Editing & Design

Editing

The work of a professional editor includes:

• Correcting grammatical, spelling, and punctuation errors and ensuring proper transitions are used to guide the reader through the book.
• Deleting repetitions that detract from the book and its message.
• Removing unnecessary words or weak phrases.
• Checking for unseen plagiarism (improper documentation) and suggesting how to obtain permissions.

The main goal of the editing phase is to polish your book and make your message as straightforward as possible for readers. Our book editors will approach your manuscript with a fresh perspective and a keen eye for detail. If you speak with other authors, they will tell you that a professional editor is vital to the production process. Although professional editing does not guarantee that your book will sell, it is essential to putting your best foot forward. 

TEACH Services typically handles editing and copyediting during the initial editing phase. Unless an author has paid for proofreading, they are responsible for secondary copyediting (verifying sources other than the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy and looking for grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors) after the editing phase. They are also responsible for proofreading after typesetting is complete. In addition, professional editing ensures that your writing follows The Chicago Manual of Style* and publishing industry styles and standards, including gender-neutral language. Our experienced editors will also ensure that the writing and organization of the book are cohesive and consistent throughout, enhancing it where necessary. See our Style Guidelines (PDF) for details.

TEACH editing prices are based on the author submitting a manuscript in a Microsoft Word format in complete and final form. Other editing approaches, if approved, will cost significantly more due to the increased time and labor involved. Click HERE to review other editing option.

All editing projects require the author to fact-check all Bible texts, Spirit of Prophecy references, and check other facts to ensure accuracy. Our professional editors will spot-check about ten percent (10%) of all quotes, and if they find errors, you may be required to have us check and confirm all quotations at additional charges (click HERE for U.S. Copyright Office Fair Use Index). Our editors will utilize the tracked changes feature in Microsoft Word so that you can review and approve all of the changes made to your manuscript. You will receive a PDF of your manuscript after the editing process. At that time, you will review the changes and work with the editor to make further corrections to your manuscript before moving on to layout and design.

Your manuscript will go through five editing stages:

1. Evaluation (Reviews your title for acceptance of the content and genre we seek. We also build a biometric that counts the words, pictures, artwork, layout style, pull quotes, references, endnotes or footnotes, chapter starts, and other technical needs.)
2. Oversight (Creates a plan for your manuscript, preps and formats the original manuscript for editing, documents and relays author's format requests, and selects the team that will specializing in your particular content.)
3. Copy Editing (Corrects sentence-level errors such as grammar, spelling, and punctuation, along with style and consistency issues. This includes subject-verb agreement, confusing or wordy phrasing, redundancies, missing words, missing or inaccurate citations, and more.)
4. Comprehensive Editing (Includes a review of the entire manuscript to eliminate inconsistencies, redundancies, missing information, or anything that might confuse a reader. It corrects problems with sequence or organization, ensuring a logical flow of concepts at all levels. When necessary, it removes irrelevant portions and/or adds new material to create smooth transitions or better connections between ideas. This stage is not required, but highly recommend. (See samples below this list)
5. Final Proof Editing (The “last pass” before submission or publication, ensuring everything is correct and no lingering errors remain (e.g., focus, typos, missing words or punctuation, or other errors).
   

Why Authors Need Focused Editors:

Avoiding the Rabbit Trail

Authors are creative beings, often brimming with ideas that span far beyond the scope of their current project. While this creativity is the lifeblood of great writing, it can also lead to a common pitfall: veering off-topic and down "rabbit trails" that distract from the main narrative. This is where the role of a skilled editor becomes crucial.

The Author's Dilemma

1. Passion for the subject: Authors are typically passionate about their topics, which can lead to the temptation to explore every fascinating tangent.
2. Wealth of knowledge: Many authors have extensive knowledge in their field, making it tempting to include every interesting fact or anecdote.
3. Creative flow: When in the zone, authors may follow their train of thought wherever it leads, sometimes straying from the core message.

The Editor's Role

1. Maintaining focus: Editors help keep the manuscript aligned with its primary purpose and target audience.
2. Structural integrity: They ensure that each chapter, paragraph, and sentence contributes to the overall narrative or argument.
3. Clarity and coherence: Editors help streamline ideas, removing unnecessary detours that might confuse or lose the reader.
4. Objectivity: With a degree of emotional distance from the work, editors can more easily identify when the content strays off-course.

Benefits of Focused Editing

1. Enhanced readability: A focused manuscript is easier for readers to follow and understand.
2. Stronger impact: When extraneous content is trimmed, the core message becomes more powerful and memorable.
3. Improved pacing: Removing tangents helps maintain a steady narrative flow, keeping readers engaged.
4. Market appeal: A well-focused book is more likely to sell well, because it is free of divisive content that alienates readers, and therefore  earns good online reviews and word-of-mouth recommendations.

Striking the Balance

The best editor-author relationships find a balance between preserving the author's unique voice and vision while ensuring the work remains focused and purposeful. Here at TEACH Services, we will insist that the focus of your title be kept on track. This collaboration results in a stronger, more impactful final product that resonates with its intended audience.

In conclusion, while authors bring creativity and expertise to their work, editors play a vital role in channeling that energy into a cohesive, focused manuscript. This partnership helps create books that not only capture the author's passion but also effectively communicate their ideas to readers.

Design

What is the first thing that catches your eye at a bookstore filled with thousands of books? Of course, the cover! People are attracted to well-designed, clean, sleek covers that visually present the book's central idea. Our publishing levels benefit from the front cover design service built by our graphics department.

And once they open the cover, you will continue to hold their interest if the interior text is organized and professional with consistent headings, chapter titles, easy-to-read typefaces, appropriate spacing, and other design features. (Cover layout and design services are available to authors who sign under the Better, Best, and Pro levels.)

The role of the designer is to make the interior of your book look its best. Our designer will do the following:

• Update any web links to forwarded web links,
• Select fonts and font sizes,
• Place pictures, graphics, and tables,
• Create the table of contents and cross-link the pages,
• Insert footnotes and cross-link them,
• Create pull quotes,
• Build chapter layout,
• Select proper margins and trim sizestrim sizes

  Trim sizes within either group will have the same cost custom trim sizes are also available. Remember that smaller trim sizes means more pages, and larger trim sizes less pages (greater or lesser number of pages will not change the author's cost to publish, but will either increase or decrease the Suggested Retail Price).
  	Group A	Group B	Group C
  	4.00 x 6.00 inches	6.690 x 9.61 inches	11 x 8.5 inches
  	4.00 x 7.00	6.625 x 10.25
  	4.25 x 7.00	7.000 x 10.00
  	4.37 x 7.00	7.440 x 9.69
  	4.72 x 7.48	7.500 x 9.25
  	5.00 x 7.00	8.000 x 8.00
  	5.00 x 8.00	8.000 x 10.00
  	5.06 x 7.81	8.000 x 10.88
  	5.25 x 8.00	8.250 x 11.00
  	5.50 x 8.25	8.268 x 11.693 (A4)
  	5.50 x 8.50	8.500 x 8.50
  	5.83 x 8.27	8.500 x 9.00
  	6.00 x 9.00	8.500 x 10.75
  	6.14 x 9.21	8.500 x 11.00

At TEACH Services, our designers work closely together to create a beautiful, professionally designed interiors that will grab people's attention. 

Cover Design

Standard cover design work includes the front and back cover. Our designers will supply eight different covers for you to review and "Pick One" for us to use for your book. Included will be a description of your book, the ISBN barcode, and a short biography and photograph if you desire and if there is enough space (jewelry for adornment will be edited out). If artwork is desired or required, we have many artists we work with who specialize in various styles. See additional Illustrative Artwork information HERE.

If you shop for a designer outside of TEACH Services for your cover or interior layout and design, you may find the prices range as little as $250 and up to $1,000, depending on the quality and complexity of the work. TEACH Services’ interior design and cover charges are typically less than the high-end mentioned above and are included with our services. Supplying your design will not reduce your expenses for cover design work. However, they are more than the low-quality beginner too. As we profit from your book sales, we wish you to have the highest quality and eye appeal possible to achieve the highest sales.

Back Cover Bio

Writing an effective author bio serves a few important purposes including increasing sales through association. Here are some tips on how to approach it:

Why write an author bio:

• It builds your credibility as an author by highlighting relevant backgrounds, qualifications, and writing experience. This establishes trust with readers.
• It connects your personal story to the book, allowing readers to understand what motivates your writing. Making this emotional connection helps drive engagement.
• It markets both you and your work, sharing key details readers can latch onto. A strong bio entices interest in your current and future books.

How to write one:

• Lead with the most relevant information first - prominent publications, prestigious experience related to the book's subject matter, key personal details. Hook them in.
• Be concise yet reveal enough character to form an impression of your voice and persona. Share interesting snippets that capture attention.
• Align your bio with your book’s theme and tone. Reinforce key messages or emotions that compelled you to write this story and that readers can relate to.
• Include fun unusual facts about yourself that humanize you and satisfy curiosity. But focus primarily on credibility and relevance to your book's content.
• Close by promoting published works, social media handles, websites to drive traffic and enable readers to engage further with you. Point them where to learn more.

With an engaging, strategic author bio that connects who you are with what you write about, you can maximize interest in your work and credentials.

Here is a sample bio for a book: 

Dr. John Smith has been teaching Bible studies for over 30 years, focusing extensively on apocalyptic texts and Biblical prophecy. As Pastor of Oakwood Church, his weekly sermons unpack scripture for modern application. He holds advanced theological degrees from Andrews University and has led dozens of seminars on the book of Revelation across the country. His passion is making complex symbolic writings accessible to everyday readers hungry for truth. This study guide marks his first print publication, capturing a lifetime of examining Revelation's meaning for faith today. When he’s not preaching or writing, John enjoys flying with his son.

E-Book Conversion

The e-book market is growing at an astonishing rate. More and more individuals and publishers are supplementing their print books with e-books. TEACH Services has invested time and money into learning the ins and outs of the e-book market and the different formats and requirements of the major e-book distributors—Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google, and Apple in addition to more than 40 independent e-book sellers.

When we convert a print book to an e-book, the finished product will have the following components:

• Front book cover design
• Table of contents
• Copyright and front matter
• Body text

Subject to an additional fee is the following components:

• Tables, photographs, or graphics
• Footnote and endnote hyperlinks
• Index hyperlinks
• External hyperlinks

If you are a publisher interested in outsourcing your e-book production or an author who has already published your book but would like to convert it to an e-book, don't hesitate to contact us at 706-504-9192.

Children's or Graphic Books

If you have or are writing a children’s book, we follow a slightly different procedure to build and create your book. Click HERE to view our process. Please note: Children’s e-books are usually produced in color using a tablet in a “fixed format.” Illustrations can be a high cost in producing any illustration-heavy book. A standard 24-page children’s book should have a minimum additional budget of two to three thousand dollars over the base publishing cost to build, depending on your art requirements (Standard, Advanced, or Premium Quality).

Audiobook Conversion

Good e-Reader reports that the audiobook format has the highest growth rate in the entire publishing industry. TEACH Services offers Audiobook conversion to help you keep your book relevant in today’s market. TEACH will help you procure the right reader--ensuring that you are happy with the sound, feeling, and emotion the reader gives. For more information about audiobook conversion, please contact our publishing department with questions or to schedule an appointment for an Author Advisor to call you at your convenience: https://tsibooks.youcanbook.me/

Indexing (Optional)

The process of creating an index for a book is simple and yet complex. After the layout of your TEXT-Proof is approved, we will create a unique word index. Using the unique word index, the author can tweak the list to include only the words (or terms) desired for the final index. The last step is sending the author a finished index list with the correct page numbers for review. After approval, we will add your index to the book. The index creation cost depends on the number of index words and terms selected. Cookbooks are sometimes different. HERE is a link to a sample way to do cookbook indexes.

Proper Coding for Your Book

The publishing industry uses the ISBN (International Standard Book Number) to trace your title to your publisher. In addition, our design team handles obtaining the ISBN for your title and registering your title with R. R. Bowker, a bibliographic tool for libraries, booksellers, and publishers. We will also get your book's LOC (Library of Congress) catalog number and assign a BISAC (Book Industry Subject and Category) topical code.

Layout of PDF file for camera ready copy

When creating your PDF file, the pages need to be in consecutive order from start to finish. This includes the front cover, inside front cover, all interior pages, inside back cover, and back cover. It's easy to forget about the inside front and back covers during the design process. If you don't want anything printed on the back sides of the front and back covers, leave those pages blank in your PDF file. But you still need to include blank pages for the inside covers in the correct order.

Following are samples of some of our book covers: