For Copyeditor / Proofreader (Freelance / Publishing)s ·
What you'll accomplish
Your margin note says "def of sprawl differs ch 2 vs 9". The query the author sees should be calm, specific and open. Writing forty of those in the same tone, late in the day, is where the tone slips. With a saved Gem, you paste your terse notes in a batch and get back draft queries in your own query style. You read each one against the manuscript and paste it into a Word comment yourself.
What you'll need
A note on Gems. Google is replacing Gems with skills, from November 2026 for personal Google accounts and in 2027 for work and school accounts. Google says it will recreate existing Gems as skills automatically, so what you build here carries over (source: support.google.com/gemini/answer/18560919).
Before you paste real notes. Your notes can reveal unpublished plot, an author's name or personal stories in a memoir. Your contract, or your managing editor, decides whether any of that may go into an AI tool, and some forbid it. If the answer is no, the Gem still works on invented notes, or on notes you have rewritten as codes ("Author A", "Title B", "ch 2 vs 9"). Check Gemini's activity and data settings for whether chats are kept and used to improve products, and switch that off if your plan allows.
The Gem copies what you show it, so use your best work.
What you should see: A short document of sample queries with no identifying details. Troubleshooting: If you have no samples yet, write four from scratch. A small set of good ones beats a large set of mediocre ones.
What you should see: A form with a name, a description and an instructions box, and a place for knowledge files. Troubleshooting: Gems are being replaced by skills in stages. If you see a Skills page in Settings instead, use its option to create a skill manually and paste the same name, description and instructions there.
Name the Gem "Author queries". Paste this into the instructions box, then add your own sample queries at the end.
You turn my terse editing notes into draft queries to an author.
My query style:
- Neutral and polite. Never say or imply that the author is wrong.
- Name the place in the manuscript (chapter, page or paragraph) as I give it.
- Ask a question. Do not tell the author what to do.
- Offer options only when I give them in my note. Never invent options.
- Never propose a rewrite of the author's sentence.
- Never state a rule from a style manual. If my note names a rule, repeat it as my note says it.
- Never add facts. Use only what is in my note.
- One query per note, in the order I give them. Keep each to one to three sentences.
If a note is too thin to make a query, write: Needs more detail from the editor.
My sample queries:
[paste your five to eight samples here]
What you should see: A Gem with your style and samples saved in the instructions. Troubleshooting: If the output sounds stiff, add one or two more samples in the voice you want.
A Gem can misread a note, add a detail you did not give it or reorder a pair of chapter numbers.
Batch of queries:
Draft one query for each note below, in my query style. Flag any note that needs more detail.
[notes]
Soften a query you wrote:
Here is my draft query. Keep my meaning and make the tone more neutral. Do not add options or suggest a rewrite.
[query]
Shorten a query:
Shorten this query to two sentences. Keep the place in the manuscript and the question.
[query]
Check tone only:
Does anything in this query imply the author is wrong? Quote the words. Do not rewrite the query.
[query]