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BUILD: Create Your Complete Manuscript Provenance File
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Build Your Complete Manuscript Provenance File
This is the final BUILD stage in the Jack Righteous manuscript chain-of-custody path. The public LEARN article explains what authors should document. The public APPLY article helps you create the working folder. This gated BUILD system turns those records into a professional, reusable manuscript provenance file you can maintain across books, client projects, training products, articles, devotionals, workbooks, translations, and publishing submissions.
What You Will Finish With
- A master project record.
- A human contribution statement.
- An AI-use register.
- A milestone prompt log.
- A version and decision history.
- A source and permission register.
- Before-and-after evidence of human revision.
- A collaborator and editor handoff record.
- An AI disclosure preparation sheet.
- A final authorship and provenance summary.
- A publishing-package index showing where every important file is stored.
Before You Begin
Choose one manuscript. Do not try to document your entire career at once. Your goal is to build one complete file that becomes the model for future projects.
Recommended master folder
- 00 — Master Provenance File
- 01 — Project Origin
- 02 — Human Structure and Direction
- 03 — AI Use Register
- 04 — Prompt Milestones
- 05 — Draft and Version History
- 06 — Human Revision Evidence
- 07 — Sources, Rights, and Permissions
- 08 — Collaborators and Editorial Handoffs
- 09 — Disclosure and Registration Notes
- 10 — Final Manuscript and Publishing Package
1. Master Project Record
Create one document that identifies the project and acts as the front page for the complete file.
Working title:
Final title:
Author or pen name:
Publisher or imprint:
Project type:
Audience:
Reader promise:
Original project purpose:
Project start date:
Current status:
Primary writing tools:
AI tools used:
Editors or collaborators:
Primary storage location:
Backup location:
Planned publication or submission destination:
Final approval date:
Person accepting final responsibility:
2. Project Origin Record
The origin record shows where the project came from before the final manuscript existed. Preserve the earliest credible materials you still have.
Include where available
- Handwritten notes.
- Voice recordings or transcripts.
- Emails or messages describing the idea.
- Early working titles.
- The original premise, argument, story problem, framework, or teaching goal.
- Personal experiences that led to the project.
- Research questions that existed before drafting.
- Dated files or cloud history showing early development.
This project began when:
The original human idea was:
The problem, story, lesson, or reader need I wanted to address was:
The first materials I created were:
The earliest surviving dated record is:
What changed between the original idea and the final direction:
3. Human Contribution Record
This is the central record of what you originated, selected, arranged, changed, verified, rejected, and approved.
Core concept I originated or directed:
Audience and reader promise I selected:
Structure I designed or substantially changed:
Original writing I contributed:
Stories, examples, experiences, or commentary I added:
Research I selected or verified:
Material I rejected and why:
Major rewrites I completed:
Voice and tone decisions I made:
Sequence and arrangement decisions I made:
Visual or cover direction I approved:
Final quality-control decisions:
What would not exist in this form without my human contribution:
4. AI-Use Register
Do not reduce the record to “AI was used.” Record which tool performed which task, whether generated material survived into the final work, and what human work followed.
Date or date range:
Tool and version, if known:
Account or plan used:
Purpose of use:
Input supplied by the author:
Type of output produced:
Was generated text, imagery, or translation used in the final work? Yes / No / Partly
What was rejected:
What was rewritten or transformed by the author:
Where the final surviving material appears:
Disclosure relevance:
Supporting file location:
5. Milestone Prompt Log
Save prompts that materially shaped the premise, structure, research, chapter development, revision, translation, images, or final review.
Milestone number:
Date:
Tool:
Purpose:
Prompt or instruction used:
Source material supplied:
Useful result:
Problematic or rejected result:
Human decision made next:
Related draft or chapter:
Saved transcript or file location:
6. Version and Decision Log
Your version history should show development, not just duplication. Keep milestone versions that represent meaningful creative or editorial stages.
Recommended milestone versions
- V01 — Original Concept
- V02 — Human Outline
- V03 — AI-Assisted Development
- V04 — Working Draft
- V05 — Human Rewrite
- V06 — Editorial Review
- V07 — Final Manuscript
- V08 — Publishing Package
Version name:
Date saved:
Created or revised by:
Material added:
Material removed:
Major structural changes:
Reason for the changes:
Sources added or corrected:
AI-generated material retained, revised, or removed:
Approval status:
File location:
7. Before-and-After Human Revision Evidence
Select a small number of meaningful examples. The goal is not to defend every sentence. The goal is to make your creative judgment visible.
Chapter or section:
Initial material or AI-assisted draft:
Final author-approved version:
What changed:
Why the change mattered:
Human contribution demonstrated: structure / voice / factual correction / original example / arrangement / argument / characterization / teaching order / other
Related source or version file:
8. Source, Rights, and Permission Register
Track material that did not originate entirely within your own manuscript process.
Source or asset name:
Creator or rights holder:
Publication or platform:
URL, ISBN, DOI, file name, or identifier:
Date accessed or received:
Material used:
Use type: fact / quotation / image / chart / screenshot / translation / Scripture / public domain / licensed asset / client material / other
Permission or licence status:
Attribution requirement:
Where used in the manuscript:
Review notes:
Supporting permission or licence file:
9. Collaborator and Editorial Handoff Record
When another person touches the manuscript, preserve what they received, what they were asked to do, what they changed, and what you accepted.
Name and role:
Date sent:
Version sent:
Scope of work requested:
AI tools permitted or prohibited:
Files provided:
Date returned:
Changes made:
Questions or concerns raised:
Changes accepted:
Changes rejected:
Final approval by:
Agreement, invoice, email, or tracked-change file location:
10. AI Disclosure Preparation Sheet
This private worksheet helps you answer platform, publisher, client, contest, or contract questions accurately. Review the current rules at the time of submission.
AI-generated text appears in the final work: Yes / No / Uncertain
AI-generated cover or interior images appear: Yes / No / Uncertain
AI-generated translations appear: Yes / No / Uncertain
AI-assisted brainstorming used: Yes / No
AI-assisted outlining used: Yes / No
AI-assisted editing or critique used: Yes / No
AI-assisted research used: Yes / No
Human-written or substantially rewritten material:
Material requiring further review:
Current platform, publisher, client, or contract wording reviewed on:
Disclosure response prepared:
Professional advice required: Yes / No / Uncertain
11. Final Authorship and Provenance Summary
This is a private internal statement. It should be factual, plain, and supportable by the records in your folder.
I, [name], accept final responsibility for [project title]. I originated or directed the project’s [concept/premise/framework/audience/reader promise]. I controlled the manuscript’s structure, selection, arrangement, revision, verification, and final approval.
AI tools were used for:
AI-generated material that remains in the final work includes:
Material I substantially rewrote, transformed, corrected, or replaced includes:
Original human writing, examples, experiences, research decisions, and creative contributions include:
Editors, collaborators, and other contributors included:
Sources, licences, and permissions are recorded in:
The final approved manuscript is version:
Approval date:
Signed or acknowledged by:
12. Publishing-Package Index
Create one final index so that a future version of you—or a qualified professional helping you—can find every important record quickly.
Final manuscript file:
Editable manuscript source:
Original concept records:
Outline and structure records:
AI-use register:
Prompt milestone log:
Version history:
Human revision evidence:
Source register:
Permissions and licences:
Collaborator agreements and handoffs:
Cover and interior asset records:
Disclosure notes:
Copyright or registration correspondence:
KDP or platform upload files:
Submission emails or publisher correspondence:
Publication date and destination:
Backup location:
Quality-Control Review
Your file is ready when you can answer:
- Where did the project begin?
- What did the author originate?
- What did AI do?
- What generated material survived?
- What did the author reject, rewrite, verify, or arrange?
- Which milestone drafts show development?
- Where did third-party material come from?
- Who else handled the manuscript?
- Who approved the final work?
- Where is every supporting record stored?
Do Not Turn Documentation Into Theatre
A large archive is not automatically a credible archive. Do not manufacture backdated evidence, preserve meaningless files only to look thorough, or make claims your records cannot support. Build a truthful record of the real process.
Your strongest file is not the one with the most prompts. It is the one that makes the human direction, decisions, revisions, sources, contributors, and final responsibility understandable.
Complete the Path
The manuscript provenance file is not the book itself. It is the professional record behind the book—the record that helps you explain what you created, how you used AI, what you changed, what you verified, and why the finished work is yours to stand behind.
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