Individual Copy Edit Patterns
What does copy editing focus on?
Copy editing harmonizes the precision of line editing with the meticulousness of proofreading. It refines your text for clarity, coherence, elevating its overall quality and readability.
- Enhances structural readability
- Addresses proper tense usage
- Rectifies large-scale grammatical elements
- Fact-checking of spelling and phrasing
- Verifies accuracy of names, dates, locations
- Corrects grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors
When should I hire a copy editor?
You’ll be ready for a copy editor after your story has been addressed with developmental edits and after line edits. If your editor focuses on line edits in tandem with copy edits, you can get both services done at once.
Can I publish right after a copy edit?
The next step after copy editing should not be publishing. Ideally, you’ll move on to proofreading afterward (or formatting if your proofreader will be performing a traditional proofread via a formatted PDF). Publishing your story immediately after a copy edit is not advised, since copy edits can warrant lingering errors that should be caught by a professional proofreader.