My editorial principle is to correct and improve a piece of writing while retaining the author’s voice. I can provide several levels of intervention in a text, but unless extensive editorial work is requested by a client my default practice is to perform no more than light editing. I can advise an author whether light, medium or heavy copyediting is recommended, but I will always respect an author’s wishes.
As standard, I check the following:
- Grammatical sense
- Punctuation
- Syntax
- Spelling
- Consistency (e.g. of hyphenation, capitalization, number treatment)
- Layout and formatting
- Cross-references
- Presentation of references and bibliography
- Correlation of parts
In addition, depending on a client’s requirements, as well as the timescale and budget of the project, I can provide the following:
- Editing for style, diction and fluency
- Rewriting of problematic passages
- Development editing to improve structure and organization (non-fiction only)
- Reference- and fact-checking
- Formatting for publication (e.g. to Amazon Kindle or Smashwords)
- A report with an editorial summary, suggestions and advice
For large projects, I always provide the client with a style sheet, a tracked-changes Word file, a comments-only Word file, and a PDF of the edited file.
I always edit and proofread in line with the requirements and style guide of an author/publisher. Where there is no style guide, I will apply one of my own (usually based either on the Chicago Manual of Style or New Hart’s Rules), and I can adapt a style guide to meet the specific needs of a client. I will adopt British or American spelling, and any other editorial conventions, as preferred by the client.
