The Red-Ink Woods of copyediting are the last place your book goes as a manuscript in your book journey. After copyediting, it gets reskinned for page proofs/galleys, then on to publishing!
See the Trees, Not the Forest
The idiom “couldn’t see the forest for the trees” is common enough, but it doesn’t apply to copyediting. You definitely want someone who’s just looking at the trees for this job. Copyeditors are paranoid trackers who do their best to hunt down errors in continuity, grammar, usage, and word choices. They also usually tidy up the manuscript for the typesetter. By flagging these possible roadblocks, copyeditors clear the way so your readers stay focused on the story and style of your book.
That doesn’t mean you have to make every change a copyeditor recommends (they aren’t grading you, I promise). Their job is to be overly cautious and make sure you have a chance to do what you’re doing on purpose. Listen to their expertise—a good copyeditor has good reasons for their recommendations—but keep your own purposes and style in mind when reviewing copyedits.
Help Along the Way
Although you can do a lot of copyediting cleanup yourself, if you’re preparing your book for publication, you really need to have someone who doesn’t live in your head take a look at it. You’ll almost always know what you meant to say, which can lead you to skip over errors.
That doesn’t mean you can’t educate yourself about copyediting issues—The Chicago Manual of Style’s regular Fiction+ blog is an excellent place to dip your toes—but even trained copyeditors need someone else to review their books before they go to press.
Below are a few places you can begin your search for a copyeditor.
- Right here at Looseleaf!
- The American Copy Editors Society (USA)
- Utah Freelance Editors
- The Editorial Freelancers Association
- The Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (UK/Canada)
Some of these databases are tied to specific geographic locations. If you prefer American English over British/World English or vice versa, you’ll have better luck finding a good fit if you start with a geographically bound database. That said, some copyeditors can switch between Englishes, so don’t count out a genre expert just because they’re based in a different country.
Where to Next?
Now your manuscript has the wrinkles smoothed out. If you haven’t already started on the graphic design for your book, head to the Design Pines! If you already have a cover and a typesetting template ready to go, trek over to ebook coding and typesetting.
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