Copy Editing

I've just finished approving and correcting the copy edits for The Gospel of Philip: Annotated and explained. A copy editor goes through a text and points out spelling mistakes, incosistencies, problems with grammar or clarity and ensures that the text conforms with house style. I had been somewhat sloppy with my citations , thinking that these should be kept to a minimum, but the copy editor went and requested citations for every single quotation. Becuae of the nature of the book, in which each little section of Philip has a separate annotation I found myself using "this" a lot to refer to the passage under question. the copy editor rightly pointed out that the referant was often unclear.

I didn't approve every change. When the copy editor suggested a revision, the suggested text was usually very clumsily written. She or he also had a tendency to knock off adjectives. One of these was in the introduction where I wrote that the Gospel of thomas has a strong claim to be dated at the same time as the canonical gospels. The copy editor struck out the "strong". I put it back in, and it may me wonder whether the copy editor disliked the idea of Thomas being as old as the canonicals.

Skylight Paths use the Chicago Manual of Style as their style guide. Being British I can't regard this or Webster's with the awe that American writers and editors seem to have for them. I see no reason to follow what are occasionally quirky or unconventional standards. The parable of the Good Samaritan should, according to their style guide, being set in lower case. Looking through my library I found only one instance of this. We eventually came to a compromise where I could have Samaritan with an initial capital (like Welshman or American.)