Prices vary according to the length of the manuscript

Copy-editing prepares your manuscript for publication and/or submission to agents and competitions. It is intended to improve the style, organisation, accuracy, and formatting of a text, essentially combining proof-reading with general editing (minor re-writing and the highlighting of sentences or sections that are ungrammatical, unsuccessful or superfluous). It is the last stage before you go public with your work, and unless you have a contract with a mainstream publisher, you’ll have to get this done yourself. The credo of the copy-editor is commonly expressed through our commitment to the ‘Five Cs,’ in which a text must be made: ‘Clear, Correct, Concise, Comprehensible, and Consistent.’ A book (or any other form of sustained narrative) is made, not born, and any type of writing is a process. The copy-editor’s role is to help you to refine and improve your manuscript, race-tuning rather than re-building your literary engine. I will therefore ensure that your formatting, spelling, grammar, and punctuation are all correct, also checking content for factual accuracy, appropriate referencing (if required), and structural and stylistic cohesion. I will advise on possible semantic improvements and can also help you condense or expand your text in order to fit any required word limits. This is a particularly needful service if you are self-publishing.