What is a stylesheet?

A stylesheet is an essential reference for writers and editors that:

• captures editorial decisions
• complements, rather than replaces, an organisation’s style guide
• focuses on style preferences relevant to a specific project, making it more accessible than the weighty tome that is a style guide.

What is captured in a stylesheet?

Stylesheets are tailored to a specific writing project. They document preferences on:

• reference text such as dictionaries and style guides
• spelling of words that may cause confusion or debate
• style such as use of capitalisation, hyphenation, and numerals
• punctuation such as dashes for spans between years, quotation marks for dialogue, and serial commas
• grammar where context is essential, such as subject-verb agreement and pronoun agreement for collective nouns.

Here is a sample stylesheet created by the team responsible for the WordOSaurus web copy.

What are the benefits of using a stylesheet?

A stylesheet offers the following benefits to writers and editors:

1. Supports credibility of business/author/publication through the professionalism and attention to detail projected by consistent spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
2. Aids communication throughout the editorial process, literally getting those involved in the writing and editing process on the same page(s).
3. Saves time (and money) by minimising the need to query style decisions, and mitigating the risk of errors in the final publication.
4. Honours the writer’s intention, with decisions that matter captured and agreed upon.
5. Encourages a thoughtful approach to writing when taking the time to consider and make decisions within the context of the audience, messages, voice, and purpose; this can only improve the quality of the final piece.

Of course, a stylesheet is only as good as the content within it. To realise the full benefits of a stylesheet, it is best to document decisions no later than at the first stage of editing, and ensure any changes are captured throughout the editorial process.

I need a stylesheet—where do I begin?

To get started on a stylesheet for your manuscript, web copy, newsletter, blog post, academic writing, online dating profile, or any other writing project, download your free stylesheet template. Add to the template as needed and keep headings alphabetical for quick and easy navigation.

A stylesheet is one of the first steps to saving your copy from extinction, one intentional decision at a time. For subsequent steps, get in touch today!

For each stage of the editorial process, there’s a different editor, or more often, the one editor wearing different hats at different times. At WordOSaurus, we get it, knowing who’s who in the editing zoo can get a little confusing, what with terms used interchangeably by the uninitiated, multiple names for the same service, and an overlap in the scope of different services.

Armed with this simple guide, you’ll be well on your way to selecting the service you need to get your words out into the world and far, far away from that abyss we will speak no more of.

What is editing?

Editing is a process of improving the written word. In addition to typical elements like grammar and spelling, improvements can include edits for readability, page formatting, conformance with preferred style, consistent voice, and factual accuracy.

The editorial process consists broadly of three stages: substantive editing, copyediting, and proofreading. The type of editing you will need depends on the stage of your written content, the degree of editing already carried out, and the level of service you’re after, with the most comprehensive editing involving each stage in the process, sometimes multiple times.

What is substantive editing?

A substantive edit is concerned with the ‘big picture’ elements that can make or break a written work’s suitability for the intended purpose or target audience, with a focus on elements such as structure, author’s voice, language, and content. A substantive edit is sometimes also referred to as a structural edit and is usually carried out first.

What is copyediting?

The focus of a copyedit is to achieve coherence, clarity, accuracy and consistency in a written work. It is a word and sentence level assessment of spelling, grammar, punctuation, capitalisation, typos (literals), and word use, among other things. A copyeditor is sometimes also referred to as a line editor. Typically, a copyedit follows a substantive edit, although it may be the starting point, and at times, the substantive edit and copyedit stages are combined, with the one editor performing both stages concurrently.

What is proofreading?

Proofreading is the final step, following a copyedit, before publication—a check of what may have slipped through the cracks of the otherwise infallible copyeditor. A proofreader looks at the minutiae such as page numbers, captions on images, tables of content, consistency in heading hierarchy, units of measure used in a recipe etc. This stage can make all the difference to brand, reputation, and reader or consumer trust.

For a summary of typical inclusions at the different stages of the editorial process, download your free editorial process checklist.

Whatever stage your writing is at, there is an editorial service to suit. Get in touch today and let WordOSaurus save your copy from extinction, one word at a time.