Issue 018

A note from Michelle...

We're finally starting to thaw out here in Southern Virginia. I don't know about you, but I'm starting to look forward to Spring! I can't wait for sunny days and warmer weather so I can get outside and start planting.

This year, I'm planning to put in a walkway that goes along the front of our house to the front door. I have the perfect plan in my head—now I just need to figure out how to make it real. I know that if I skip the planning and start digging without a clear path, it will take longer, cost more, and probably end up crooked.

Preparing a manuscript for publication is a lot like my walkway idea, isn't it? A lot of times, writers assume proofreading is just a final step before publishing. But if your manuscript isn’t prepared—full of typos, inconsistent formatting, or unfinished edits—your proofreader ends up cleaning up a mess instead of polishing your work. In my latest blog post, I walk you through The Clean Copy Challenge, a simple system for preparing your manuscript so the final pass is smooth, efficient, and produces the best results.

What is Clean Copy?

Clean copy means your manuscript is strong, final, and ready for proofreading.

It does not mean perfect. It means:

• No major rewriting is happening
• No paragraphs are being moved
• No sections are being added or deleted
• The only changes left are surface-level errors

Why does it matter?

Readers judge your expertise based on how polished your writing looks. Repeated typos or inconsistent formatting subconsciously tell readers the book was rushed or not professionally produced—even if the ideas are strong.

Clean copy protects:

• Reader trust
• Your authority
• Your brand as an author

How do I participate in the challenge?

For one week, review one section of your manuscript per day.
Your only goal is to fix surface-level errors.

Each day, look for:

• Spelling mistakes
• Typos
• Capitalization errors
• Double spaces
• Missing or extra punctuation
• Inconsistent formatting

Read slowly and carefully. You can use your word processor’s spellcheck (i.e., MS Word or Google Docs), but don’t rely on it alone. Many errors depend on how a word or mark is used in a sentence and can only be caught by the human eye.

By the end of the week, you will have a manuscript that is ready for professional proofreading.

To learn more about the basic standards your manuscript should meet before hiring a proofreader, read this post.

Here's a nice checklist I put together just for you! Click on the image below, and it will take you to a printable copy.