Copyediting: an overview

A copyedit is a final review through which a book is finetuned for publication. Its purpose is to ensure that your work is comprehensible, consistent, and error free.

I will edit any genre, but I am a specialist in historical fiction, historical non-fiction, and crime fiction – see the drop-down menu above for more details.

My comprehensive service will identify any:

• inconsistencies in narrative voice or character depictions
• continuity issues, for instance in plot or descriptions
• ambiguities in meaning
• incomprehensible passages
• factual inaccuracies
• anachronisms
• needless repetitions
• unintended changes in tense

Any such issues will be highlighted and queried in comment boxes.

I will also detect and correct any errors or inconsistencies in:

• spelling
• grammar
• punctuation
• capitalisation
• hyphenation
• syntax
• text formatting

Any such errors and inconsistencies will be corrected using track changes so you can easily review them.

Once the copyedit is complete I will return one marked-up copy of your manuscript, with all tracked changes and comments visible for your review, and one ‘clean’ copy with all my suggested edits accepted. I will also provide a style sheet that lists, for instance, preferred spellings, punctuation, hyphenation, text formatting styles, character, and location names. This serves as a point of reference to ensure consistency throughout your work.

I will consult with you at the start of an editing project on your preferred points of reference for spelling, punctuation, and style. I typically use the Oxford English Dictionary and New Hart’s Rules for British English projects, and the Merriam-Webster dictionary and the Chicago Manual of Style for American English projects.

This copyediting service is ideal if:

• you are an independent author preparing to self-publish your book.
• you want your book manuscript to stand out in a literary agent’s slush pile.
• you are a publishing house seeking support in your editorial production workflow.