As a developmental editor, you won’t be copyediting, but you do need to be familiar with the authoritative editing style guides copy editors use. Basic Editing Style Guides Most of my clients have wanted me to follow The Chicago Manual of Style with some variations. That is standard for book publishing, so it pays to…
How can I provide effective copyediting to authors? The most effective copyediting must include an improvement and be intended to address an important issue. Sometimes when you’re copyediting a novel, you’re asked to do a medium- or heavy-level copyedit, which means you’ll be doing more than just the basics of ensuring the ms conforms to…
Let’s talk about the fine art of copyediting fiction, what it means and insight into perfecting the art with integrity. Fine Art of Copyediting: When the Editor & Author’s Opinions Differ When copyediting fiction, it’s common to run up against issues that pit author preference against standard editing approaches. For example, in a story I…
A book editor needs to get comfortable making editorial decisions in a copyedit. Don’t shift the editorial burden back to the author. Copyediting requires decision-making Obviously, we can’t ask the author to make decisions about every question we have when we’re editing. This is inefficient as it takes time to ask the question and get…