Copy editing

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Copy editing

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Copy editing service

Professional copy editing can help writers improve the presentation of their work and increase its chances of being taken on by a publisher.

	Do you know that spelling and grammar are not your strong points?
	Do you feel that your manuscript contains grammatical errors and spelling mistakes, and would have a better chance of publication if it were professionally prepared for press?
	Do you just want your work prepared for the printer by an expert so that you know it’s in really good shape? Publishers make sure that all the books they publish are copy edited before being sent to the printer. However, if you are an unpublished author, you might help your chances of getting published by turning in a clean manuscript in the first place.
	Or do you intend to publish your book yourself (see our Self-publishing service) and want it to receive the benefit of professional copy editing, so that you can be sure you will take delivery of a printed book you can be proud of?

Manuscripts need copy editing. We strongly advise self-publishers to have their work professionally copy edited before getting it printed.

If you are not sure about the difference between copy editing and proof-reading, this article might help.

Copy editing

WritersServices Copy editing service can help.

Our copy editor will be a skilled professional with many years of experience of copy editing, which is a very specific editorial expertise.

	The copy editor will correct your spelling and punctuation, check the sentence structure, grammar and use of words, and impose consistency, using standard copy editing procedures throughout.
	Due to demand from American writers, we have recruited specialist American copy editors and are now able to offer copy editing using American spelling and usage. See our article on this.
	You will need to decide whether you want your work copy edited on screen or on hard copy i.e. on paper, and give us clear instructions:

Hard copy - Since the decision about specific copy-editing changes is yours, as the author of the work, the manuscript will come back to you as a paper copy with the copy editor’s changes marked up and you can decide whether to implement them or not. If the editor is doing the work on 'hard copy', you will then have to input the changes yourself.
On Screen - Alternatively, we can arrange for your manuscript to be edited on screen and to send it back to you by email with the suggested changes marked up. You can check through the changes on screen using the 'track changes' facility and decide which ones to implement. Handling Copy Editing Changes)
Changes made on screen - The third alternative is that the copy editor can simply make the changes, working on screen, and you will get emailed back to you a manuscript which is clean and ready for press. This is the option we recommend. It is the simplest and there is least risk of errors creeping back in. If you opt for this solution, we would advise you to read through the manuscript carefully when you get it back to make sure that you are happy with all the changes.

What it costs

Copy editing a manuscript is a demanding and skilled task, with no shortcuts. The hours it requires are reflected in the fee structure, which is according to the length of the manuscript. Since non-fiction is usually more taxing to work on and takes more time, we charge more for copy editing non-fiction manuscripts. On fiction we charge £.00535 per word, with a minimum of £267.50.This means that a 80,000 word manuscript would cost £.00535 x 80,000 i.e. £428. On non-fiction we charge £.006 per word, with a minimum of £300. You can get your word-processor to work out the length of your manuscript.

We can sometimes take on shorter manuscripts, but will have to charge a slightly higher fee.

Please note that we will need to assess the manuscript before we can confirm the fee. There is no charge for this assessment, but please send your manuscript to us as one unzipped Word document to get a quote. We cannot quote without seeing the material because we can't estimate how long the work will take. If your manuscript is in a very untidy state or needs a heavy copy-edit, we may need to quote you a higher fee.

The fee is payable 50% on placing of the order and 50% when the work is complete and before it is returned to you. We will email you to say that the second part of the payment is due.

We would normally expect to get the copy edited manuscript back to you within three weeks of receipt of the manuscript and your order, but please remember that many hours of detailed work are involved, especially if it is a long manuscript or in a particularly bad state. When we send your quote we will give you a date for completion of the work. If you are in a particular rush we can sometimes achieve a faster turnaround than this, but please make your requirements clear when you send the manuscript to us.

Please send your manuscript as one unzipped Word file, unless it is over 125,000 words, when we recommend splitting it into two files.

A fictionalised account

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