People who haven’t worked with proofreaders may assume that we look for only misspellings, punctuation mistakes, and incorrect grammar. While we are laser-focused on all of those things, another aspect we pay close attention to is consistency. A manuscript needs to be consistent in terms of style, how words are spelled, and plot details. The […]
Proofreaders Do More than You Think Read More »
The other day I encountered a headline that mentioned something about the different Doctor Whos, and it inspired me to write this post. Do you know when to correctly use an apostrophe to form a plural? If you’re following Chicago Style, the answer is: Lowercase lettersCapital letters when necessary to avoid confusionSymbolsSingle-digit numeralsLowercase abbreviationsCapitalized abbreviations
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No editor is perfect… but I sure try. That’s why I give every manuscript that comes my way three passes before I’m comfortable sending it back to my client. The first pass is just to digest the story and characters. I don’t do any research or make any style decisions here. I only correct the
No Editor Is Perfect… But I Sure Try Read More »
Here’s a proofreading tip for you. If you’re working with text that has dialogue (or really any quotation marks), make sure each opening quotation mark has an accompanying closing quotation mark, and vice versa. Each time you encounter an opening quotation mark, remind your brain to check for a closing quotation mark as well, even
Quotation Marks: Make Sure They Open and Close Read More »
Did you know that Merriam-Webster lists “goose bumps” as an open compound? This isn’t a terribly common word I come across, but whenever I do, it’s quite often misspelled. I attribute this to the massively popular Goosebumps children’s book series. As a child of the ’90s, these books were everywhere. They also had the coolest
One space makes all the difference. “I can’t eat any more.” >>> I’m full. “I can’t eat anymore.” >>> I’ll never eat again.
You’re writing your book and you have characters with professional titles. Do you know when to properly capitalize or lowercase them? If you’re following the Chicago Manual of Style, you should capitalize professional titles when they immediately precede a personal name and are thus used as part of the name (traditionally replacing the title holder’s
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A very common thing people ask me about is what the various levels of editing entail. While different editors have different definitions of each level of editing, this is how I usually explain things to people. Developmental editing (sometimes called structural editing) should be done first. This examines the big picture and structure of a
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I recently had someone reach out to me and ask if they could get a discount on my proofreading services if they hire me to first copyedit their manuscript. Here’s the thing about how my services work: If you pay for copyediting, you automatically get proofreading at no additional charge. It’s all included in the
I’m not afraid to admit that I’m a slow editor, but I don’t believe that clients should have to pay more just because I’m taking my time to provide better work. I’ve learned over the years that reading the text slowly, carefully, and multiple times yields better results. I read through manuscripts three times before
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