Every project is different, whether in terms of length, complexity, subject-matter – or each writer’s unique style. The best way to work out how I can help with your project is to get in touch and to discuss it with me.
What services do I offer?
Proofreading: I can help you correct typos, spelling mistakes, and other errors in preparing your document for publication, for work, or for any other context where you want someone else to read a perfect and polished text.
Copyediting: This is a complex, and more involved engagement with your text than proofreading. Copyediting involves multiple different strands:
a) Checking your text for mistakes, as with proofreading, but also making suggestions for how to rephrase sentences or passages to enhance grammatical correctness, style, clarity of meaning, and overall syntactic coherence (i.e. how your sentences are put together and flow).
b) Cross-checking quotations, where possible using online resources, to ensure accurate transcription.
c) Checking your references – whether in-text, in endnotes, or in footnotes – to ensure accuracy and consistency according to the style manual or referencing system you are using (or which is set by a publishing house).
d) Adjusting formatting, in line with a publisher’s style sheet or other formal requirements.
Substantial rewriting: This includes many of the tasks covered in copyediting, but with a heavier investment in rephrasing on a local and a text-wide basis.
Indexing: Many publishing houses now ask authors to compile their own indexes. I can help you through the process, from keyword compilation to cross-referencing with page numbers when your typescript is at the indexing stage of the publication process.
How does it work?
For all services, my standard practice is to edit a document in Microsoft Word using Tracked Changes, combined with the comment function, which I use to query anything that I can’t immediately resolve myself, or to explain any suggested changes I have made the rationale for which may not be immediately clear. I can also mark up a PDF document if preferred. As always, suggestions for changes are suggestions only: it is up to the author to accept or reject any alterations to their text. I always invite authors to discuss any queries about suggested changes with me.
How long does it take?
The length of time per project will depend on the nature of the task, and of the text itself. I usually aim for a fast turnaround; for example, I would propose to return an 8000-word text (including notes) within 7 working days, but with the expectation of returning it well before. For an ’emergency job’ – when you need your work back within a particularly tight time-frame – just contact me and we can negotiate a suitable schedule. Generally, though, it’s better to plan ahead: once you know of a deadline or your likely schedule, give me the heads-up and we can plan together accordingly.
What subjects do I cover?
My main area of expertise as an author, editor, and teacher lies in English Literature. However, I have substantial experience of successful copyediting and proofreading commissions across many other disciplines – including history, philosophy, the social sciences, and law.
I am very happy to take on other types of work too: whilst bearing in mind that my subject expertise does not lie in mathematics or the sciences, I can nevertheless advise on phrasing, grammar, and other text-related issues.
I am fluent in French with working Spanish, so I’m happy to work on projects that include a multilingual element too.
Many of my past commissions have involved working with authors for whom English is not their first language: I therefore have substantial experience in so-called ‘language washing’ a text written by a non-native speaker to iron out any idiosyncrasies, and to improve overall linguistic fluency (including native English idioms).
How much do I charge?
My rates are competitive with those set by other individual freelance copyeditors and with companies offering editorial services. They are based on common industry practice, and they are in line with the minimum rates suggested by such industry bodies as the UK’s Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP).
The rate depends on the nature of the task, while the overall fee will vary depending on how long it takes to execute. The prices below are guidelines only. I can give you an estimated quote by discussing your project with you in advance, so you can have an idea of the terms before accepting them.
Average tariffs:
- Proofreading: average £25 / 30 Euros per hour.
- Copyediting: average £30 / 35 Euros per hour.
- Substantial rewriting: £35 / 40 Euros per hour.
- Indexing: average £26 per hour.
These prices include tax and other employment-incurred costs (there are no hidden extras).
The average industry rate for proofreading is 2000-3000 words per hour; for copyediting, it is 1000 words per hour; the length of time taken for substantial rewriting will vary depending on your project.
The generally recommended time-frame for compiling an index is that it takes about 10-15 hours per 100 pages of typeset text. So, for a 300-page book, we might estimate around 45 hours of work.
Successful past projects
For my own editorial projects – involving proofreading, copyediting, and more – see my ‘Editorial experience‘ and ‘Publications‘ pages.
Professional copyediting commissions include Simone de Beauvoir-A Humanist Thinker, ed. Tove Pettersen and Annlaug Bjørsnøs (Brill, 2015); Marco Brusotti’s ‘Knowing our own Body?: Wittgenstein and the Epistemology of Self-Experience’, Wittgenstein-Studien, 10 (2019); and English Literature PhD theses (for candidates presented by NTNU, Trondheim).
Indexing projects – besides indexes compiled for my own publications – include Travelling Chronicles: News and Newspapers from the Early Modern Period to the Eighteenth Century, ed. Siv Gøril Brandtzæg, Paul Goring, and Christine Watson (Brill, 2018).
Mary Newbould 