Many years ago, a newsletter was circulated at my secondary school. It featured a note from the headteacher where they congratulated students on completing their ‘public exams’. Unfortunately for them, a crucial ‘l’ was omitted from the first word. No one involved with producing the newsletter noticed this mistake, but its readership of teenagers certainly did.
Such incidents demonstrate how even a single small error can undermine an author’s intentions and make their work a laughing stock. That said, everyone is equally susceptible to typos. Much of the time when reading a familiar piece of text, our brains essentially ‘fill in the gaps’, so we may not register what physically exists on the page or screen. Whether it’s a piece that you’ve spent hours agonising over precise wording or something quickly churned out to meet a deadline, ‘fresh’ eyes to check for errors are essential.
Ideally, those fresh eyes should belong a trained professional editor, i.e., me. My editing work has ranged from academic books, UN reports, research proposals, dissertations, general non-fiction, prose collections, magazine articles, and exhibition materials. For some of my past projects and clients, please visit my portfolio page.
In short, I will work with you to ensure that your writing is not only error-free, but clear and accessible.
Copyediting is reviewing a draft text to correct errors, ensure consistency in style and structure, and identify potential issues.
Proofreading
Proofreading is reviewing the final version of the text to check for minor typos and formatting errors.
Substantial Editing
Substantial editing is extensive editing to improve the quality of written English, often involving rewriting and stylistic changes.
A quick word on AI…
Nowadays, writers and publishers may question the need (and cost) of having a human check their work for errors, with the advent of so-called artificial intelligence. However, the reality is that such technology remains incapable of the nuance and context more easily grasped by a human. To give just one example, the way the language model of Chat GPT works means that it cannot correctly identify how many ‘r’s are in the word ‘strawberry’, let alone have any real understanding of the intended audience of your writing. You can also be assured that hiring me will use far less water and electricity, nor will I invent fictitious citations.
“Nick’s work was very thorough, but he didn’t deluge me with suggestions: a nice balance. (He didn’t miss anything – but didn’t overwhelm me.) He was also very pleasant to deal with – so the experience was stress-free.”
— John Macgregor, Award Winning Author and Journalist, The New York Times; The Sydney Morning Herald
Nick Editorial 