By A-R's house editors
Did you know that you can help your copyeditor by submitting judiciously named electronic manuscript files? A-R’s production staff works directly with electronic files—Word files for textual matter and (usually) familiar music software files (like Finale or Sibelius) for the music—as they prepare editions for publication. This means that our copyeditors must supply them with vetted files and a clear means for assembling the files into the edition, and that starts with naming the files accordingly. You can save your copyeditor time by assisting in this process.
Text
When it comes to textual matter, most Recent Researches editions share the same common sections: front matter, table of contents, acknowledgments, an introduction, “Text(s) and Translation(s)” (if appropriate), plates, and a critical report. Less common sections, such as sigla/abbreviations, a dedication, or appendices, may also be needed. In all cases, it’s best to submit a separate file for each section, labeled in a way that clarifies the order in which it should appear in the edition; clarifying file order is especially helpful if an edition contains something beyond the standard Recent Researches sections.
Table 1 shows the worst and best methods for naming text files. If you submit your text in a single file, as in the “Poor” column of the table, your copyeditor will have to spend time moving each section into a separate file and naming it aptly. Submitting separate files and naming them based on the content, as in the “Better” column, is certainly an improvement, but still, the copyeditor will need to clarify the proper order, since the default alphabetical display has no relation to the order in the edition. Adding a reference item to the beginning of the files—such as a letter or a number (as in the “Best” column)—solves the problem, forcing the files to display in the proper order. (Note: if you choose to use numbers to order your files, be sure to add a leading zero [e.g., “01”] for single-digit files if you have more than nine files; otherwise file 1 may be mixed in with double-digit files that begin with the numeral 1.)
Poor | Better | Best |
Submitting a single file called something like: |
Submitting separate files named for content: |
Submitting separate files that are named for content and labeled to fall in order: |
Textual Matter for My A-R Edition |
Abbreviations |
A_Cover |
Music
It’s particularly helpful to name music files separately and in order, since our production team works with author-submitted software files that are unedited by the copyeditor. Table 2 shows the worst and best methods for naming music files. Unless, of course, your edition consists of a single work in a single movement, putting the complete musical contents in a single file—as in the “(Very) Poor” column—adds extra work for our staff, as the copyeditor will need to provide instructions to guide the engraver in breaking the file apart into requisite sections. As with text files, while it’s better to create a separate file for each musical item in the edition (as in the “Better” column), naming the files solely for the content means that the files will likely display out of order, which can be confusing for our production team. The best practice is to add an initial reference to force the files into the order of the edition, as in the “Best” column. This is especially true for editions containing many musical works, as it can be time consuming for the copyeditor to evaluate and rename the items in a lengthy collection.
(Very) Poor | Better | Best |
Submitting a single file called something like:
|
Submitting separate files named for content:
|
Submitting separate files that are named for content and labeled to fall in order:
|
Motets for My A-R Edition |
Armorum fortissime |
01 Ascendo ad patrem meum |
For the complete Recent Researches in Music Style Guide, click here (PDF).
Have a question about making critical editions of music? Click here to ask A-R!