Chesley House Publications

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Style guidelines

Details, details… but if somebody doesn’t look after them, you can be sure some of your readers will notice inconsistencies. Chesley House Publications will define formal style guidelines for your documents. We can either provide a printed document or set it up as an online guide for you.

We’re also sticklers for file management. Before we start a job, we’ll work out a naming strategy that will keep all stages of document preparation clear and facilitate backup.

Word processing cleanup

Did you know that some punctuation needs space before it in French? And if you don’t put a special type of space, you may end up with a new line starting with a colon...

We have developed an extensive set of tools to help us clean up common problems in word processing documents. We’ll remove unnecessary spaces, tabs and returns; correct common typing errors; apply consistent formatting and punctuation; and apply “house style” preferences to your documents – before an editor spends expensive time on them.

Editing

We provide a range of editing services in English, French or Spanish:

• Light proofreading will fix problems with spelling, basic grammar and punctuation. We’ll also insert notes to the author if copy is confusing or appears inconsistent.
• Copy editing includes the above plus we’ll check internal references, rework long or awkward sentences and ensure consistency amongst similar structural elements of a document.
• Substantive editing involves all of the above plus rewriting awkward or confusing copy.

Translation

If you need to publish in additional languages, we can arrange to have the approved original language translated for you. Then we'll take the same care to get it ready for publication - including a comparitive read to ensure that both languages are “in synch.”

Preparation for layout

“The printout was fine but the printer proofs had all the accents wrong!” We know why. Moreover, we know how to avoid the problems.

We know what layout programs need from word processors. Sometimes there is very little to do but you don’t want to miss the details. Documents from us will be set up for the next step, whether it be layout with Quark, a website with Dreamweaver, or a PDF file.

We don’t want to do it all for you

We’re deliberately small. It keeps us on our toes and able to keep on top of issues in our particular niche market. While we have managed very large projects, we’d prefer to help set it up for you — teaching your staff and providing the tools as needed — and then just be called in if you run into bottlenecks or unusual situations.

"Why don't you people use hit counters?" We don't need them. Here's why...