Manuscript Quality Guidelines

Usually we work off of crisp, clear copies of manuscripts, or of articles, stories, or essays that are being compiled into anthologies. If the copies that need to be scanned are messy--speckled, faded, blurry, wavy, have dark blotches, have cutoff text, are written on, or have any other obstructions of the text--the job may not be doable. We would need to see it, and try scanning it to determine whether it could be done. If it is doable the price is 75 cents per 1000 characters for those jobs because it is harder for the program to recognize the text. This means that our proofreaders will need to spend more time correcting errors that result from a poor copy and/or marking/flagging areas in the file where text may be unreadable or missing. Note: If most of the book is fine with just a page here or there that is messy, we will charge regular rate, but if a lot of the book is messy then the higher rate will apply.

Speckling:

Speckling can occur when part of the book is not flat enough against the copier, so that the light doesn't reach it properly when the copy is being made. Often when books have a small or non-existent gutter margin the words that are in the gutter get obscured like that when copying. If you push down firmly on the center of the book and hold it as flat as possible the copies will be better. Often it is necessary to break the spine in order to get the best copies.

Speckling can also occur if the original is old and has specks on the original page. This type of speckling results in random characters in the file and interferes with the OCR program's ability to read the text. It can't really be helped, but if it is extensive the job may not be doable.

Faded Text:

Faded text usually occurs when the copier is running out of toner, or the copier needs to be cleaned. If there are smudges on the glass, they could obscure text. Please make sure that your copier has sufficient toner and is clean before making copies.

Blurry and/or Wavy Text:

Blurry and wavy texts occur when the original is moved while the copy is being made. Please be sure that you hold the book down firmly, and do not allow it to shift while copying.

Dark Blotches:

Dark blotches constitute dark spots on a page that are larger than speckling. These spots can be caused by ink or another substance that was accidentally spilled on a page. If these spots are over text, it may make text unreadable. If the text is legible to a person in the copy, it still may not be recognizable to an OCR program. We can work with the copies if we can read them, but if the blotches are extensive throughout it may not be doable.

Cutoff Text:

Text gets cut off of the copy when the original is positioned improperly on the copier. Be sure to position the book so that it can all be copied. The copier should have indicator arrows to show where to place the original. Also, text can be cut off if there is no gutter margin in the book, or the gutter margin is tiny. Push down firmly on the center of the book and hold it as flat as possible so that text is not lost in the gutter margin. Often it is necessary to break the spine in order to get the best copies.

Writing:

Writing is a problem if it covers text and if there is a lot of it. Any writing will come out as random characters in a file. So a manuscript that is extensively written-on is not doable. If a copy that needs to be scanned also needs to be edited, please provide a clean, unwritten-on copy for scanning and the edited copy, and we'll input the edits into the file.