As you can see from my client and project lists, I have worked on a wide variety of books and articles. I am adept at understanding what an author wants to express and helping him or her to convey it more idiomatically and precisely. This skill has served me well in working both with new topics and with writers whose first language is not English. These are the tasks I happily perform for individuals and organizations: - copyediting in English and Spanish
- proofreading in English, German, Spanish, and Portuguese
- substantive editing in English
- indexing
- Web site design and maintenance
| | "Your work on the indexes was excellent and a real asset to the books. Many thanks for your diligence, thoughtfulness, and willingness to leap in when the work needed doing. I'll definitely keep you in mind for any future projects and will recommend you to others."
—Nicholas H. Allison, freelance project manager for Costco, 5 May 2004
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If you are unclear about my terms, here are some definitions.
- Substantive editing
- I revise text to make it flow better, keeping to a coherent, idiomatic style.
- Copyediting
- I correct grammatical, punctuation, and style errors. The style may be defined by a particular professional association or publisher, or established by the author. I comment on more idiomatic or precise expressions the writer could use, but I don't rewrite—that's the author's job.
- Proofreading
- I check just for errors that may have been introduced during formatting or typesetting. If I catch inconsistencies in style and other mechanics I flag them.
Note: The boundaries between each of these tasks can be flexible, as in on-screen editing, when I use Microsoft Word's track changes feature to mark how I would rewrite a passage but I am essentially copyediting. The author is still free to accept or reject any change I have made.
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