Copy editing
Careful editing for books, reports and websites, with questions in the margin rather than rewrites.
What an edit includes
Copy editing reads for sense and consistency; proofreading catches what is left on the final layout.
Sense and flow
Unclear sentences, repeats, jumps in the argument
Copy edit
Consistency
Names, dates, numbers and spelling, kept in a style sheet
Copy edit
Facts that look wrong
Flagged as a query, never changed silently
Copy edit
Typos and layout slips
Widows, page numbers, captions, the index
Proofread
How an editing job goes
The same five steps for a long book or a short report.
1
You send a sample
Two or three pages and a line on who will read it.
2
I edit the sample
Free, so you can see how I mark things up.
3
We agree price and date
Fixed price, a start date and a finish date.
4
Edit and queries
Tracked changes, with questions in the margin.
5
Final file
A clean copy, the marked-up copy and a style sheet.
Send me a sample
Two or three pages and a line on who will read them. I edit the sample free.