HOW-TO-TORIAL

Most-Missed Editing and Formatting List

Your editing checklist with links to tutorials for this platform’s tools

Ten things to check before submitting or publishing

1. The title and subtitle in the draft match the ‘display’ title and subtitle. This can be changed using the … menu beside the publish button. It’s important because your story’s title and subtitle will display according to that input when the story is published and when it’s shared on social media.
2. Title and subtitle do not contain punctuation. There are exceptions, such as question marks.
3. Paragraph length is limited to 3–4 sentences, depending on sentence length. Shorter blocks of text increase readability, especially on phone screens. Break your text up into reasonable chunks.
4. The top three lines are properly formatted as kicker, title, and subtitle. Find out more in these tutorials. Note: this is a MuddyUm pub guideline. Various pubs have various rules.
5. There is a featured image directly below the subtitle and its source is included in the caption. Note: this is a MuddyUm pub guideline. Various pubs have various rules.
6. Every image in the article or story has a caption including its source. Acceptable sources include the author’s own photographs or art, and free-use image sites such as Unsplash, Pixabay, or Wikimedia. This platform’s built-in image search tool leads to Unsplash. Learn more in this tutorial.
7. Five tags are chosen and each tag relates to the content. There are many articles about choosing tags if you want to learn more about the subtleties.
8. Your submission meets the guidelines established by the publication you are submitting it to. Disregard for self-published pieces. In addition to reading submission guidelines shared by pub editors, best practice is to read several pieces already published there. Get a sense of the publication’s content before submitting work for the first time. Use discretion when selecting the best pub for your writing.
9. Edit for basic spelling and grammar mistakes, and verify correct spelling for the names of people and places in your story. This may sound ridiculously obvious, but as a publication editor I see a lot of misses in work submitted for publishing. Editors are volunteers and we appreciate well-polished submissions to ease our workload.
10. Different screen, different scene. Whenever possible, take time to view your draft on both a phone screen and a computer screen before finalizing. This helps identify odd formatting and gauge readability. I have found through personal experience I sometimes notice a typo while reading on one device I missed while reading on another.

Level-Up

This list is not exhaustive. Approach writing and publishing with a growth mindset and continuously hone your skills. Learn more about polishing your work, and using menus and tools on this platform, by reading these lighthearted tutorials. With doses of humor, screenshots and some how-to videos you’ll get the information — and laughter — you need. We retain more knowledge when we have fun while learning.