Frequently Asked Questions

How do I know if I need a freelance copyeditor?

Copyediting occurs when you feel your argument, structure, and citations are complete and your manuscript is close to submission for publication. Copyediting is different from proofreading, which occurs after the publisher has typeset your manuscript into a series of proofs.

 

Generally, your manuscript is ready for copyediting if: 

• It has already been through a previous round of developmental or substantive editing, including direction from a dissertation or tenure committee, reviewers' notes, or suggestions from an acquisitions editor or agent.

• You’ve completed all suggested revisions.

• You’re happy with the manuscript’s argument, organization, references, tables, and figures.

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Circumstances that may dictate hiring a freelance copywriter:

• When you're a non-native English speaker and lacking confidence in your fluency

• When you don't have time to to revise your manuscript according to a required style manual

• When your dissertation chair, tenure committee, publisher, or agent recommends it

• When you are self-publishing and lack access to a professional copyediting staff

Do you copyedit dissertations?

Absolutely! Especially if English is not your native language, you may want a professional copyeditor to correct all errors of punctuation, spelling, grammar, syntax and usage before submitting your manuscript to your dissertation committee, to ProQuest for archiving, or to a university press for publication.

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Having revised my own dissertation for publication, I understand your needs and concerns, and will anticipate them so you don't have to. My services will polish your writing and format your manuscript—including front matter, back matter, figures, tables, notes, and bibliography.

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Before I can accept your dissertation for proofreading, you should first send me a signed statement from your dissertation chair or university dissertation office approving the use of a copyediting service. 

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You will also typically be required to follow format and style requirements set by your department or your university's office of dissertations. If you intend to submit your dissertation to ProQuest, additional guidelines may apply.

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Before I begin the editing process, I will request a copy of these guidelines, which take precedence over any other style guides, such as CMOS, MLA, or APA.

How much rewriting do you do?

As a copyeditor, I do not write or rewrite substantial portions of your manuscript. My approach is to suggest revisions that you choose to accept or reject at your discretion. I do correct errors of grammar, syntax, usage, spelling, and punctuation, because these revisions are based on dictionaries and style manuals that you can consult objectively. To help improve the conciseness, clarity, and coherence of your argument, I may also make suggestions and comments regarding your logic or evidence, but I do not provide you with new material or arguments.

What does the copyediting process involve?

I streamline the editing process into 3 steps:

1. Manuscript Preparation & Intake Questionnaire

Manuscript Preparation: I request that you send me your manuscript as a single, electronic file saved as a Microsoft Word document, regardless of its length. Why?

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• Track Changes & Comment Functions: Like most copyeditors, I edit in Microsoft Word, because it has the most advanced editing features, especially the Track Changes function that let's you see all of my edits and easily accept or reject them. Word also provides a Comments function allowing for queries and suggestions.

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• Benefits of Single File: Working with a single file makes it easier to number pages, to number and cross-reference notes, to define and apply formatting styles consistently, to search and make global changes, and to create a Table of Contents. ​​

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Intake Questionnaire: In addition to a prepared Word file, I will request that you complete a brief Intake Questionnaire that will provide me important details I need to consider as I conduct a primary review of your manuscript.​

2. Manuscript Review, Consultation, Estimate & Contract

Manuscript Review: When I receive your manuscript and Intake Questionnaire, I will assess the nature and scope of the work that will be required, identify any matters that should be clarified before editing begins, and reduce the number of surprises that could cause delays if discovered later in the process.

 

Consultation: Once my manuscript review is complete, we will then schedule a free, 30-minute phone or Zoom consultation to discuss the work involved, how we will collaborate and communicate, and any questions or concerns you might have.

 

Estimate: Following the Consultation, I will send you a written Estimate of the costs and timeline for the project within 48 hours.

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Contract: If you decide to move forward, I will send you a written Service Agreement that you can sign electronically and return to me online.

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3. Primary Edit, Author Review, Revisions & Submission of Final Draft

Upon receiving your signed contract, copyediting begins.

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Primary Edit 

1. I begin with a systematic global manuscript cleanup that ensures consistent formatting and styles across the document, including notes and bibliography, based on style guidelines expected by publishers, journals, and university dissertation offices.

2. I conduct a comprehensive read of the entire manuscript to correct major issues of grammar, syntax, and usage to ensure clarity, conciseness, and coherence.

3. I complete a detailed line by line reading to correct errors of punctuation, spelling, capitalization, and other mechanical issues.

4. I will send you the file marked up in Track Changes with Comments for your review.

 

Author Review

During this step, you review the tracked changes and accept or reject them at will. You also respond to my comments and queries, confirming I should make revisions based on your specific directions or notifying me that you prefer to keep the text as is. 

 

Revisions

I incorporate all your feedback on the primary edit; run a final check on spelling, punctuation, and formatting; and create a clean, final draft.

 

Submission of Final Draft

I will send you the following documents to complete the process: 

• A redlined copy of your original manuscript with all tracked changes and comments included

• A clean copy free of tracked changes and comments

• A personalized Style Sheet itemizing your personal preferences

• A Feedback Survey

What are your rates?

I am a proud member of the Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA), and rely on their base rates as guidelines for the service I provide. You can find EFA base rates here: www.the-efa.org/rates.

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Most often, I charge a flat fee for my standard mechanical and line copyediting services and an hourly rate for additional work if requested.

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My flat fee takes into account the specific needs of your manuscript. Because every manuscript is unique, as is every author, fees vary widely. I carefully consider several factors when estimating the cost of a project:

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• Level of requested service (mechanical editing or line editing)

• Length of your manuscript

• Stage of your manuscript's development (rough draft or competed draft)

• Complexity of notes, bibliographies, tables, and figures

• Requested turn-around time 

 

Once I’ve reviewed your manuscript and we've completed an initial consultation, I'll prepare an estimate to help you determine how to get the most out of my services within your available budget. At your request, I will edit a short sample for your review, free of charge, to help you to determine whether my editing services are right for you.

How do I pay?

Once we have signed our Service Agreement, I will send you an invoice for a down payment of 50% of the total fee due within 48 hours before work begins. Upon completion of the copyediting process, I submit a second invoice for the remaining 50% of the fee along with the final, clean, revised manuscript. Payment of the the second invoice is due within 30 days. I currently offer PayPal, credit cards and bank transfers to make online payments.

Will you send me a contract?

Yes. Professionals require a signed contract as a standard  business procedure. Be wary of copyeditors who agree to work verbally. Their promise is not legally binding.

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We will both sign a prepared Service Agreement (SA) before work begins so that expectations are clear at each step in the process. The SA outlines the services provided, project start and end dates, editor and author responsibilities, and payment schedules. It also includes clauses pertaining to project termination, copyright, confidentiality, and other legal matters.

How will we communicate?

I'm available by phone and Zoom during my standard work hours:

 

• Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST

 

You can email me at any time, and I will get back to you within 48 hours.

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I provide updates at key points during the process, including a brief summary of issues I may find, if any. This way, you know what to expect when I return my revisions, or you can contact me with questions or concerns before then.

What style manuals do you use?

Style manuals are an essential adjunct to academic and scholarly writing. They help to answer questions not governed by the rules of grammar, especially those that may have more than one acceptable answer. Serial comma? Split infinitive? Over 20 or more than 20? Copyeditor or copy editor? Use or utilize? Which or that? I or we? The list goes on...

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I write to the style you require, which for academics and independent scholars working in fields other than the hard sciences is usually one of the following: 

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• CMOS: The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th ed. 

• MLA: Modern Language Association Handbook, 9th ed.​

• APA: Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th ed.

• Turabian: A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 9th ed.

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If your discipline follows one of these style manuals, you should own and use the current edition. If you are using a different manual, such as an in-house style guide at a specific publisher, journal, or university dissertation office, I will request a URL to an online manual or a pdf file that I can consult. If you don't have a preference, I will defer to CMOS, since many other guides refer to it for matters they don’t cover.

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In general, I view style manuals not so much as prescriptive rules that must be rigidly followed but as thoughtful, flexible recommendations based on the latest research on standard usage within scholarly communities. Consistency within your manuscript is the main goal, and to ensure that, I keep my own style sheet recording any of your own personal preferences that may differ from those in a manual. 

Do you offer indexing?

No. Indexing occurs after your final manuscript is copyedited and page numbers have been set. Most academic and scholarly publishers require an index and will expect you to provide it on your own out of your own pocket. You can create an index yourself using software applications. However, because indexing is a complex and time-consuming skill, it's worth the money to hire a professional indexer. Publishers and editing associations can provide referrals.

What's the difference between copyediting and proofreading?

Although many people use the terms copyediting and proofreading interchangeably, they are distinct services. Proofreading is the final stage of editing that occurs after your manuscript has already been completely copyedited and type set by the publisher. It's your final chance to catch only hard-and-fast errors before the manuscript is published and distributed, especially errors introduced after the copyedit. 

 

Proofreading is a painstaking, specialized skill that overlaps with copyediting, but focuses at the level of character rather than word, sentence, or paragraph. Proofreaders review your typeset copy against your final copyedited manuscript, checking for misspellings, punctuation errors, incorrect word breaks, unintentional repetitions of letters or words, inconsistent formatting, and inaccurate page and table numbering.

 

All publishers and journals require a proofread. You may proofread yourself, but this is not recommended, since as the author, you are too close to the material. It is best to hire a professional proofreader.

 

Ideally, the writer, copyeditor, and proofreader are three different people. The more eyes on your work, the better. 

What's the difference between copyediting and substantive editing?

Substantive editing focuses on the overall structure, content, and flow of a manuscript. Substantive editors will typically provide many, if not all, of the tasks involved in mechanical and line editing. But they will also make and suggest more comprehensive changes to your outline, title, headings, word choice, and style. And they also suggest ways to strengthen your argument and supporting evidence. For this reason, you should expect a substantive editor to take on more responsibility and thus charge a higher fee.

What's the difference between copyediting and developmental editing?

Developmental editors guide the writer throughout the process of turning raw material into a published book. They take a "big picture" approach rather than get into in the details of copyediting. Instead, they focus on argument, structure, flow, and overall readability based on the audience you are trying to reach.

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A developmental editor may step in even before you put anything in writing. They help shape and refine your notes and raw data into a well-crafted, compelling argument that will appeal to academic and scholarly readers. They may point out strengths and weaknesses, help you find the right tone, and question some of your claims. Developmental editors may also evaluate your book's marketability, provide feedback about what sells best, and suggest specific publishers and agents for your manuscript.

What is your privacy and confidentiality policy?

Your intellectual property and privacy are important to me. Any material you share with me will be kept completely confidential, and I will use it only for the purposes of our service agreement. I collect only the personal information that you voluntarily give to me and that is reasonably necessary to provide my services to you, including your phone number and email address. I will not share, sell, or rent this information to anyone. If you have questions or concerns, please email me at jim@bookworm-editorial.com. 

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