Editorial Services
I am adept at every type of editing, from big-picture substantive editing to nuanced line editing to meticulous copyediting and proofreading. I have a thorough knowledge of grammar, usage, and style, and I enjoy helping authors clarify their ideas and strengthen their arguments. I’m particularly skilled at identifying holes in logic and clunky, verbose writing—but I’m also really good at noticing picky little mistakes.
I have the expertise, patience, and reference guides (including online subscriptions) to style your footnotes, endnotes, or in-text citations to conform to Chicago Manual of Style, APA, MLA, or AMA requirements. I can also shepherd a project from development editing through production editing, working with a team of authors, editorial board members, proofreaders, and designers.
I strongly believe that editing is a continuum—and that the distinctions among different types of editing are sometimes arbitrary and even counterproductive. My philosophy of editing is kind of Marxist: To each [text] according to its needs. Obviously, however, your deadline and budget (capitalism!) will also determine the level of editing I’m able to provide, even if I’d love to do more.
Types of Editing
Substantive Editing
Substantive editing is sometimes known as content editing, structural editing, or developmental editing. Whatever it’s called, this kind of editing looks at the big picture and identifies problems with the flow of ideas; the logic of the arguments; the overall organization and consistency of the paragraphs, sections, chapters, and headings; and the content of the writing. A developmental editor can help you plan and shape your project before you even begin writing. This type of editor might also help you make major cuts to an article, chapter, or book to fit a publication’s length requirements or to get rid of unnecessary, distracting material.
Line Editing
Line editing is more focused on the actual writing at the sentence and paragraph level. Line editors address problems such as choppy sentences, passive constructions, weak or nonexistent topic sentences, repetition and wordiness, faulty parallelism, awkward or imprecise word choice, ambiguous pronouns, misplaced modifiers, missing transitions, and all those other writing and grammar problems you learned about in school but perhaps haven’t mastered. Like substantive editors, line editors also point out holes in logic and flow, but more on the sentence and paragraph level.
Copyediting
Line editing and copyediting lie on a continuum. They focus on many of the same concerns (and the terms are often used interchangeably), but copyediting is somewhat less intensive than line editing. Although copy editors fix awkward or unclear sentences, they focus on grammar, punctuation, capitalization, spelling, compound style, number style, abbreviation style, and other issues of stylistic consistency rather than on more extensive revisions to improve the writing. A copy editor also makes sure that your text conforms to the specific style and formatting guidelines of your publisher, journal, institution, or department.
Citation Editing
Citation editing is an aspect of copyediting but can also go well beyond it. Whether you’re using footnotes, endnotes, or in-text citations, you may need an editor to check them for accuracy and style conformity (even if you’re using a citation generator). An editor can make sure that you’ve included all the required source information, that it’s accurate, and that you’ve used the short form correctly after citing the full source the first time. An editor can verify that all the sources you’ve cited in the text are included in your bibliography (Chicago), reference list (APA), or works cited list (MLA)—and conversely, that all the sources in that list are cited in the text. Legal and medical references require particularly careful editing. If you’re a scholar in a field that tends to have long, discursive notes with lots of additional sources, an editor can be essential. I’ve found that some authors also need an editor to check their quotes for accuracy.
Proofreading
Like line editing and copyediting, copyediting and proofreading lie on a continuum—but proofreading occurs later in the process and focuses more narrowly on fixing outright mistakes. Proofreaders correct typos, missing or repeated words, punctuation and spelling errors, and egregious grammar problems. Depending on the project, the proofreader may also correct style inconsistencies that the copy editor missed and may even revise awkward sentences—but the proofreader should not be making major revisions or simply changing the copy editor’s style decisions. Proofreaders also check page references, headings, typographical elements, and layout issues (such as bad line or page breaks).
Production Editing
Like so many aspects of the editorial process, production editing can mean different things in different publishing contexts. I’m using the term to refer to the process of reviewing PDFs (created from an InDesign file), using Acrobat markup tools to make proofreading and other changes (or going over the proofreader’s corrections). Production editing can also involve collating revisions from authors and other readers, as well as working with the designer. The production editor then verifies that all those changes have been executed correctly. In an art publication, production editing encompasses checking images, captions, and credit lines.
I do all these different types of editing. Let’s discuss how I can help you with your project.
My Approach to Editing
I edit using Word’s Track Changes function, but I can also use Google Docs. If you’re not comfortable with Track Changes or familiar with all its features, I’m happy to give you a brief tutorial.
My basic editing approach is to use comments not only to ask questions but also to explain why I made a change. Sometimes I might make a revision in the text but then offer one or more other options in a comment. If you hire me as your editor, we can discuss how much explaining (and option offering) you want me to do. Some clients prefer that I just make the changes!
Whichever approach you choose, I’ll provide a detailed cover memo that summarizes my most important edits and comments.
I’ll also create a detailed style sheet based on your project’s overall style (e.g., Chicago, APA, MLA), as well as any “house” guidelines from your publisher, journal, or organization. My style sheet will include specific issues and examples from your own text, divided into categories and also presented as an alphabetical list.
This style sheet is mainly for my own benefit—to help me keep track of all the decisions I’ve made—but of course you’re free to read it. You can also decide to vary the treatment of a term or name if your discipline has conventions that differ from the overall style we’re using.
If you’d like, I can review your document after you’ve responded to my edits. I’ve found that authors frequently introduce errors at this stage, so it can be helpful to have me do a second pass. With some authors, I do multiple rounds of edits.
Together, we’ll come up with an editing approach that works best for you and your project.