Looking for someone with a razor-sharp eye?
Someone to spot typos, inconsistencies and repetition in your writing?
Even highly accomplished writers can get so close to their work that it’s hard to look at it critically. Having a professional editor review your writing saves you time and helps lift it just that bit higher.
Whatever you’ve written—from annual report to academic journal article to blog post, or anything in between—if you want it polished to publication standard, I can help.
What kind of editing do you need?
There can be confusion about the differences between various types of editing. For instance, many people are unsure about what constitutes copyediting versus proofreading.
The type of editing your written material needs depends on how deep you want the editor to go, how polished the writing already is and what elements you want the editor to look at. Essentially, there are three levels of editing, and you may need only one of these, or a combination:
1. Structural editing (also called ‘substantive editing’)
A structural edit assesses and shapes your written material to improve the organisational structure and content. The meaning of the material is clarified, flow is improved and language is smoothed out (particularly in the case where there are multiple authors and you are looking for a single ‘voice’).
2. Copyediting (also called ‘line editing’)
I like to think of copyediting as going through a document with a fine-toothed comb to ensure it is consistent, accurate, cohesive and complete. Forensic attention is paid to the small details while also keeping an eye on the big picture. Copyediting normally addresses the following (where relevant):
- accuracy of grammar, spelling, syntax and punctuation
- clarity of expression, flow of text, wordiness and jargon
- consistency in formatting, illustrations, capitalisation, italics, numerals, references and layout
- hyperlinks are working
- adherence to a particular style guide
3. Proofreading
Proofreading is the final stage of editing before publication, when the written material has already been edited, laid out, designed and suggested amendments from the copyediting stage have been incorporated. Major changes are not suggested in this stage. A proofread will usually involve reviewing the document for minor errors in formatting or the text.
You can check out examples of my previous work here.