For Copyeditor / Proofreader (Freelance / Publishing)s ·
What you'll accomplish
Three clients, three house guides, three different answers on compound words. You know one of them is the client who closes up "email" and another is not, but which? Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM) answers questions only from the sources you add and attaches a citation to each answer. You click the citation, read the guide's own words, and apply what it says.
What you'll need
Which guides may go in. A client's house guide can be confidential, and a contract or your managing editor decides whether it may be uploaded to an AI tool. Never upload a published style manual you do not have the rights to upload. If a guide is off limits, the workflow still works on a house guide you wrote yourself, a public one that the client posts openly, or a short invented guide. Google states on its Gemini Notebook page that uploaded sources are not used to train models and stay private unless you share the notebook. Confirm that on the page for your own account type before you rely on it, and never share a notebook that holds a client's guide.
You have two choices.
Start with the second layout using only guides you may combine. Otherwise use one notebook per client.
What you should see: An empty notebook with a place to add sources. Troubleshooting: If you reach a Gemini chat instead, look for Gemini Notebook in the apps or tools menu of your Google account. Google changes the entry points often.
What you should see: A list of named sources in the notebook. Troubleshooting: A scanned PDF with no real text may give poor results. Use a text version where you can.
Ask a narrow question, naming the topic. Start with something you already know the answer to, so you can judge the notebook.
Do not skip this step. An answer without a click-through is only a guess.
One client's rule:
What does the Client C guide say about [topic]? Quote the passage and cite it.
Differences between clients:
Compare how the Client B guide and the Client C guide treat [topic]. Cite both. Say where either is silent.
Find where a topic is covered:
Where in the Client D guide is [topic] discussed? Give the passages, not a summary.
Spot contradictions in one guide:
Does the Client C guide say two different things about [topic]? Cite both places.