Advanced Search in PDFs

Editors and indexers have to frequently search for words in PDF documents. Adobe Acrobat reader and Acrobat Professional have very helpful search features. This slide show will demonstrate how to do an advanced search in Acrobat Professional.

Enabling Commenting in PDFs for Adobe Reader using Acrobat Professional

We often send PDFs of typeset proofs to authors and editors for reviewing. However, we must remember that most people either do not have a PDF reader on their computers, or they have Adobe Reader, which does not allow commenting on PFDs unless commenting in enabled. To enable commenting in PDFs to allow authors to review them, we must first enable commenting using Acrobat Professional. This slide show demonstrated how this can be done.

The Publishing Process

With a few additions or exclusions, the following is the general publishing process followed by most publishing houses:

1. Commissioning/Acquisition – The commissioning/acquisition editors procure the raw manuscript from the authors.
2. Development – The manuscript is reviewed and modified with the help of the author to give it a better shape from the point of view of the reader/market.
3. Transmittal – The commissioning department sends the manuscript (MS) to the editorial department for editing.
4. Copy-editing – The copy-editor edits the MS.
5. Quality Check – The production editor checks the copy-editor's work.
6. Queries – Queries on doubts raised are sent to the author.
7. Typesetting – Once the author replies to the queries, the MS's design is decided and it is sent for typesetting.
8. Proofreading – Once the PDF or hardcopy proofs of the typeset MS are available, they are proofread by proofreaders.
9. Indexing – Simultaneously or later, the proofs are send to an indexer for indexing.
10. Revision – The typos and errors caught by the proofreader are corrected in the typeset MS.
11. Free Reading – A senior editor not associated with the book project scan-reads the MS.
12. Second Revision – If any error still crops up, it is corrected.
13. Camera Ready Copy – The final printable digital copy copy is prepared. It is also checked internally to see that all elements are in position.
14. Ferros – The negatives of the printing plates are checked as a last and final check before the book is sent into print.
15. Print – The book is printed and bound. The cover is printed separately and inserted during binding.

Patton Oswalt: Please Spell Check Porn E-Mails

Porn e-mailers: if you're out there -- I know there's eight of you here -- please spell check your porn emails before you spam me. I know that I'm going to get porn emails forever -- I'm OK with that -- but just spell check them because I'm super OCD and I'll read something until it makes sense. And I don't want to waste 15 minutes going, 'Why does a Mexicorn duke want to slow-bur on my pens?'

http://www.jokes.com/funny/patton+oswalt/patton-oswalt--please-spell-check-porn-e-mails

The Origins of 'Whom'

As far as I'm concerned, 'whom' is a word that was invented to make everyone sound like a butler. -- Calvin Trillin, writer (b. 1935)

References: The Holy Grail

Perhaps the greatest anguish of any copy-editor with an academic publisher is to format references. Most authors follow their own styles or the style most common in their branch of study. The problem is not as much with the styling as it is with the inconsistency of styling and missing information.

The difficulty of remembering all the various reference styles and formats prompted me use the term 'Holy Grail' in the title. It is almost unattainable.

The styling that we use where I work is the author-date style as defined in the Chicago Manual of Style.

I have a logic that I use remember how to structure references and to figure out what info is missing and what info I can do without. Every reference (especially in the author-date system) is made of these four elements:

WHO | WHEN | WHAT | WHERE

--> Who wrote it; When did she/he write it; What did she/he write; Where was it published and by whom.

Check out the following examples of referencing styles. Hope they help.(The page ranges are supposed to have en-dashes)

Article from a Journal
Crusoe, R. and M. Friday. 1881. ‘Shipwrecked: Passing Time Alone on an Island’, Journal of Castaway Sciences, 14 (2): 456–74.

Reference of a Book
Hawkins, S. and Q. Prestige. 1988. Steam and Pressures in India. New Delhi: Penguin.

Article from an Edited Book
Becker, B., C. Evert, and P. Cash. 1990. ‘Voice against Rogue Centre Courts’, in P. Sampras (ed.), The Lone Lawn Sagas, pp. 210–11. Wimbledon: All England Club.

Website
Bush, G.W. 2006. ‘American War Policy: Why It Requires Me to Screw Up.’ Available online at http://www.dubya.org/screwup.htm (downloaded on 9 September 2001).

Newspaper Article (Author's name known)
Johnson, James Jonah. 2008. ‘Spiderman’s Friendly Neighborhood No More’, The Daily Bugle, New York, 29 July.

Newspaper Article (Author's name not known)
The Gotham Chronicle. 2008. ‘What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger’, The Gotham Chronicle, 29 July.

Working Papers
Northumbra, Sadhvi. 1992. ‘Demolition Engineering Design with Force Inputs from Fiery Speeches’, XIEC Working Papers in Genocide, Xenophobe Institute of Ethnic Cleansing, India.

Paper Presented in Seminars
Singhal, Ashok. 2008. ‘Quantitative Techniques in Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing’, paper presented at the XXXV South Asian Ultra Nationalism Convention, Swayam Sevak University, Ayodhya, January 01–10.

Unpublished Manuscript
Wannabe, Jane. Unpublished MS. ‘Why I Am Not Yet Published.’

Forthcoming Manuscript
Happening, Ken. Forthcoming. I Finally Get Published. New Delhi: Sage Publications.

Reports
Fake, I.M. 2008. Indian Hypocrisy Laws. Report submitted to the National Hypocrisy Commision, New Delhi.

Puns intended!

;-)

How to Number Appendices

Say there are four appendices at the end of Chapter 11. Number them as follows:

Appendix 11A
Appendix 11B
Appendix 11C
Appendix 11D

Say there are two tables in Appendix 11A. Number them as follows:

Table 11A.1
Table 11A.2

Say there is a photograph in Appendix 11D. Number it as follows:

Photograph 11D.1

Dollar and Currencies

Economists these days use 'dollars' for 'US Dollars' with 'D' in lower case. Same for rupee, baht and renminbi, et al.

If there is no other dollar type currency in the book, it's ok to use $ sign before currency. Or so I think. $50 - no space between the sign and the number.

USD can be used in tables and figures.

When used alongside another currency, say rupees, then 'dollars' is preferable.

I guess then that I would use US$ when there are other currencies being mentioned in the book, say AU$.

Disclaimer: All my opinions. Use at your own peril! ;)

Decision-maker?

This term has been a constant source of confusion for me! Here's the solution:

decision-maker (noun) — She is the key decision-maker in the organization.
decision making (verb) — She doesn't shirk from decision making.
decision-making (adjective) — She has explained the decision-making process to the staff.

Source: http://www.cmu.edu/styleguide/punctuation.html (Excellent!)