A few weeks later, some publishers will then send out what are called confirmation pages — or one final proof of the book before it goes to press. The point of the confirmation pages is to make sure that all the page proof changes made it into the book. For example, I got confirmation pages for Web of Lies and discovered that a couple of commas hadn’t made it in where they were supposed to go and a word had been misspelled. So they really are handy.

I don’t mind doing page proofs so much because they go a lot quicker than the copy edits — and it’s exciting to see the book typeset for the first time. Getting page proofs always means that the book is getting close to hitting stores and that you guys will be able to read it soon. 😉

Got questions? I’ll answer what I can in the comments.

Tags: About Books