Editing by Ian Cundell

Most good stuff happens in the edit.

Copy edit

You have written something and need to make sure it is a fit state to send to the printers, free of tyops and inapp
ropriate line breaks and all the other things that can easily creep in, but which you as, the writer, may well become blind to or lack the know-how to fix. Including sentences that go on too long (as well as the typo and the line break, there was a misplaced comma - did you spot it?).

Copy edit is about cleaning up when you have fullfilled the brief and need quality control.

Sub edit and re-write

Subbing ~~and re-writing~~ is more comprehensive and ~~even~~ a light subbing job can reduce ~~the length of~~ a piece by 20% ~~just~~ by removing redundant verbiage. And everybody puts in redundant verbiage at the first go.

But good subbing goes far beyond this and will make sure that your message is presented in the clearest, most concise and direct way possible, to a consistent style, drawing on the best sources and guides.

Editorial services

Maybe you need a bit more. Perhaps your in-house newsletter is due out. Perhaps you need somebody reliable to work with a designer (or even find you one) and handle the desktop publishing software.

In short, maybe you need a little project management.