WHY SHOULD YOU HIRE A COPYEDITOR?
You are probably asking yourself this very question. But let me ask you, have you ever been reading a magazine article or novel or, worse yet, a textbook or fact sheet and come across a misspelled word or incorrect usage or ambiguous punctuation? It stops you. It takes you out of the story. It makes you question the author's knowledge and reliability. Have you ever turned in an essay or dropped a letter into the mail only to realize, too late, that you had written "grate" when you meant "great" or forgotten to finish the second sentence in the third paragraph, the one you needed a little more time to think about? It happens to all of us. To err is human. To hire a copyeditor is smart.
You've worked hard to make your writing the best it can be. Whether it's a letter to a prospective employer, agent, publisher, editor; a manuscript you are sending on request; a web page that introduces your company and sells your product; a newsletter; or anything else that you have put into writing, you want your work to reflect the care and thought that you have put into it. In short, you want it to be perfect. But you have probably discovered by now that, having looked at the page so many times, the words have become a blur and the mistakes are invisible. A fresh pair of eyes can look at your pages objectively to find not only typos and grammatical errors, but also inconsistencies and areas that may not be as clear as you would like them to be. Wouldn't you prefer that these things be found by someone other than the final recipient of your work?
You probably have one of the following objectives in mind for your writing:
- To impress
- To persuade
- To sell a product
- To promote your business
- To get a job
- To get a promotion
- To get published
- To get noticed
- To get a good grade
- To win a client
- To win a contest
Whatever your goal, you are most likely facing some stiff competition. You want your work to stand out—but only in a positive way. Imagine yourself as the recipient of a hundred letters or manuscripts or proposals. One has been polished to prefection: every word is properly spelled, every punctuation mark serves a purpose, every phrase is clear, concise, and correct. The others, good but not shining. Which would you choose? Let your work be the one that shines. Let me find the errors so no one else has to know they ever existed.
I am located in the San Francisco Bay Area and hold a Bachelor of Arts degree in paleontology, which includes studies in biology, chemistry, geology, and mathematics. I am a writer of short stories and novels. My work has been published in Writer's Digest, Pisgah Review, Coe Review, A Cup of Comfort for Dog Lovers 2, A Cup of Comfort for the Grieving Heart, RiverSedge, and Lullwater Review. I studied copyediting (including medical and scientific editing) and grammar at UC San Diego and earned copyeditor certification through their extension program. Most important, I am passionate about the English language. I believe the goal of writing, and language in general, is communication. The best way to communicate effectively is by ensuring that grammar, spelling, and punctuation are correct and consistent so that your well-chosen words say exactly what you want them to say. I am experienced in both hard-copy and electronic copyediting.