Editing Basics - Copy Editing
Book editing is not as simple as it sounds. To have a well edited, ready to publish manuscript, there are several types of editing that are necessary and beneficial.
In our first two posts we went over Developmental Editing and examined Line Editing. In this post we will talk about Copy Editing.
Copy editing is the most common editing process and the one most writer associate with the term “edit”. This stage focuses on the mechanics of writing – grammar and tense issues, awkward syntax and word choices. Copy editors use dictionaries and style guides as their tools.
Copy editing tasks will include:
Correct typos.
Fill in ___________missing words.
Punctuation – the proper use of commas, periods, etc.
Spelling consistency of character and place names.
Shorten long paragraphs or passages.
Correct similarly sounding words if necessary (their/there, its/it’s)
I’m sure you are wondering what’s the difference between copy editing and line editing. And, no, there isn’t much difference, but still very different. A copy edit is considered low-level that fixes typos, repetition and inaccuracies, while a line edit is a deeper, line-by-line version of the copy edit. A line edit covers most of the copy edit tasks but goes deeper and makes major changes. Read our Line Editing [insert link] post to find out the tasks involved in line editing.
