Stacey You've already gotten some good leads as to what is involved with validating. Let me add that validating is as much an art as a science. I am a better validator today then I was 6 months ago. Six months from now, I am likely to be a better validator than I am today. One learns from experience. Books for validation are on the website as .zip compressed files. Hence, you must have a tool, such as Winzip or some other unzipping utility, to expand the files. Note in the book descriptions what format the book is in it, .rtf, .doc, .txt, et al. You must have a program that can handle that kind of file. Besides checking for the things that Cindy has mentioned, how much editing, cleaning up, touching up, etc you do is entirely your call. Some validators do a lot; some the minimum; most of us are somewhere in between -- often dictated by the book itself and sometimes who happened to submit the book. Some submitters maticulously prepare their books so there is little to do other than check for the bear essentials. Others tend to submit unedited raw scans. Many fall somewhere in between. If none of this makes sense at the moment, don't worry. Much of this didn't make sense to me prior to my validating and scanning books. Right now, complete your membership and begin by enjoying the books that are already available.