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It’s not always clear how manuscripts move between departments in the publishing industry. Who decides when they’re ready to go and what information gets exchanged? This process may vary from press to press depending on the size of their departments, but here at Ooligan, there’s a standardized process to transfer the manuscript from acquisitions to copyeditor and the project manager who will take the manuscript throughout the rest of the publishing process.  

This brings us to the handoff doc, called such because it contains all the pertinent information that copyeditors will need to begin their edits and that the project manager will need to start building a marketing plan, getting familiar with their author, and considering design briefs and branding. The handoff doc contains all the numbers involved in the book: the pub date, format and trim size, retail price, categories, BISAC codes and, newly, Thema codes. It also contains a summary of the manuscript, relevant marketing information, and the manuscript’s editorial history (essentially, this outlines what was covered in the developmental edit and what may still need to be addressed versus left as is). Finally, it contains very preliminary cover design ideas. In short, it’s a streamlined, easily digestible version of the pitch.

Along with the handoff doc, an Ooligan hand off should include all versions of the manuscript so that editorial can see what changes have been made already and track the progress of the story developing. This also ensures that no redundancies are made in copyediting, such as things that were already addressed in the DE that the author was unwilling or unable to change. This way, we can keep our relationships with our authors as consistent and positive as possible. 

There will also be a credits page, which is a living document that tracks everyone who works on the manuscript at its varying stages so they can be properly acknowledged when design starts creating the credits page. The handoff should also include a style sheet, where things like names, places, and stylistic or grammatical choices are compiled so that everyone involved in editing can make sure things stay consistent. It will also include author information, as well as the pitch slides and the pitch prep. These final three files are where the project manager can go to begin sourcing ideas for marketing and places to reach out to for promotion, even awards to apply to!

All of these files ensure that the handoff is smooth and that editorial and the project manager are equipped with as much preliminary information and research as we can give them going forward. There are plenty of moving parts to keep track of and so many changes made throughout the life of a book that having a centralized resource to refer back to makes life much easier for everyone.

Written by Rin Kane.

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