There’s a popular idea that if you’re good at spotting typos, you can be a copyeditor. Spotting typos shows an eye for—and an interest in—details, and that’s a great start. But there’s so much more to catch. A colleague recently shared some typical editing math. Given 15,540 words in a book chapter (62 manuscript pages)
Freelance Editors, Stop Discounting Your Rates
Q. This is kind of a copyedit, but I don’t have to edit footnotes. What should I charge? A. Charge your copyediting rate. Q. This is a developmental edit, but it’s a second pass. What should I charge? A. Charge your developmental editing rate. Q. This is mostly a proofread … A. (say it with
How to Grow Your Editing Business with Referrals
One goal of my editorial services business is to gain more clients who are similar to my favorite clients. A while back, at Communication Central’s annual conference, I attended “Rev Up Your Business with Referral Power” presented by Jake Poinier, aka Dr. Freelance. Poinier outlined how I can find those desired clients. Why Referrals? I
6 Tips to Fact-Checking as a Copyeditor
Fact-checking is often an added task to a copyeditor’s already long list of duties. 6 tips to doing it better.
Making the Case for Copyediting
Last week, one of my corporate clients asked me to do a rush proofread on a PDF file. Time was short, but the team publishing the document had reviewed and approved all the text. There had been no copyediting stage, however.
Oh boy.
7 Tips to Mastering a Style Manual Update
The 2017 print edition of AP Stylebook will publish next week.* The 17th edition of The Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) will publish in the fall. Considering how much we editors depend on style manuals, major updates can leave us feeling a little anxious. How can we transition to the new styles? 1. Review the
The Business of Editing: Collecting Data and Marketing Yourself
When One Door Closes …
For the last three years, I’ve been running two businesses: this one and Pilcrow Group, which owned Copyediting, publisher of content and training for copyeditors. Before that, I was the editor-in-chief of Copyediting with its previous owners for five years. Running two business has been fun, if challenging. I’ve been able to dig deeply into
Right Touch Editing’s Writing Takes the Gold!
Representing Copyediting, Right Tough Editing won the New England Direct Marketing Association’s (NEDMA’s) 2018 Gold Award in the Collateral category (brochures, catalogs, annual reports) for work on the Organization Subscription Package. Brenner worked with Copyediting training director Laura Poole to put together a promotional package for prospective organization members. The packet consists of an informational
The Copyeditor’s Marketing Vocab Primer
Every industry has special vocabulary—that is, jargon—it uses to refer to well-known but complex ideas in a short space or to sound like an insider. Jargon can become a problem, though, when it’s used to avoid addressing that complex idea or when it overwhelms the copy itself. The copyeditor’s job is to determine when the
