You’ve put your words on the page, but you’re not sure they’re ready for print. You want to be sure your words make sense and that there are no embarrassing typos or misspellings.
Kathy loves helping writers perfect their words. She provides copyediting and proofreading services for fiction and non-fiction and also speaks about writing and self-editing, the phase of writing that’s very important before you find a professional editor.
Most importantly, Kathy strives (and succeeds!) to retain your voice in whatever she edits. She believes it is vital to retain your flavor and not overwhelm it with her style.
Kathy is a copyeditor and proofreader. However, during the process, she’ll make note of anything she thinks will improve your final product. The decision to change is yours.
Here’s an overview of these two kinds of editing:
Copyeditors work with your book in its final stages, looking at grammar, sentence structure, spelling, punctuation, consistency, and word choices. They’ll tell you if your words meet the demands of your target audience and help you shift those that don’t. They may change some sentences or words, with your permission, always maintaining your voice and style. They’ll also note errors such as unintentional hair or eye color changes, even wrong names from one part of the book to another.
Proofreaders are the final eyes on your book before it is published. Proofreaders check for errors that may have been introduced in typesetting, and look for inconsistencies in fonts, page numbers, headings, and the like.
For more than a decade Kathy has been helping clients make their words work for them. She looks at your finished document, line by line, word by word, checking for errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation, and word usage, again always striving to maintain your voice.
- She looks for consistency in names and in story line. She notes when something is unclear, and if you agree, may rewrite the occasional clunky sentence.
- In brief, she makes sure that each of your words is right for your manuscript. For fiction writers, she notes inappropriate or overused dialog tags, and glaring factual errors. For business owners or speakers writing a book, she works to understand your audience and your objectives and helps you reach them.
