Combined Line & Copy Editing
Line editing focuses on improving clarity, coherence, and readability by addressing sentence- and paragraph-level concerns. Copy editing focuses on ensuring accuracy, consistency, and adherence to style guidelines. The combined line/copy edit focuses on all these elements for the best of both worlds.
WHAT’S INCLUDED
I’ll go through your manuscript, focusing on these areas:
- Syntax
- Continuity
- Consistency of tenses, tone, style, and voice
- Enhancing the flow of the text
- Smoothing awkward transitions between sentences and paragraphs
- Rendering jargon or cumbersome words into plain language for clarity
- Resolving ambiguities and clarifying the author’s meaning or intention
- Limiting passive words
- Improving unnatural dialogue
- Eliminating redundancies and repetition
- Removing unnecessary words to eliminate wordiness and tighten prose
- Limiting crutch words, vague words, flabby words, and overused adverbs ending in -ly
- Maintaining balance between character names and pronouns
- Limiting clichés
- Deleting similes and metaphors that are over the top or confusing
- Reordering sentences to ensure paragraphs are clear, coherent, and focused
- Adjusting sentence structure and length for variety, consistency, and balance
- Spelling, capitalization, and punctuation
- Grammar, mechanics, and usage
- Correcting stylistic inconsistencies (names and spelling, treatment of numbers, switching between US and UK conventions, etc.)
- Reworking run-on sentences and sentence fragments
- Cleaning up sentences with missing or duplicate words
- Maintaining proper dialogue punctuation
- Checking for parallel structure
- Ensuring correct use of words, idioms, and figures of speech
- Flagging continuity errors (character traits, movement and placement, setting descriptions, etc.)
- Light fact checking
YOU RECEIVE
- A tracked copy
- A clean copy
- A style sheet
PRICING
$0.02 per word
DETAILS & LOGISTICS
Formats & Platforms:
Microsoft Word (Track Changes and Comments)
This service includes one round of line/copy edits. (One round comprises several passes.) All edits will be made using The Chicago Manual of Style (18th ed.) and Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate and Unabridged Dictionaries.
I recommend booking 3 to 6 months in advance to secure your desired spot on my schedule.
FIT & FOCUS
This Service Helps With:
Refining word choice, smoothing transitions, and improving readability while ensuring accuracy, and consistency.
Great Fit For:
Authors with a completed manuscript that has been developmentally edited or self-edited so that the structure is sound, looking for a blend of stylistic and technical editing.
TESTIMONIALS
“Angela’s easy to work with, and she understands the romance genre. She didn’t try to re-write the story or alter my writing style. Rather, she suggested changes to improve parts of the story while preserving my voice as an author. Thank you!”
~ J.B. LaRee