When preparing copy, follow these tips to keep your costs for revisions to a minimum and to maximize efficiency in the process:
Do:
- Have all text edited and proofread prior to sending to us, unless we are doing the proofreading. Having to redo the layout due to major text changes will result in additional charges.
- Use styles in Word, especially for long documents, so we can easily distinguish what level a heading should be, what should be a sidebar or pull quote, etc.
- Clearly name all files so we can easily tell what they are. A text file titled with your name or an image file with “DSC” and a number do not tell us anything about what’s in the file.
- Use only a single tab when aligning text.
- Use center alignment, not tabs, to center text.
Don’t:
- Send unfinal text to “get us started.” Otherwise, the layout and all formatting will have to be redone.
- Hit the return key unless you intend to start a new paragraph. Typing on the computer is not like typing on a typewriter: a line break should not be placed at the end of every line of text—
only at the end of every paragraph. - Use multiple text boxes.
- Worry about making your text document look like how you want it laid out (centering text, formatting headings, etc.). You’re hiring us to design it. 🙂
When writing your copy, you may find the following resources helpful to type special characters and symbols in Windows or on a Mac.
If you cannot send all copy at once, it is usually OK to send the copy in sections, but only once those sections have been finalized.