A copyedit meticulously reviews every sentence, highlighting opportunities to improve the presentation of your story. It’s to fine-tune your sentences into their most clear and compelling form for readers in a way that matches your intention, tone, and style. You choose how hands on or off I am with making changes or providing suggestions in the margin. With a focus on precision and attention to detail, I offer feedback on grammatical corrections, untangle tricky punctuation issues, and pinpoint the slips that are all too easy to overlook in your own work.
From tangle to triumph
I’m proud to be a Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) and I passed their rigorous editorial test. I’ll ensure syntactical slips are corrected, and spelling, punctuation, and grammar are consistent, but I’m a lover of flexible and ever-changing language, not a pedant. So you can be sure I won’t overcorrect your characters’ dialogue. I’ll help you say what you meant to say, without distracting errors.
Would your story benefit from copyediting?
A copyedit is for you if …
- You have a finished manuscript that has either had developmental editing already or incorporated feedback from multiple constructive critique partners or beta readers.
- You are happy with your story and prose and want to improve the correctness of your writing at the sentence-level, while maintaining your unique style and tone.
- You’ve rewritten and self-edited several times and want a skilled expert to examine the technical details.
- You want more thorough input than proofreading, which primarily looks for literal errors.
But not a good fit if …
- You’re still refining the broader elements of your story. If your manuscript requires structural changes or if you’re in the early stages of shaping your narrative, a developmental edit might be more suitable.
- You’d like detailed feedback on sentence-level writing craft. If you’d like personalized support with this, a line edit may better match your preferences.
- You’re on a tight schedule and seeking a quicker turnaround. If time is a critical factor and you require a faster editing process, a proofread might be the most time-efficient option.
“Constructive with her feedback, and respectful of our voices”
Joanne demonstrated impressive skills during the editing process. This was far from the typical book project, with 36 authors from around the world bringing their distinctive voices and styles.
Joanne was everything you want in an editor: friendly, professional, constructive with her feedback, and respectful of our voices. I’d love to work with her again.
Al Boyle
Fiction & non-fiction author
Joanne’s skills as a proofreader and text editor have proved invaluable in ensuring our material, which is read by 3 to 5 million readers each month, is as error-free as is humanly possible. As leader of the editorial team, I have found Joanne’s precision in her work and her communications both within that team and to our readers, a great asset that has significantly improved World History Encyclopedia in the global publishing market.
Mark Cartwright
Publishing Director, World History Encyclopedia
What a copyedit includes
- Your choice of global English (such as UK/US/Canadian/Indian/Australian).
- A close read through and tidying-up passes.
- Checks for clarity, consistency, and readability, including spelling, punctuation, and grammar.
- Word Styles for chapter numbers/titles, paragraph indentation and special features such as letters or text messages.
- Removal of extra lines and spaces.
- Conscious language checks for unintended, potentially harmful language.
- Final checks with professional editing software for extra peace of mind.
- Weekly email updates. These are short and casual to keep you up to date or ask quick questions.
- Introductory and feedback call. Or email if you prefer, though I do like an intro call to hear your voice – it helps me more quickly understand your unique authorial voice!
- Annotated manuscript, clean copy, personalized style sheet, and custom editorial report.
What happens to your manuscript
After having a look at a sample of your work, and giving you some example comments to see if my feedback style is a good fit for you, you send me your full manuscript. Your work and our communications remain confidential (unless you specifically ask me to shout about it!).
First, I look at a couple of chapters in different places in your manuscript to get a sense of your unique voice. This helps me understand what you are trying to achieve.
Then I do what are often called clean-up tasks. Any formatting or tidying-up tasks that I can apply throughout the manuscript with editing tools such as PerfectIt (a pro editing tool) or specialized macros happen before the close read. This means I can read with fewer distractions, such as commas after speech marks when you want them before. It allows me to focus on your words during the close read.
In the close read, I carefully consider each sentence for clarity and author voice, alongside spelling, punctuation, and grammar. Prose must support your vision for the characters, stakes, and plot. I always ask authors what their main concerns, questions or difficulties are so I can consider those carefully. Usually authors have a sense of which elements of writing they find the most challenging.
I make notes in the margin to flag changes or offer suggestions. You choose how hands on or off you want me to be with your text. Recurring issues will be explained in more detail in the editorial report.
During the close read I also record style decisions on the style sheet, such as spelling choices, hyphenation, and how numbers are treated.
After the close read, I collate the main issues into the editorial report (depending on the needs of the manuscript) and any other specific questions you have provided me with. You can see examples of copyediting below. After delivering your editorial report, style sheet, annotated manuscript, and clean copy, we have a feedback call to discuss your writing together.
What copyediting looks like
Here’s an example manuscript page, editorial report page, and style sheet page from a copyedit. (Shared with kind permission from the author, though identifying details have been disguised for confidentiality.)
A copyedit is a comprehensive correctness check
Choose the service that works best for you. Line editing, copyediting and proofreading all consider the individual sentences of your story. The different tiers are based on the amount of time I spend with your manuscript and the level of detail I consider.
| Details | Line edit | Copyedit | Proofread |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of read throughs. | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Correct literal errors and offer suggestions: typos, spelling, punctuation, grammar and syntax. | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Additional clarity, consistency, and readability. | ✓ | ✓ | x |
| Word Styles checked for chapter numbers/titles and paragraph indentation. | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Removing extra lines and spaces. | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Cliché and repetition, overwriting, filter words, redundancy, and adverb over-reliance. | ✓ | x | x |
| Point of view slips (head-hopping). Tense in flashback transitions. Balance of showing and telling. | ✓ | x | x |
| Balance of dialogue and narration. | ✓ | x | x |
| Dialogue tags and action beats. | ✓ | ✓ | x |
| Conscious language checks for unintended, potentially harmful language. | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Final checks with professional editing software for extra peace of mind. | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Weekly email updates. | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Introductory call (optional). | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Feedback call (optional). | ✓ | ✓ | x |
| Annotated manuscript and personalized style sheet. | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Service-specific editorial report. | ✓ | ✓ | x |
| Approximate duration in weeks. | 6 | 4 | 2 |
| Approximate price for 80,000 words. | £1,300–£1,600 | £890–£1,360 | £570–£980 |
| 10K mini-edit of 10,000 words. | £235–£270 | £180–£240 | £140–£195 |
“Excels at bringing out the best of your voice without overwriting it”
I have worked with Joanne over a series of multiple books. She is a very talented editor. Working with her has been an absolute pleasure and she made it very easy! Joanne had a significant impact on my books and merged with my writing style perfectly. Whoever she is working for next is very lucky. Joanne, you deserve all the success in the world!
Zayden Stone
Mythology author
Joanne edited my chapter in the book, “The Most Amazing Marketing Book Ever.” As an editor, she excels at bringing out the best of your voice without overwriting it. Her calm presence kept me on track to finish my chapter on schedule and with excellence. If you are looking for a great writer and editor, look no further than Joanne.
Kami Watson Huyse
CEO of Zoetica Media and Smart Social Secrets, author and keynote speaker
Feel free to reach out with questions or specific requirements and we can discuss how to best give your book the boost it deserves.
Looking for something else?
If you need a more in-depth sentence-level option with feedback on writing craft, see my line edit service. If you only want a final quality-control check, a proofread might suit. If you’re looking for big-picture story-level support, you might be looking for a story-level edit like developmental feedback.
Not ready for a professional edit yet? My post about self-editing is here to help.
Joanne Taylor • Ajatar Editing 