If self-publishing, odds are you’re writing your manuscript in Microsoft Word and probably even formatting it using that software. You’ll likely use Word’s Track Changes function to edit the manuscript. Here are some great tips for using Track Changes:
• How to use Track Changes on your manuscript
Most editors who review a manuscript that is in a Microsoft Word file will use the Track Changes function to correct an author’s work. As an author, you’ll want to be familiar with using Track Changes so that you can get your manuscript into a publishable form.
• How to get rid of MS Word’s proofreading marks
Among the most annoying features of Microsoft Word’s Track Changes program is that every time you reopen a file, the corrections show up. To not see the corrections, you have to toggle the “Display for Review” setting to “No Markup.”
• Eliminate Word’s proofreading marks for good!
Unfortunately, every time you open up a Word file edited in the Track Changes mode, the program has this annoying habit of showing all of those red proofreading marks – even if the last time you viewed the document it was set to be seen in its final form without the editing symbols. How do you get rid of those annoying proofreading marks?
• Getting rid of a line of dots that won’t go away
Ever have asterisks turn to a whole line of them, and no matter what you do – highlight and delete them, cut and paste them to Notepad then cut and paste that back to Word – you can’t seem to delete the line? Well, there is a way to get rid of them.
• How to make copyright, trademark symbols
Oftentimes when writing – especially nonfiction – you’ll need to add copyright, trademark and registered trademark symbols. They are easy to make in Microsoft Word. Just use the following keyboard shortcuts.
• BONUS: Ways Microsoft ought to improve MS Word
The primary software that self-published authors use to write and format their books is MS Word, a word processing program. While MS Word has improved over the years, unfortunately it still works like a glorified typewriter and so isn’t well-suited for book design.
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My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past 15 years, I’ve helped more than 400 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the Storytelling 101 writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.
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