4 good reasons why you shouldn’t hire me as your copyeditor

‘What? Where’s the hard sell? Don’t you want the work?’

Why should I tell you not to hire me? Because it’s a waste of your time and of mine.

Whilst I’m corresponding with people I won’t be working with, I’m not working on the things I should be prioritising. And you’re diving down an unproductive rabbit hole, yourself. Neither of these things are good.

I’ve already gone into some detail on why you should hire me (truthfully, that’s behind most of my blog posts, of course – don’t look so surprised!), so do take a stroll through my blog looking to see whether I’ve answered the crucial question – is this likely to be the editor for me? You might want to read up on how I deal with author queries, or how to tell a good editor from a bad one, or how to find a number of editors to choose from, and the best way of tackling what can seem like a job fraught with problems, if it’s not something you’re used to doing.

But there may be some excellent reasons why I’m not your copyeditor. No one can do a decent job on every single piece of text put in front of them. We all have a skill set and a knowledge set and a preferences set, and so you really do need to investigate whether the person you’re thinking of hiring as your editor fits the bill.

Having your writing edited feels very personal – because it is. You want to be working with someone who’s on the same page (ha!) as you.

So let’s flip the usual sales pitch on its head and take a look at when you should just pass on by and spend your time and your money with someone better suited to you and your text.

1     Subject matter

I rarely work on fiction; I never work on STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and medicine) because I know nothing about them beyond the very basics that any reasonably well-educated person does (and let’s not lean too hard on even that statement when it comes to most STEM topics!); ditto mathematics. Aside from a limited flirtation with statistics in my first year at university, I’ve not done anything particularly mathsy (as opposed to arithmetic) since I was sixteen. You don’t want me working on your maths book.

(Scholarly (i.e. not for students) humanities and social sciences is where you’ll find me.)

2     Uncomfortable tech

No to LaTeX, no to Google docs, no to copyediting on PDF, no to anything other than Word. Just no.

The tools I use are in Word.

I’ve no reason to learn LaTeX because I don’t work with mathsy stuff. Google docs lacks the necessary tools, and allows the author(s) to continue to fiddle with the document whilst I’m trying to edit it. Editing a moving target is no good for anyone. PDF is useless for copyediting – aside from basic mark-up for artwork. Keep PDFs for proofreading. Proper proofreading.

3     Short deadlines

No to rush jobs.

I work at the speed I work at, which is dictated in part by the text and its needs, in part by the client and their needs, and in part by me and my needs. I go as fast as I safely can on every job – it makes sense for all parties. Note that word safely. To go faster would make me extremely uncomfortable and would produce a shoddy outcome.

If you’re determined to get a fast edit, you’re going to have to look at what can be jettisoned from the scope of work.

4     Students’ writing

It’s a hard no from me to editing work that will be marked.

I’ve got two big problems here.

One of the things that students are meant to learn is how to write well. They are also meant to learn how to plan their time to meet deadlines and how to work with references. There’s more to being a student than the content of the subject – there are all kinds of ancillary skills to be learned. Life skills, if you will. Requests to reword essays or theses fall on deaf ears.

Further, each institution has its own rules about what editorial help a student can, or can’t have. I’ve yet to have a student approach me who actually knows what’s allowed. I do get students asking me to reword their dissertation over my weekend for them. That’s a lot of reasons to say no, right there!

My second big problem is that students who can afford to hire an editor or a proofreader may well get better marks than someone who turns in an essay that is entirely their own work. That just seems a whole world of wrong to me.

My website and my Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading Directory entry both say that I don’t work with students, so it’s easy for students to know quickly that they should spend their time searching elsewhere.

Who does that leave?

Loads of people! You, hopefully!

If I work on your subject matter, you work in Word, you have an achievable deadline for the work you want done, and you’re not a student writing to be marked, let’s talk! You know I won’t immediately excuse myself; I know you’re likely to have an interesting project that’s workable.

Hit the button to drop me a line and start the conversation (my address is also in the sidebar).