Even the most basic PC is loaded up with editing software: the spellcheck with its spelling and grammar checks, a thesaurus and even links to online dictionaries for translations.  With all this material at your fingertips why do you need an editing service?

Some professional writers may feel their language skills are exemplary and they don’t need someone else to check their work.  When you have all this material at your fingertips you may wonder why you would need a professional editing service to check over your work.

Why edit?

If you are preparing material for publication (whether it is for a leaflet or for a book) you need to be aware of the reasons editing takes place. An editor does three things:

• Makes sure that the author hasn’t made any errors.  These may be completely unintentional (such as typing mistakes made when the author is preparing the work under pressure).
• Makes sure that the reader can understand.  The author may be quite brilliant, but imagine if you have a professor writing a text book for GCSE students.  The author knows their subject well, but if they use text that is too complicated for the reader than the work becomes unusable.  The editor keeps the reader in mind.
• Makes sure that instructions for the designers and typesetters are clear.  Material needs to be prepared by designers and typesetters before final files are ready for the printer.  If the work is produced in a tiny font or the pages are badly laid out, this makes it harder for the reader to understand.  The comprehension process is influenced by the look of the page.

The different editors and their roles

In book and journal publishing there are basically two types of editor working directly on the text: the copy editor and the proofreader.

The copy editor sees the work first.  They check it for:-

• Consistency – They check that language is consistent throughout, e.g. if a word is hyphenated or capitalized then it is each time it appears, if the text uses ‘ise’ or ‘ize’ spelling this appears throughout,
• Mark up – They use editing code to explain to the printers which titles should appear as chapter headings or section headings, which font should be used, indentation  and so on.

When the text has been laid out as it will be printed a draft (or ‘proof’) is sent to the proofreader.  They will check:-

• Spelling.
• Grammar.
• They also check that all the copy editor’s instructions have been followed by the typesetter and designer.

Professional text editing makes a real difference to the accuracy and the reader’s enjoyment of the printed product.