Make the Best Use of Your Editing Budget: A Pre-Editing Checklist

By the time you hire a copyeditor, academic evaluator, or proofreader, you may be eager to be done with your project and feel like dumping it directly on the editor’s desk without any sort of self-checking. After all, the editor’s job is to catch errors, right? It’s true that your editor will catch errors, but when you are paying by the hour for an editor, there are some simple self-checking steps you can do before engaging the editor so that the editor can focus on the specialty service that you are paying for. Some self-checking steps include the following:

1. Use spell check to find and correct all simple errors.

2. Use the dictionary to verify word meanings.

3. Use grammar check to flag grammar and usage issues. Be aware that grammar check is not always right, so consult a guide such as the Chicago Manual of Style if you aren’t sure if something has been correctly flagged.

4. Check that you have used punctuation If you are unsure of any item, look it up in a style and usage guide.

5. Be aware of overused words and phrases, and substitute appropriate synonyms or metaphors.

6. Eliminate the passive voice. Rather than, “The report was submitted by Jennifer,” write “Jennifer submitted the report.”

7. Remove extraneous detail. If you are presenting a case or making a point, use critical detail only.

8. Be sure you have met requirements or conventions for presentation, including length, margins, and fonts.

9. If your work is nonfiction, verify basic facts and provide correct citations.

10. If your work is fiction, read it entirely through when it is finished to be certain that your plot is clear, that the settings and characters are well-defined and distinctive, and that you haven’t accidentally left out any other critical information.

11. Once you have completed items 1–10, do them all over again if you have time. You’ll be amazed at what escaped you the first time through!

 

Janice Campbell is the former executive director of the National Association of Independent Writers and Editors. She has been a freelance writer, editor, coach, and speaker since the late 1980s.