You pound on the door of your doctor’s office with a rumpled manuscript in tow. When it finally flies open, you scream, “Doctor, my copy is bent out of shape! Can you treat it?”

He turns to you and says, “Sorry, we don’t treat wounded words. A copyeditor, however, can save your content and your proverbial neck with her red pen.”

“A what?” you ask. “What is copyediting? And what does a copyeditor do?”

“That is for you to find out,” the doctor says, closing the door and leaving you alone in the hallway with your unedited thoughts.

If you’re in the dark about copyediting, read on to find out what it involves so you know what to expect when working with a copyeditor.

What Is Copyediting?

Copyediting is the process of reviewing and revising written materials before publication. These materials can include:

• Blog posts
• Articles
• Web copy
• Website buttons, menus, and other UI elements
• Advertising banners
• Brochures
• E-books
• Print books
• Newsletters
• E-mail blasts
• Academic articles
• Essays

The revision mainly involves eliminating mechanical issues and raising inconsistencies in mechanics, style, or facts to ensure that text meets the five C’s of writing:

• clarity
• correctness
• concision
• comprehensiveness
• consistency

Following the edit, words that provoked a “Huh?” will elicit a “How interesting!”

What Does a Copyeditor Do?

Now, you know the answer to the question: “What is copyediting?” But you might be asking, “What does a copyeditor do?”

The mystique surrounding the low-profile profession has manifested all manner of illusions among writers about what a copyeditor does.

To some, the editor is a cruel butcher who ruthlessly hacks away at your impassioned prose until it’s little more than a nugget of bland sentiments.

To others, the copyeditor is a yes-man who runs a spell check on the content but more or less accepts and praises it as the thing of beauty you think it is (even if it actually looks like the thing in the Black Lagoon that the Creature from the Black Lagoon is afraid of).

In truth, a good copyeditor is neither a bully nor a brown-noser, but rather a straight-talking friend whom you can always rely on to relay the truth about whether your words work or don’t.

In fact, the copyeditor is a mutual friend of both the writer and the reader. She strives to bring out the best in the writer, but also advocates for the reader. Responsibilities vary by copyeditor, but usually include some variation of the following:

• Correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation
• Flag redundancies
• Ensure sentence continuity and concision.
• Suggest alternate wordings for awkward phrasings, inappropriate jargon, cliches, and weak words
• Review citations for completeness
• Ensure that mechanics, facts, and style are internally consistent and that style adheres to style guidelines
• Verify that images and tables are consistent with image and table descriptions
• Raise ambiguous or illogical phrases or sentences
• Highlight the need for substantive editing. Substantive editing involves raising issues about the logic, appropriateness, usefulness, and implications of the ideas presented, and, if needed, rewriting or restructuring certain portions of text to improve organization and readability

Some copyeditors additionally perform the following tasks:

• Do fact-checking of easily verifiable information, such as math. The scope of fact-checking varies by editor. Some copyeditors perform fact-checking as part of substantive editing rather than copyediting. Larger publications may enlist dedicated fact checkers for this purpose. Accuracy is ultimately the responsibility of the writer and/or publisher.
• Flag potential issues of plagiarism or libel. The scope of this review varies by editor. Some copyeditors perform this review as part of substantive editing rather than copyediting. The legality of content is ultimately the responsibility of the writer and/or publisher.

What Doesn’t a Copyeditor Do?

I am not putting the thoughts into his head, but helping him unfold those already there.

Louisa May Alcott, Little Women

Knowing what a copyeditor doesn’t do is as important as the answer to the question: “What is copyediting?”

A copyeditor won’t feed your cat, repair your roof, or pick up your dry cleaning. Beyond that, there are certain editorial tasks that traditionally fall outside the scope of copyediting, including:

• Writing. Your copyeditor is not your ghostwriter. The ideas expressed in the copy should spring forth from the writer’s brain. To quote Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, “I am not putting the thoughts into his head, but helping him unfold those already there.”
• Substantive editing. A copyeditor usually won’t substantially rewrite or restructure content as part of copyediting.
• Proofreading. This is a task performed after copyediting (more on the differences later).
• Photo research or obtaining the rights to photos. Some publications enlist dedicated photo editors for this purpose.

How Does Copyediting Fit Into the Writing Process?

When is it time to cue the music for the copyeditor to enter the stage? Copyediting occurs in the fourth step of the writing process, which usually entails:

1. Pre-writing: This is everything you do before you write, such as defining the content’s purpose and scope, brainstorming and fleshing out a topic, researching it, and settling on a structure.
2. Drafting: This is when you put finger to laptop key and crank out a rough draft that takes into account what you learned during pre-writing. This stage prioritizes substance over style.
3. Revising: This is when you give your rough draft a hard look and self-edit it. Add, delete, or replace information to more clearly and convincingly convey your points. Likewise, rearrange content to improve its structure and flow.
4. Editing: The writer entrusts his self-edited content to a copyeditor. Following the edit, the copyeditor who may also proofread the work or pass it off to a dedicated proofreader.
5. Publishing: The time has come to publish the corrected content in print or to the web.

What’s the Difference Between Copyediting and Proofreading?

Copyediting and proofreading are often confused. While both types of editing are integral to the writing process, they differ in key ways.

Here are the main differences between copyediting and proofreading:

• Copyediting is the first step of the editing phase of the writing process. Proofreading is the second, and final, phase. A copyeditor is the first line of defense against author errors. A proofreader is the last line of defense, catching errors by the author that the copyeditor may have missed or introduced during editing.
• Copyediting is done before the text is printed. Proofreading is usually done on a proof, a printed copy of the final text. The proofreader either reads the proof “blind,” that is, without comparing it to the edited version of the text. Or, she may compare the proof with the edited copy to pick up formatting errors.
• Copyediting involves heavier editing. Although a proofreader may do light editing, her primary focus is to eliminate typos and formatting errors. She can even opt to return content to the copyeditor if more extensive edits are needed.

Ultimately, copyediting is about seeing and helping you realize the full potential of your writing. So, if you believe that your copy can improve, let a copyeditor help you improve it.

Photo by micah boswell on Unsplash