Have you written out what you want to say but you’re just not sure about it? Copy editing is where we do a bit of surgery with your work, for example I might suggest that we tweak things around if I think it would help make your writing clearer for your audience to understand. In the world of words, we call it cohesion and sentence structure.
Other things I look for include repetition of words and phrases and I suggest alternatives to make it read better for your audience. This is a lot more “heavy-duty” than proofreading, and requires a lot more time and precision.
Clarity starts with a copy editor. A copy editor essentially gives guidance and direction to the shape your work could take. I like to say that I "make it make sense". By taking into account what you're writing and who you're writing for, I ensure that your work is fulfilling its intended purpose and is easily readable for your audience.
This is really useful if you're writing a long piece of work that's going to be read by lots of people. Maybe you feel like your ideas are currently a little bit scattered and you're struggling with what the order should look like. A copy editor will help fix this for you and ensure your work is easy to read.
But what if you're not writing an essay or a book? Sometimes websites and corporate documents such as business reports benefit from copy editing too. These also need to be easy to navigate and easy to understand. You want to guide your customers with a clear overview of what you offer; you want to structure your report (and the documents within it) in a logical format. As someone outside your organisation, I can offer you the audience's perspective, which is so valuable to ensuring your customers, clients and stakeholders are left impressed, not confused.
There are definitely some things that won't need copy editing - for example, a promo flyer or a menu for your café will just need proofreading. But for many things, it's always worth a discussion to see if you need copy editing first.
Make that solid first impression by having your work proofread for any errors first.
There are a few really important points that go into determining how much I charge for my services. You can read a little more about that here.
Do you have multiple projects you'd like me to work on? Perhaps you want both copy editing and proofreading? Get in touch to discuss cost-effective package options!
