Copyediting

This is a deep style of editing which should be your document’s firstedit. My style is to combine copy editing and line editing (an editing process which takes a deeper approach to language and word choice). This service including deep style editing checks for all grammatical, punctuation and stylistic errors. 

I use three different style guides in my edits: The Chicago Manual of Style, The Associated Press Stylebook and the New Oxford Style Manual. Unless you specify which one I am I to use, all edits will be in accordance to grammatical, punctuation and stylistic rules listed in The Chicago Manual of Style.

Below is a summarized list of what I check in each document. Please contact me for further questions. All fiction and non-fiction genres accepted (no erotica).

Copy editing, line editing and proofreading includes checks for:

  • Grammar and word usage:
    • Spelling differences between American English and British English.
    • All parts of speech and their components – correction to verbs, pronouns and preposition, adverbs and adjectives especially. 
    • Plurals and possessives.
    • Sentence structure – all types of sentences but, especially run-ons. 
    • Word usage in accordance to AmE and BrE.
  • Punctuation Preciseness:
    • Capitalization of proper nouns as opposed to lowercase identical spellings (because they often have different meanings). Correction to capitalization in accordance to BrE stylistic rules when needed. 
    • Correct usage of commas and semicolons; brackets and parentheses, hyphens and dashes, full stops and periods, etc.
    • Removal of double spaces where they interfere with text flow. 
    • Removal of the full stop after abbreviations. (BrE).
    • Checks for correct usage of acronyms and/or abbreviations. 
    • Changing double quotation marks to singular quotation marks. (BrE).
  • Numbers:
    • Spelling out vs. using numerals for numbers.
    • Correction of date(s) whenever necessary (per the author’s request). For example, AmE writers write January 1, 2019 while BrE writers write dates 1 January 2019).
    • Correction to times in AmE (5:39 am) and BrE (5.39 am).
    • Checks for correct numbering of chapters and sections.
    • Checks for correct usage of number ranges, fractions and units of measurement. 
    • Checks for correct usage of Roman numerals. 
  • Additional Edits:
    • Edits to all titles, images, quotations, headings and sub-headings.
    • Light formatting to paragraphs and spacing, lists or text. Please note: I do not format full-length books at this time.