What copyediting is – and what it isn’t

I’ve previously written on the five different kinds of editing (complete with handy download), but now I want to take a closer look at copyediting, and what you can expect from your copyeditor.

So: just what does copyediting include?

A copyeditor sits in the process between developmental and/or structural editing and proofreading. For published work, the copyeditor will prepare the file for the typesetter as well as handling any problems in the manuscript (yeah, I know, typescript, really).

I often explain my job as being the person who stops the reader jolting out of what they’re reading with an ‘Eh? What??’

I’m a copyeditor primarily in the scholarly humanities and social sciences, so references lists and notes are my bread and butter.

These are the main tasks I carry out, in the order I usually do them:

• Check the files are complete – that I have all the artwork (figures and tables), all the appendices, all the chapters, all the author biographies in an edited collection and so on.
• Once I’ve had a good look through and identified any obvious problems – like the author deviating consistently from the publisher’s house style – I raise any questions with the publisher and, once answered, I introduce myself to the author, setting out the timetable, what to expect from me and any instructions I’ve had from the publisher, especially if it means changes to what the author did. Doing this early allows any renegotiation between the author and publisher to happen at the start, before I’m deep into the edit and perhaps having to rework things.
• I set the language for the file to the one being used (usually UK or US English) and then go through a clean-up routine, correcting straightforward typing errors like multiple spaces or hard returns, tabs in the middle of sentences, use of words on a publisher’s forbidden list – many have lists of prescribed and proscribed words and phrases – and check that I have matching opening and closing parentheses, that quote marks come on the appropriate side of commas and full stops and myriad other details.
• Once I settle down to edit the cleaned-up files, I start with the references. I edit references by verifying each one – are all the details correct and spelled right? Are the authors in the right order, do I have the full title or just the subtitle (it happens!), do the links work? If a link is broken, is there an updated one? If the page has been taken down, can I recover the content from the Wayback Machine? Are the references in the right alphabetical and chronological order?
• Once I have the references sorted out, I can decide what to do next based on the kind of book or article. Sometimes I can just start at the beginning and keep on going until I get to the end. Other times it makes more sense to start with something else, perhaps styling boxes or tables. Some editors like to work on the notes next – I prefer to edit them in context. If it’s a law book, though, and the notes are statutes and cases, then it makes sense to edit those first, in the same way as I edit references.

What does the copyeditor do as they read?

I check for a whole bunch of stuff:

1. Headings presented correctly, and with the hierarchy correct.
2. Any features of the book that have to be consistent throughout made so (one client requires that introductions and conclusions have identical headings in each chapter, for instance); if there are chapter end notes, further reading and chapter references lists, are they in the right order?
3. Is the chapter abstract the right length?
4. Are chapter keywords, if used, present and in the right kind of number? If not, I may have to devise those once I’ve read the chapter.
5. And now… I start to read. As I read, I’m also looking at technical issues. Is the spelling and punctuation right? Are reference cited correctly: are feasible page numbers given in pinpoints, are parenthetical strings of references in the prescribed order, and can I find each reference in the references list? Does what’s written make sense? A word like ‘not’ missing from a sentence needs to be spotted and queried with the author.
6. I may need to do some basic fact checking, especially if my spidey-senses suggest that a date or name is wrong, and especially for names that may have diacritics. Or maybe I just know that something’s wrong – perhaps I can correct it because it’s inarguable and it is, in fact, just a typo. If an author tells their readers that the Battle of Hastings was in 1166, I’m going to assume a typo, and fix it!
7. I keep an eye on abbreviations – should I be thinking of compiling a front-of-the-book abbreviations list to help the reader, or is it enough to define abbreviations at first use in the book, or in each chapter? Does every abbreviation need a definition? DNA won’t, for instance. And I have to resolve conflicts if two authors in an edited collection have used the same abbreviation for different terms that are perfectly sensible in the two contexts.
8. As I work, I compile queries for the author – if I’m in direct contact with the author, I send the queries as I complete each chapter; if not, I’ll raise queries in comments bubbles for the publisher to refer on to the author. If I’m handling it all, when the answers come back, I incorporate them into the text, make sure any consequential changes are made (perhaps references have to be added to the list, or sections renumbered, or artwork renumbered and so on) and then continue with the edit.
9. Also as I read I’m making sure things are set up for typesetting – if styles are to be used, I’m checking that every paragraph, heading, list, caption and so on are properly styled, or if I’m tagging, that every element is appropriately and accurately tagged.
10. It’s usually my job to write the running heads – those bits of text in the top margin of the page that tell you which chapter you’re in.
11. Once I get to the end of the text, I incorporate the last of the author corrections, then run a suite of checks to make sure that no errors have been introduced, and I ensure that I’ve dealt with every author’s biography as I edited their chapter. I make sure that contents and illustrations list match the edited chapters and captions. And I run a bunch of consistency checks to make sure that hyphenated, capitalised or italic words are indeed consistent and appropriate, throughout the book or article.
12. I write up my handover notes and send the files back, together with my style notes and word list. Then if I’m in contact with the author, I send the style notes and word list to them, too, to help when it comes to checking the proofs.

I reckon that only a third of my time in any given copyedit will be spent just reading, correcting the text and raising queries. The rest of my time is making the book work as a book, with solid scholarly apparatus. It’s the same kind of proportions for an article.

What do you miss out, as a copyeditor?

I assume that what was in the book or article is what the publisher wants in the book or article. Developmental and structural editing, or peer reviews, should have sorted out the order of the material, although if something looks badly out of place, I’ll discuss it with the author.

And there’s no proofreading. Proper proofreading is making sure that the typeset book or article is faithful to the copyedited and corrected manuscript, and that no errors have been made in typesetting, like flipping an image, positioning artwork in the wrong place or applying the wrong caption – or even printing a paragraph twice.

Proofreaders look to see that the page numbers are properly in sequence and appear in the right place on the page, and that running heads are present and correct, if used. And they’re making sure that the words look good on the page, with no nasty wordbreaks at the end of lines, or a stack of hyphens at the end of lines, or a river running through it (when spaces align down a page so it looks like there’s a river of white space).

They’re checking for widows and orphans, so that the last or first line of a paragraph isn’t left stranded at the top or bottom of a page. If every chapter is to start on the next right-hand page, they’re checking that none start on the left.

They’re also the backstop for anything the copyeditor missed – a vital last pair of eyes to spot typos, misspellings and punctuation goofs, and anything else that looks wrong now the text is settling down into its final form.

Proofreading proper is a really technical job to make sure the text sits well on the page and that it is ready to go out into the world.

Misconceptions of copyediting

There are a couple.

The first is that new kid on the editing block, ‘line editing’, is separate from copyediting. A good copyeditor won’t have a problem with incorporating what is sometimes shifted over to ‘line editing’ into the copyedit. They used to be the same thing, and they still are, for many people. ‘Line editing’ is sometimes described as close attention to the language, but not the nuts and bolts of ensuring the manuscript is ready to be typeset. Copyediting is not some lesser, dull, technical process. It’s the whole shebang.

Less charitable people might look at line editing as ‘copyediting lite’ – looking at the language and punctuation, but not going the extra stage to preparing the file for typesetting. It seems to have arisen in the indie fiction market, where authors may be intending to self-publish an ebook and therefore don’t need to think about the typesetter’s needs.

Therefore, always check what the editor is going to include in their services before engaging them.

The second one would be amusing if it didn’t make me want to cry.

I’m still dining out on the story of explaining to someone (they asked me to!) exactly what I do and what it involves. I went through pretty much what you’ve just read. Oh, he said, OK.

I saw him again a couple of weeks later and he asked which book I was ‘reviewing’ now. I explained, politely, that I don’t review books, I edit them – I fix them – and that I was still working on the one I had been a fortnight earlier. He was astonished. ‘How can it take you that long? You just flip through the book quickly and make sure it looks OK, don’t you?’