Short & Sweet Reasons Why You Need an Editor
So without further ado . . .
Copyediting makes people happy.
Okay, copyediting makes copyeditors happy. It's what we do, it's what we love, and it makes us feel like our universe is in alignment.
But copyediting also makes readers happy. They may not know what's been done, but they know when it hasn't happened—when something is "off," and they can't get through the story because the errors keep pulling them out of it.
Take the time to do it right. Copyediting means happy readers. Happy readers make happy households. Happy households make for happy communities.
Getting your book edited could make the world a better place. It's really that simple.
A good copy editor is worth gold! Put that on your invoice and quote me. :-)
ReplyDeleteGladly! I, of course, agree with you. Now, to get the rest of the writing world on board . . .
DeleteHa! That title definitely made me smile, so it must be true. ;-)
ReplyDeleteAnne from annehiga.com
Ah, then my work here is done. Except I still have twenty-three letters to go . . .
DeleteThanks for stopping by!
I also liked 'copyediting makes copyeditors happy'. So hope you're very happy :) Off to google what a copy editor does :)
ReplyDeleteI'm extremely happy, thank you! I love what I do. Thanks for the visit!
DeleteYou're so right that we as readers notice when something hasn't been copyedited! I recently read a novel that twice used "waive" when the author meant "wave." It stuck in my mind throughout my reading of the rest of the book.
ReplyDeleteUgh. Waive/wave seems to be a common one, along with peal/peel and shear/sheer. It really does wreck the reading experience.
DeleteSome others I've seen a lot of lately are waste/waist, who's/whose, and bear/bare, as in "It was too much for me to bare." As Charlie Brown would say, "AUGH!" And even our president wrote "council" when he meant "counsel."
DeleteI just don't get what it is about those words that are so hard for people. A simple Google or dictionary will take care of just about all of it. What worries me more are the ones who have actually been copyedited, and their editors missed the same items. I chalk it up to the number of people who decide they can copyedit because they "love to read" but don't actually have the resources or credentials to know what they're doing.
DeleteI think a lot of it is just plain laziness.
DeleteI once did a "Grammar Nazi" post on my blog about the confusion between peak/peek/pique and lightning/lightening. (http://silverfoxlair.blogspot.com/2011/04/davidz-rantz-two-reasons-i-dont-sleep.html#comment-form) Drives me nuts!
Hi Lynda - I can quite see that ... I hate it when things aren't right to read ... we need to be helped to perfect our words ...cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteReaders are smart—they know when something's amiss.
DeleteCopyediting... what EXACTLY is it?
ReplyDeleteI still have a lot to learn about the types of edits.
Copyediting deals more with the sentence structure, grammar, spelling, inconsistencies and more. I actually list some of it under my "services" tab, and you'll find the same on other editor sites. Developmental editing is overall story structure & plot development, but copyediting is the polish of a completed story. I make it smooth and pretty, lol.
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