Tag Archives: copyeditor

New service: Reference checking and formatting

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It’s been a while since I posted! I have been working on developing my business, taking a course with fantastic coach Malini Devadas of Edit Boost. I have been asked to present at the #CIEP2020 online conference of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading, taking place November 2–4, 2020. And I have become the Social Media Coordinator for SENSE the Society, on whose behalf I now post on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, with the help of others.

After what feels like a year of me just working, working, working, I am once again actively developing my skills and thinking about the direction in which I would like to take my business.

It is with this in mind that I have decided to offer a new service: reference checking and formatting. Clients who want to save time, who seek to preserve their energy to focus on the content of what they are writing, or who are held back from submitting their manuscript because they dread dealing with the references and citations can now hire me to fix their references and bibliography.

I will not only ensure that all required elements are present in their reference list entries but also consult each reference online to check that all details are complete and correct, including the author name and the title. I then present them with a clean list in the required citation style.

I am super excited about this new service and have decided to offer it at an introductory rate of 1 euro per reference, plus VAT if applicable. More information can be found on my services and rates page.

How do I perform a structural edit?

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This post was written for the Peerwith blog in the context of the company launching its new book editing service and was published there first. Please note that I currently do not offer structural editing services as I am focusing on other things right now. If you are looking for a structural editor, you can take a look at the CIEP directory.

A client of mine wrote a book proposal based on her dissertation, sent it to a publisher, and was invited to submit the manuscript for a round of peer review. She contacted me after she had gotten the book back with comments and asked me to help her restructure it based on the feedback the peer reviewers had provided.

I took the manuscript and comments, read it thoroughly while taking notes, and designed three options for a new outline and structure for the book, also noting which parts I thought could be deleted. All three options were based on a different type of structure with a different story/argument buildup. After my client picked her preferred option, I got to work restructuring the book, moving parts around, deleting other parts, and creating six new chapters. She then took it from me, edited it, and sent it back to me for a last pass. The book has now been published!

This kind of editing is what I call structural editing. Structural editing is the most rewarding but also most taxing form of editing. When writers come to me because they need help developing their argument, untangle their main points, restructure their book or article, or anything else that involves the content of their work, I always know that I’m in for a lot of work. In order to do a structural edit well, I have to know what the author is trying to argue. I have to immerse myself in their writing and their thought process.

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