Writing tips by a professional book proofreader, book copy editor and book writer
Perfectly Write is all about helping people with their writing. Passionate about the English language, I enjoy helping writers develop their skills. I offer advice and tips based on my experience as an author and ghostwriter, author mentor, book copy editor and book proofreader.
Following the book copy editor's process
To improve your copy-editing skills, try working your way through the professional book copy editor's process. It may surprise you to know just how many times a professional book copy editor reads the same document. As a freelance book copy editor, I regularly copy-edit books, reports, articles and websites on-screen. And for each copy-editing job, I follow the same process.
1. The book copy editor receives the file to be edited and puts it into an easy-to-read format – using a simple font, large type size and double-spacing the document.
2. The book copy editor reads the document once, quickly, without focusing on mistakes. This helps the book copy editor get the overall gist of the document.
3. The book copy editor goes back to the start of the document and copy-edits it very carefully and slowly – looking at each word, each sentence, each paragraph in turn. As they work, the book copy editor makes notes of any issues to sort, such as inconsistencies or unclear sections.
4. The book copy editor uses the 'Find and Replace' feature of MS Word to impose consistency on the document. For example, the book copy editor may look for all words spelt ‘copy-editor’ and replace them with ‘copy editor’ without the hyphen.
5. The book copy editor creates a query sheet, or puts queries for the author directly onto the document.
5. The book copy editor takes a well-earned break and rests their eyes.
6. The book copy editor comes back to the material and proofreads it slowly and carefully once (or twice if time allows).
7. Satisfied with the document, the book copy editor returns it to the client.
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