What is copyediting?

There are so many different types of editing out there that it can be difficult to know which one you might need – copyediting might be unfamiliar to you, especially if you’re a new writer. It’s a term that gets used a lot in publishing houses, and amongst editors. But if you’ve never had a copyedit, or really thought about the “levels” of editing involved when a book is on its way to being published, you might not know all the details.

I’ve copyedited a lot of books in my role as an editor, and I get asked about what is involved with this type of edit quite often. So let’s break down what exactly copyediting is.

Copyediting explained

If we really boil it down to the basics, copyediting is a very technical edit. This means that when you have a copyedit, the focus is on fixing things at a more technical level – things like errors in grammar or punctuation, spelling mistakes, and so on. But it’s much more than that!

Did you know that depending on the type of English you’re using (UK or US for example), the rules of punctuation, spelling, and style can be very different? A copyeditor’s job is to make sure that your work adheres to those rules.

If you’d like an example, let’s look at a type of dash that is used as a parenthetical dash:

UK style: The room – which was filled with white furniture – was clinical and uninviting.
US style: The room—which was filled with white furniture—was clinical and uninviting.

Can you see the difference? It can be hard to spot! In UK style, we would use an en dash, which is a shorter dash with spaces either side. In US style, a longer em dash would be used.

There are other, more complex rules around these types of dashes (longer em dashes can be used in dialogue, for instance, when a character’s speech is interrupted). But the point is, knowing all of this – and implementing all of these styles – is the copyeditor’s job. Copyeditors work with what we call style guides to make sure they get all of this right (these are reference books that guide them in their work).

The changes a copyeditor makes is all about improving the accuracy of your text, including consistency and flow.

Copyediting may also include…

There are lots of tasks involved in a copyedit outside of just implementing style rules and fixing mistakes. Here are some other things that would be part of a copyeditor’s job (you’d be surprised how often these come up in manuscripts I copyedit!):

Flagging continuity errors (a character may be standing up, then suddenly is “rising from their chair” four pages later)
Tidying up formatting (page breaks, scene breaks, indentation)
Checking maps
Checking illustrations
Cross-referencing maps/illustrations/glossaries with text
Applying consistent accents (café vs cafe)
Checking physical appearances of characters for consistency (a character’s eye colour might suddenly change from blue to green)
Marking up design elements of the text for the typesetter, such as headings, illustrations, references, text messages, letters, etc
Commenting on misused words
Checking any equations/numbers
Fact-checking
Ensuring everything is clear/understandable
Flagging any legal issues such as use of song lyrics/quotations/extracts
Checking hyphenation and capitalisation
Flagging gaps in logic/sense
Checking real URLs/social media/email addresses
Checking the copyright page for errors
Checking the table of contents

… and there are more depending on the type of book and what the author needs, but this gives you a solid idea of how much is involved in copyediting!

Other aspects of copyediting…

Alongside actually editing your text in this way, a copyeditor is also responsible for creating a style sheet for a book. (Note: this is not the same as the style guide I mentioned previously, which is a reference book a copyeditor would use to check style rules.)

A style sheet is a document the copyeditor creates for the author (or the publisher). This tracks all the editorial decisions the copyeditor made during the edit, including anything they discussed or agreed with the author. It makes sure everything is consistent across the book, and even across a series. And it stops any future editors or proofreaders from overriding any of these important decisions.

Do you need copyediting?

Whether or not you need copyediting really depends on your publication plans and where you are in your writing journey!

If you’re hoping to traditionally publish, a copyedit would be done for you by a publishing house, so there would be no need to have one done before then. Line edits can be useful in some cases, although it’s not required – you can read about the differences between line editing and copyediting here.

If you’re self-publishing, having a copyedit done before you publish can help you to create a polished, publication-ready book, and can make sure your readers aren’t distracted by errors and inconsistencies.

I hope this post helped you with understanding copyediting! If you’d like to work with me on copyediting or line editing your book, visit my editorial services page for more information.