Style sheet

Twelve-panel cartoon. Panel 1 shows a managing editor shaking hands with bespectacled editor in a publishing office. Managing editor says, “I’m so pleased that you’ll be proofreading for us! I’ll send you the proofs for the memoir we talked about right away.” Bespectacled editor replies, “Great! Will you send me the style sheet, too, please?” Panel 2: the managing editor says, “Oh, we expect our freelancers to have their own copy of Chicago.” Bespectacled editor says, “No, I don’t mean the style manual. I mean the book’s style sheet.” Panel 3: the managing editor says, “Our designers will apply the paragraph styles, so you don’t have to worry about those.” Bespectacled editor says, “Sorry—I guess I’m not being clear. The notes from the editor about style decisions they made.” Panel 4: Managing editor says, “…about…the author’s…stylistic flair…?” Managing editor says, “No, about hyphenation and capitalization, with a list of fact-checked names…?” Panel 5: Managing editor says, “I’m afraid I just don’t know what you’re talking about.” The rest of the panels show bespectacled editor slowly backing out of the office.Teachable moment or red flag? You decide! (Click through to enlarge.)

Want to learn more about style sheets? Check out these old posts:

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One thought on “Style sheet”

  1. Never had that problem fortunately. I once was required to send my style sheet to an author. He looked at it and responded, “What am I supposed to do with this?” Fortunately he understood my explanation and used the style sheet in reviewing my changes.

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