Authors

This isn’t every-day editing. It’s not simply checking for grammatical or spelling errors, although this forms a large part of the work and might be the sole requirement for some authors. Rather, it might be about reducing word count; it might be restructuring content to make it flow properly for the reader, which in turn can bring new ideas alive; or it might be about supporting the story development for a fictional writer.

Work with authors involves a level of story development, as well as some significant editing work, and is hugely satisfying.

I often find that an author comes to me requesting proofreading or editing work, but as I get to know them and their story, they begin to ask my thoughts on it too. It might be that as I am editing or proofreading your work, there are areas I feel need more detail, or could be developed further. I’ll talk through this with you and ask questions like:

• How do you think this should make the reader feel? Does it achieve that?
• Could this specific area go into greater detail?
• Can we pull out more information for the reader?

I’ll even fact check if I think something isn’t historically or scientifically accurate. Whatever the case, the story is always yours and the final decision on what gets published is yours too.

Clients send me their manuscript, usually in Microsoft Word or Google Docs and in the first instance I have a quick look to get an idea of the work involved. I can then give an indication of how much work I think is required and agree a price with you. Often it is an estimated amount of time charged at an hourly rate (based on word count) with an agreement that this is subject to change if editing required becomes more intense. This is more likely for a fictional piece of work. For a thesis it is usually fairly straightforward.

All my changes are made using track changes or suggested edit function. The reviewed content is then returned to you in two formats – a clean version and one with the all the edits highlighted. Some clients prefer just to have the clean version. Often, I’ll sit with you to discuss and explain some of the changes if they are more in-depth.

Depending on the agreement with you and the amount of edits required, there may be a second review stage, before proceeding to a final manuscript for submission or publication.

Bari Watts

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Andy Reid

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Jean Plummer

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Alison Lingwood

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Mary Tilling

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Dave Burton

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Libby Thomas

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Paul Goggin

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