Why do you need a copyeditor?

Ready to send your work off to an agent or publisher? Looking to self-publish? It’s a hard enough task to take on, so you really want to ensure your work will shine. You need your writing to be impeccable so your readers can simply concentrate on the story you’re telling and not the errors which have crept in!

Copy-editing is the stage prior to proofreading. You can see from the list of items covered in the Copy-editing Overview page how hiring a copyeditor might enhance your manuscript. Perhaps you feel happy enough with the story. Maybe you’ve already had your work professionally critiqued, so don’t feel you need a full substantive edit. A copyedit will polish your manuscript, ready for the final proofreading stage.

What will I do?

Once you e-mail me your manuscript, I print it off and make corrections. Then I read it through again to ensure I haven’t missed anything first time around. Generally it is easiest to work with a Word document and use the Track Changes tools. However, if this isn’t feasible for you, please let me know what file type you have and we can discuss it.

NB: I am happy to edit up to 1000 words of your work for free to assure you of the quality of my skills.

Costs

Every copyedit is different, and the cost depends on exactly how much work is involved, how many drafts you’ve done, how much writing experience you’ve had, if you’ve had a developmental editor edit it, among other considerations. As a result, it’s necessary to at least see a sample of your work before providing a quote. However, to give you a guide, I adhere to the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading minimum price guidelines. https://www.ciep.uk/resources/suggested-minimum-rates/

For non-fiction, a rate will be determined after a discussion of the nature of the work (this is due to the fact that some non-fiction requires a large amount of fact-checking).

Payment

A deposit of 50% is required in advance to secure your slot. The remainder should be paid on receipt of the invoice. I accept payment via wire transfer or Paypal. Payment can be made in either GBP, USD or EUR.