How Professional Proofreaders Work: Step By Step Process

Gary Smailes | 5 November 2025

Where Proofreading Fits in the Book Editing Workflow

Proofreading sits at the finish line. Copyediting shaped the sentences. Typesetting poured the text into pages. Now a proofreader reads the page proofs, PDF or print galleys, and hunts for slips introduced in design. Typos. Punctuation stumbles. Awkward line breaks. Wobbly spacing. This is quality control, not revision.

Freeze the text before proofs

If wording still moves, you are not ready for proofs. New phrasing shifts line breaks and page numbers. A single extra sentence ripples through a chapter. Running heads drift. The table of contents no longer lines up. Index locators lose accuracy. The fix list grows, costs rise, and errors creep in.

Do this before you request proofs:

• Accept or reject all copyeditor queries.
• Finalize front matter and back matter. Acknowledgments, dedication, author bio, back-page links.
• Lock captions, callouts, and figure names.
• Confirm permissions and attributions.
• Update the style sheet with any late decisions.

A quick test. Read page one of chapter one aloud. If your fingers itch to tweak, pause the process. Book a line edit or a short copyedit polish, then return to layout.

Proofreaders work to a style sheet

Consistency wins trust. A professional proofreader follows three guides.

• A style sheet. Your project-specific decisions. Spelling (US or UK). Serial comma. Hyphenation patterns. Numerals. Ellipses style. Capitals for headings. Treatment of brand names, dialect, and invented terms. Scene break glyph. Even nitty pieces like nonbreaking spaces in dates and units.
• A style guide. Often Chicago Manual of Style.
• A dictionary. Often Merriam-Webster for US, Oxford for UK.

Mismatch breeds noise. Email here, e-mail there. Smart quotes in most places, straight quotes hiding in an epigraph. Three-dot ellipses in the body, spaced four-dot ellipses in a block quote. A proofreader enforces the rules you chose, and flags anything off-pattern.

What to send with the proofs:

• The latest style sheet, dated.
• Design specs. Trim size, fonts, line spacing, margins, heading hierarchy, paragraph styles, list styles, scene break glyph, ornaments.
• Any house preferences not on the sheet. Numeral thresholds, headline style, abbreviation rules, reference format.
• Prior query logs, so old decisions stay settled.

Deliverables and markup, agreed upfront

Expect clear, traceable corrections. Typical deliverables include:

• An annotated PDF with comments and proofreading marks placed on the page.
• An errata log. Page, location, original, correction, category. Global notes for fixes across the book.
• Notes for the typesetter on layout issues. For example, tighten tracking on page 142 to fix a widow. Swap a hard break for a soft return in the TOC.

Agree on how marks appear before the job starts.

• PDF comments only, or comments plus traditional BSI or CMOS proof-correction marks.
• Color coding, if multiple roles add notes.
• File naming. Title_Proofs_RC1.pdf for round one, Title_Proofs_RC2.pdf for verification.
• Turnaround for each round, including a short verification pass after corrections land.

A quick scene from real life. An author emails a proof with three “tiny” sentence tweaks after round one. The designer applies them. Page numbers shift by four across the back half. The errata grows. A new widow appears in chapter twenty-three. The second pass takes longer than the first. Avoid this. Keep prose frozen. Limit changes to genuine errors.

What proofreaders fix, and what they leave alone

On proofs, a good reader fixes surface errors and flags layout issues. No rewrites. No new metaphors, no tone shifts, no moving paragraphs around.

Examples of green-light changes:

• “teh” to “the.”
• Missing period at the end of a bullet.
• Straight quote in a dialogue line to a smart quote.
• Space on both sides of an em dash, switched to closed style, if your sheet calls for closed.
• Bad hyphenation at line end, changed to a better break.
• A widow at the top of a page, flagged for a slight spacing adjustment.
• TOC page number off by one, corrected.

Examples of out-of-scope moves:

• Rephrasing a sentence for style.
• Reordering a list for logic.
• Adding a new paragraph to clarify a point.

Those belong in copyediting or line editing, before layout.

A quick readiness checklist

Answer yes to each before you press send.

• All text final, including front and back matter.
• Style sheet updated and shared with the designer and proofreader.
• Design specs confirmed, with sample chapter pages approved.
• Citations and references in final format.
• TOC built from final headings.
• Figures and tables in place with final captions.
• Permissions cleared, credits set.

If any item feels shaky, hold proofs. Solve it upstream. Your timeline will thank you.

How to set up a clean handoff

Keep the workflow smooth with a few simple habits.

• Send one clean PDF of the proofs, not multiple exports. Lock the file until after RC1 feedback returns.
• Tell the team who implements corrections. Designer or author. One person should touch the file.
• Bundle assets. Style sheet, design specs, fonts list, query log, previous errata if this is a second edition.
• Define rounds. RC1 for main corrections, RC2 for verification only. Minimal changes allowed in RC2.
• Use short, clear comments. “Change ‘affect’ to ‘effect’.” “Fix widow on 142.” “Apply global: ebook to e-book across the book.”

Proofreading belongs at the end for a reason. Done there, and done well, it protects the reader’s experience and your schedule. Freeze the words, share the rules, agree on marks, then let a steady pair of eyes do the final sweep.

Project Intake and Set-Up

This stage sets the tone. Do it well, and the proof run feels calm. Skip pieces, and the project wobbles. Think of it as laying out tools on the bench before you start.

Run the intake checklist

Start with a full set of page proofs. One PDF. Not a sample chapter. Not a half-export.

Then confirm the parts:

• Front matter. Half title, title page, copyright, dedication, epigraph, table of contents, foreword or preface. In final order.
• Back matter. Acknowledgments, notes, bibliography or references, index plan, author bio, about the press, back-page links.
• Figures and tables. Final files in place. Numbering locked. Captions set. Cross-references matched to numbers.
• Notes. Footnotes or endnotes formatted to spec. Numbering restarts as planned.
• Glossary or appendices. Alphabetized and consistent with body terms.
• TOC. Built from final headings. Dots and tabs aligned. Page numbers correct on chapter openers.
• Index status. Commissioned indexer, in progress, or to follow after RC1. Make the plan explicit.
• Fonts. Final font choices listed. Licensing sorted. No placeholder fonts.
• Prior query logs. Decisions from copyedit gathered in one place.

Quick story. A novel arrived without the dedication page. One line. The designer dropped it in after proofs. Chapter openers shifted. The TOC drifted. The index lost sync. Two days burned. Get the pieces in early, then leave them alone.

Define scope and roles

State the formats on day one.

• Print. Trim size, bleed, grayscale or color.
• Ebook. EPUB or Kindle package, fixed or reflowable, image treatment.
• Large print or special edition. Any design tweaks that affect layout.

Set deadlines and buffers. Include time for RC2 verification. Include time for a short design tweak if a widow appears.

Name the person who applies corrections. Designer or typesetter or author. One owner. Multiple hands lead to missing fixes and version chaos.

Share the handoff map. Proofreader marks. Designer applies. Author answers queries. Proofreader verifies. Everyone knows which round they own.

Audit the style sheet

Proofreaders enforce rules. Give them the rules in one place. If no sheet exists, build one now.

Cover the big callers:

• Spelling. US or UK. Dictionary source. Merriam-Webster for US. Oxford for UK.
• Serial comma. Yes or no.
• Dashes. Em or en for breaks. Closed or spaced. Range style for numbers.
• Ellipses. Spaced dots or tight. Four-dot use for omissions at sentence end.
• Numbers. Words or numerals for one through nine. Treatment for dates, times, units, ranges, ages.
• Capitals. Headline style or sentence style for headings. Treatment for job titles, eras, movements.
• Hyphenation. Compound adjectives before a noun. Prefix rules. Hyphen breaks in line endings.
• Special terms. Character names with accents, invented words, product names, Latin phrases, foreign words set in roman or italics.
• Punctuation quirks. Smart quotes, apostrophes in years, spaced initials, thin spaces in math or not.
• Layout choices. Scene break glyph, list markers, bullets vs dashes, indentation rules.

Add examples. Show the preferred form, then a wrong form. Make it easy to scan.

Mini exercise. Open your last chapter and pick five tricky words. E-mail or email. Coauthor or co-author. Website or web site. Record the winners. Update the sheet. Share the file with a date stamp.

Circulate the sheet to everyone. Designer, author, indexer. One source of truth means fewer reversals later.

Ready the tools

Set up the workspace before the first mark goes on the page.

• PDF annotation. Adobe Acrobat or an editor with robust comments, drawing tools, and stamps. Turn on commenting shortcuts. Build a custom stamp set for common marks if you use traditional proof marks.
• Word or Google Docs for cross-checks. Keep a clean copy of the manuscript for search work. Safer to run big pattern checks outside the proof PDF.
• Wildcard Find. Plan patterns. Double spaces. Space before punctuation. Straight quotes hiding in headings. Double periods. Orphaned inch marks. Repeated words.
• Consistency tools. PerfectIt or LanguageTool to flag term drift. Load your style sheet terms. Review suggestions with judgment. Tools spot patterns. Humans approve changes.
• Preflight checks. Confirm fonts embedded in the PDF. Check image resolution. Confirm page count matches the contract.

Name your files with version logic. Title_Proofs_RC1.pdf. Title_Errata_RC1.xlsx. Title_StyleSheet_v3.docx. People laugh at file names, right up to the moment they overwrite the wrong one.

Plan targeted passes

Proofreading rewards focus. Set short sessions of 25 to 40 minutes. Stand up between them. Fresh eyes win.

Outline the passes before you start.

• Pass 1. Slow read for words and punctuation. Typos, subject verb slips, missing end punctuation on bullets.
• Pass 2. Layout scan. Widows and orphans, stacks in the rag, bad hyphenation, rivers, list alignment, scene break glyphs, leading and kerning outliers.
• Pass 3. Quotation and dash audit. Straight versus smart, apostrophes in names and decades, dash spacing, ellipses spacing.
• Pass 4. Numerals and units. Dates, ranges, currency, measurement. Nonbreaking spaces where required.
• Pass 5. Cross-references. TOC page numbers, chapter openers, running heads and folios, figure and table numbers, footnote and endnote numbering, reference list order.
• Pass 6. Global sweeps from the style sheet. Branded terms, capitalization rules, hyphenation decisions.

Set checkpoints. After Pass 3, stop and record early global changes in the errata log. After Pass 5, recheck the TOC and running heads. Small habits prevent late surprises.

A final tip from the trenches. Start a tiny parking lot at the top of your errata log for open questions. “House prefers email or e-mail.” “Capitalize Black for ethnicity.” “Scene break glyph size feels light.” Resolve in one burst with the designer or managing editor before round one closes.

Do this groundwork, and the proof stage moves briskly. You reduce noise, protect design, and leave the prose untouched, which is the point.

The Proofreader’s First Pass on Page Proofs

The first pass is where you catch the noise before it reaches readers. Words, punctuation, and layout all get attention. No rewriting. No style makeovers. Keep to mechanics and consistency.

Line-by-line read

Read slow. A ruler, overlay, or window view helps you keep place. Text‑to‑speech helps too. Hearing words exposes missing words, doubled words, and odd rhythm.

What to flag:

• Typos and transposed letters. From to form. Manger for manager.
• Spacing slips. Double spaces. Space before a comma or period.
• Punctuation. Missing end punctuation on a list item. Comma where a period should sit. Serial comma usage per the style sheet.
• Agreement. Subject and verb. Pronoun and antecedent. Everyone is, not everyone are.
• Misapplied style choices. Numbers written as words when numerals are required. Or the reverse, based on rules in the sheet.
• Capitalization by rule. Headings, job titles, eras. Judge Smith, the judge.

Example pass on one sentence:

• Original: “In 1990’s, she lead the team to a 3—0 win”
• Marks: 1990s. Led. 3–0 with an en dash if the house uses en dashes for ranges. Then check spacing around the dash per the sheet.

Mini exercise. Pull one page. Read it with text‑to‑speech at a slower pace than you prefer. Every time you hit pause, note why. Duplicate word. Homophone error. Unbalanced quotes. You build a quick map of frequent slips in this book.

One more boundary. If a sentence sounds clunky but follows the rules, leave a light query only if clarity suffers. Proofreading protects design and voice. Editing belongs earlier.

Layout and typography scan

Zoom out at intervals. Words look fine while layout slips hide in plain sight. Run a design scan on each spread.

Watch for:

• Widows and orphans. Single lines stranded at top or bottom of a page.
• Rivers and ladders in justified text. White gaps flowing through a paragraph or hyphen stacks down the margin.
• Bad hyphenation. The‑rapy. Re‑creation versus recreation, resolved by context and style.
• Stacks in the rag. Several lines in a row ending with the same word or similar length, which draws the eye.
• Misaligned lists. Bullets not lining up. Number periods missing. Hanging indents out of step.
• Scene-break glyphs. Wrong size, wrong spacing, or inconsistent symbol.
• Inconsistent leading and kerning. Headings that sit too tight on text. Odd letter spacing after small caps.

Flag the problem, not a rewrite. “p. 142, last line, widow. Request fix.” Or “List on p. 58, item 3 misaligned.” Suggest a minimal move only when safe. A thin space before an em dash to match house style. A nonbreaking space to keep “Dr. Lee” or “12 May” together. Large shifts belong to the designer.

Quick story. A history book used two different scene-break glyphs after a late design swap. One star in Part I. Three dots in Part II. No one saw it until the scan. One note, one global fix, crisis averted.

Quotation and dash audit

Quotation marks and dashes trip books more than almost anything. Audit them with a set of patterns and your style sheet.

• Smart quotes versus straight quotes. Straight marks often sneak in via headings, captions, or pasted text. Replace with smart quotes, then check for direction. Leading apostrophes in ’90s should curl right.
• Apostrophes in names and dates. James’s per Chicago, unless the name ends with an ancient or names that take a bare apostrophe by house rule.
• Em or en dash usage. Choose per sheet. Em dash for interruptions. En dash for number ranges. Space or no space per house style.
• Ellipses. Spaced or unspaced. Four-dot treatment when an ellipsis ends a sentence.
• Dialogue punctuation. Periods and commas inside closing quotes for US style. Placement of question marks based on logic.

Targeted searches:

• Find straight quotes by searching for the straight double mark. Review each hit.
• Find double spaces by searching for two spaces.
• Find stray tabs with the tab code in your editor. Replace with proper indents.
• Find space around em dashes. Search for space-hyphen-hyphen-space in manuscripts that used two hyphens. Or search for space, em dash, space in proofs if the house prefers closed em dashes.
• Find repeated words. Search for “the the” and “and and.” Then review in context. Tools with wildcard support handle broader checks, but even simple searches pull plenty of errors.

Do not run blind Replace All. Each hit gets context. A quote mark in measurements might need a prime symbol, not a curly quote. A dash in a negative number is a minus, not an en dash.

Cross-checks

Accuracy lives beyond paragraphs. Cross elements need to agree.

• Running heads and folios. The heading on even and odd pages should match current chapter titles and sections. Page numbers should sit in the correct corner per design.
• TOC pagination. Sample five entries across the book. Pick three early, one mid, one late. Confirm entry text matches heading text. Confirm leaders and tabs align.
• Chapter openers. Correct drop cap, first para alignment, and any planned blank verso before a new part.
• Figures and tables. Numbers ascend in order. Captions match references in the text. “See table 4.2” should point to Table 4.2, not 4.3.
• Footnotes and endnotes. Numbering flows, restarts as planned for chapters if that is the rule, and symbols for note calls match the legend.
• Reference lists. Alphabetical or numeric order per style. Hanging indents correct. Periods and commas appear where the style requires.
• Names, dates, and terms. Verify against the style sheet and previous decisions. Keisha or Kiesha, pick one. May 12 or 12 May, pick one and hold the line.

Nonbreaking spaces save the day. Bind numbers and units. 10 km, 5 percent, 8 p.m. Bind day and month if the format uses “12 May.” Bind initials in names. T. S. Eliot should not split across lines.

Mini checklist before you move to RC1 handoff:

• Rerun searches for straight quotes and double spaces.
• Spot-check TOC against three late chapter openers.
• Scan the final pages for widows and orphans after your last fixes.

Working pace for the first pass

Good proofing favors sprints. Set a timer for 25 to 40 minutes. Read, mark, log. Then step away. Eyes reset, attention resets, accuracy holds.

Keep an errata log open while you work. Record page, location, original, correction, and category. When a pattern appears, move it to a global note. “Use email throughout.” “Closed em dash.” “Ellipses spaced.” One instruction to the typesetter beats fifty scattered comments.

A final reminder. The first pass is not your chance to rewrite. Protect the author’s voice. Protect the designer’s layout. Fix the mechanics. Verify the map. Leave everything else alone.

Recording Corrections and Collaborating with the Team

Proofreading lives or dies on communication. Marks need to be clear. Queries need to be brief. Everyone needs to know who fixes what, and when.

Clear markup

Use one markup method and stick with it. PDF comments with highlight and sticky notes. Or proof-correction marks on a tablet. Or both, if the team wants a belt and braces approach.

Place each mark at the error. Mirror the change in the margin or a comment, so no one hunts across the page. One location per mark. No mystery trails.

Keep edits mechanical. No rewrites. No line edits in disguise.

Good examples:

• “p. 116, para 2, comma after ‘however’ should be period.”
• “p. 49, figure callout reads Fig. 3.2, caption reads Figure 3.3, align numbering.”
• “p. 9, mis-set quote mark at line 4, straight to smart.”

Weak examples:

• “Clunky.”
• “Maybe rephrase?”
• “Feels wrong.”

Queries stay short and neutral. Lead with the issue. Offer one solution if needed. Then step back.

Useful formula:

• Observation: “Two styles present for email vs e‑mail.”
• Proposal: “Recommend ‘email’ per style sheet.”
• Action: “Approve global change?”

Queries with purpose

Limit queries to clarity, factual checks, and style conflicts. Voice and argument belong to the author and editor.

Handy stems:

• “Query, confirm spelling for ‘Averill’ vs ‘Averil’.”
• “Query, table list calls for Title Case, heading set in sentence case, confirm preference.”
• “Query, quote lacks closing mark, add?”

One more tip. Always quote the exact words under discussion. No paraphrase. Speed rises and errors drop when everyone sees the same text.

Errata log, the audit trail

An errata log saves teams. Memory fails. Logs do not. Keep the log open while working.

Core columns:

• Page
• Location (para number, line, or coordinate)
• Original
• Correction
• Category (typo, punctuation, layout, cross-ref, style)
• Note (query or brief context)
• Global flag (yes or no)

Sample lines:

• 142 | para 3, line 2 | recieve | receive | typo | — | no
• 58 | list item 3 | indent misaligned | align with items 1–2 | layout | — | no
• multiple | email/e‑mail | e‑mail to email | style | house style per sheet | yes

Batch globals at the top of the log. One instruction covers all cases. Fewer scattered comments. Fewer misses.

Do not run Replace All across the book. Review each change in context. Prime symbols vs curly quotes. Minus vs en dash. Nonbreaking spaces for units. Small details, big headaches if rushed.

Version control and comments that travel

Name files in a way no one will misread. Example pattern:

• BookTitle_RC1_Proofed.pdf
• BookTitle_RC1_Errata.xlsx
• BookTitle_RC2_Verified.pdf

Keep comments portable. If the designer exports a fresh PDF, export comments to a data file first. Then re-import to the new proof. No lost queries. No retyping.

Clean handoffs

The proofreader delivers two things. An annotated PDF. An errata log. Both go to the designer or typesetter.

Designer applies corrections, answers queries, and notes any changes with a risk of reflow. All replies land in the query log or in PDF replies, never in a separate chat thread that vanishes by Monday.

A good handoff email covers:

• Files attached and file names
• Global changes approved
• Open queries listed by priority
• Pages with heavy layout risk
• Requested return date and time

Want smoother rounds? Add a mini index of comments in the email, five to ten hot spots with page numbers.

Rounds, RC1 to RC2

RC1 is the first correction round. The proofreader marks errors and records globals. Designer applies fixes.

RC2 is verification. The proofreader rechecks every RC1 mark and every page touched by layout adjustments. Targeted sweeps run again, focused on headings, captions, TOC, running heads, and numbering. Any fresh problems go into the RC2 errata. No new rewrites. No scope creep.

Big changes that affect many pages need a quick call. Everyone agrees on next steps, then back to the log.

STET and when to leave original wording

STET means leave the original unchanged. Use STET when a suggested change turns out wrong, injects style creep, or clashes with voice. Mark STET at the mark, repeat in the margin, and add a brief reason.

Examples:

• “STET, author’s dialect.”
• “STET, house style allows this hyphen.”
• “STET, quotation follows source.”

If STET comes from the author or editor, log the decision. Future you will thank present you when RC2 rolls in.

Tone, trust, and speed

Teams move faster with a steady tone. Avoid blame. Point to the thing, not the person. “Running head mismatches chapter title on p. 74.” Clear, neutral, actionable.

Small frictions slow production. A few habits speed everything.

• Quote the exact word or phrase in every comment.
• Avoid softeners. No “maybe.” No “seems.” Call the issue and move on.
• One fix per comment. No nests inside nests.
• Use paragraph and line references for long pages.
• Keep screenshots short, one callout, clear arrow.

Mini exercise for teams

Pick one chapter. Run a mock handoff.

• Proofreader, mark five real errors and write two queries.
• Designer, apply fixes and reply in the PDF.
• Proofreader, verify and fill a tiny errata log with three lines.

Time the loop. Trim steps. Agree on file names. Agree on query tone. Apply lessons to the full book.

The north star

The goal is a clean book and a calm team. Clear marks. Tight logs. Predictable rounds. Fewer emails, more answers on the page. When readers never notice the process, the process worked.

Verification, Digital Proofs, and Final Sign-Off

RC2 proves the fixes stuck. It also catches gremlins introduced by reflow. Slow down here. Speed kills accuracy.

RC2 verification

Work from the errata log and your annotated RC1 proof.

• Open RC2 side by side with RC1 or use split view.
• Revisit every RC1 mark. Confirm the correction exists on the page. Tick the item in the log.
• Recheck nearby lines for knock-on effects. Hyphenation often shifts. Line breaks nudge quotation marks. A fix in a heading can break a running head.

Run targeted sweeps again.

• Headings. Style, level, numbering, capitalization, page breaks, running heads.
• Captions. Numbering with figures and tables, wording matches callouts, alignment, spacing.
• TOC. Page numbers, dot leaders, hierarchy, spacing, diacritics, small caps if used.
• Numbering systems. Chapters, parts, figures, tables, notes, references. Look for skips, repeats, mixed styles.
• Cross-references. On-page wording versus target location, especially after reflow.
• Footnotes and endnotes. Number order, note breaks, continued notes, spacing.
• Widows and orphans. Flags from RC1 sometimes move. Check last and first lines of pages.
• Special characters. Ellipses, dashes, nonbreaking spaces around units and dates, math symbols.

Smart habits at RC2

• Use Find for fragile items. Straight quotes, double spaces, stray tabs, spaces before punctuation, space around dashes.
• Read page footers and headers on every page. They slip under pressure.
• Circle high-risk spreads from RC1 in your notes. Start there.

Keep queries short and final. If a style decision went wobbly during RC1, pin it down now. No new rewrites. Scope holds.

Ebook QA

Print passes. Now the digital version needs love. Treat the ebook as its own edition with shared content.

Prepare a test kit.

• Devices or emulators for Kindle, Apple Books, and a generic EPUB reader.
• A list of chapters, figures, and feature spots to tap through. Scene breaks. Notes. Back matter.

Core checks

• Navigation. TOC works. Landmarks reach the right pages. Previous and next chapter links behave.
• Internal links. Notes jump to note text and back. Cross-refs reach targets. No dead anchors.
• Typography parity. Scene-break glyphs visible against light and dark modes. Small caps, italics, and bold render as intended.
• Images. Scale, orientation, and captions. No crops. No pixelation. No text baked into images where live text belongs.
• Special characters. Accents, math, symbols, and diacritics. No tofu boxes. No swapped glyphs.
• Paragraphs. No random indents. No extra space after headings. No stacked blank lines.
• Code blocks or verse, if present. Preserve alignment. No wrap wreckage.
• Embedded fonts, if used. Load, subset correctly, and license allows embedding.

Accessibility basics

• Alt text on images that convey meaning.
• Logical heading levels for screen readers.
• Links with clear labels, not “click here.”
• Nonbreaking spaces around units and dates, for clean reads at any size.

Preflight

• Run EPUBCheck. Fix every error. Warnings deserve a look.
• Inspect CSS for scene-break treatments and note styling. Confirm color choices survive dark mode.
• Validate KPF output in Kindle Previewer on multiple devices and font sizes.

Tip for sanity. Keep a short digital errata sheet, separate from print. Screenshots help. Note device, app, and size used during the issue.

Prepress checks

Print files need a final technical scrub before sign-off. Give your future self every chance to sleep.

Press-ready checklist

• PDF/X compliance per printer spec.
• All fonts embedded. No faux bold or faux italic.
• Image resolution meets spec. Color images at 300 ppi. Line art at higher resolution. No RGB sneaking into CMYK unless the printer expects RGB.
• Bleeds set and sufficient. Nothing critical in the trim or gutter danger zones.
• Black text as 100 percent black. No four-color black on body text.
• Spot colors named and intended. Or converted cleanly to process if required.
• Page size, margins, and spine width match the estimate. No surprise page counts.
• Barcodes readable if included on cover.
• Layers flattened as required. No hidden comments or stray markup.

Front and back matter

• Copyright year, ISBNs, publisher imprint, and credits correct.
• Library of Congress data, if present, matches the title page.
• Index matches final pagination. A last skim helps, even if an indexer handled the heavy lift.

One more print pass

• Flip through at speed and stop at random pages. Look for ladders, rivers, stacks in the rag, and weird hyphenation clusters.
• Check chapter openers for consistent placement of drop caps or lead-ins.
• Verify running heads after short chapters or parts. Odd and even pages behave.

Final sign-off and archiving

A clean wrap protects the book and the team.

• Complete a sign-off checklist with date and names. Attach to the project archive.
• Freeze files. Lock the final PDFs, EPUB, KPF, cover files, and any source InDesign packages.
• Archive the final style sheet, the RC2 errata, the query log, and the sign-off form in one labeled folder.
• Note printer or distributor specs used, version numbers, and submission portals.
• Store test devices and preview screenshots, in case support questions roll in later.

Post-publication errata plan

Readers spot things. A plan turns pain into maintenance.

• Set up a simple errata form or email. Ask for page, location, exact quote, and suggested fix.
• Log reports in a shared sheet with status and owner.
• Batch low-risk changes for the next reprint or digital update. Flag any fix with reflow risk.
• Version bump ebooks when issuing updates. Note changes in the book or on the product page if required.
• Keep the archive current. Replace live files and tag old ones as superseded.

Quick RC2 drill

Pick five RC1 fixes at random. Confirm each on RC2. Then scan the whole spread around those fixes. Note any new breaks or shifts. If you find one, add one more sweep to your RC2 plan next time.

The finish line looks quiet from the outside. Inside, it runs on lists, tight loops, and polite persistence. Do the boring parts well. Readers will never know, which is the point.

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