about

 

 c o p y e d i t i n g |

 s e r v i c e s |

o transcription

o copyediting

o research

o text digitizing

o web updates

o home

 

I never set out to be a copyeditor, and it is by no means the only thing I do; but having a father who was a gifted but messy writer, being friends with various non-native speakers of English in who had papers to write, doing a stint at a magazine, and reckoning with my own academic work, I learned that it's something I enjoy and can do well. I've worked with college professors, graduate students, and consultants, in fields including literature, political science, and business.

I don't think copyediting is just about the corrections, though those need to be thorough. Writing is a lonely art. It can be grueling to get one's ideas and research down on paper at all, and daunting to look back over them. It takes some trust to ask someone to come in from outside and judge your work. It also is a step that eases the transition to sharing it with a wider audience. Knowing all that, and having experienced the benefits of helpful criticism, I go about it by answer several small-scale questions:

  
    • Are there issues of spelling, grammar, punctuation, or consistency that need to be dealt with?

    • Are there any areas where wording or sentence structure gets in the way of the clarity of your work?

info (at) jenniegottschalk (dot) com

reach me by Skype:

Skype Me™!

or through your own (US) phone:

or by email

and then (and only if you want me to) addressing the broader questions:
    • How does it read on a larger scale? Are there dead spots and live spots?

    • Could it benefit from some trimming or expanding?

    • What is it that you have set out to do? Have you done it? Have you accomplished even more than that?

    • Is there relevant work that I know about in your field or another field that might be of interest? (This happens surprisingly often.)

    • What strategies might be helpful to keep moving forward with the project?

 

 Football players get game plans and cheerleaders. Writers are usually on their own. That needs to change.

Pricing is usually $25/hour, or $20 for graduate students.

For larger projects, I prefer to agree on a per-page rate, based on direct experience with the manuscript and a discussion of what your needs are.