What Is Freelance Copy Editing?
- Posted by Essays Blog in Essays Blog |
- October 14th, 2008 |
- Comments
People interested in other freelance writing careers unremarkably look upon copy editing with disdain. Copy editing doesn’t involve attention to the actual artifact of a piece, they have, and involves little research and fact-chasing necessary to create a lively, memorable article or account. However, copy editing carries its own single challenges; much as:
1) you need to pay careful attention to the basic mechanics of writing; and
2) you need to pay attention to accuracy, both in facts and in language.
Freelance copy editing isn’t just a simpler offshoot of freelance writing in general, but an important discipline in its own right — and a rewarding one.
To become a booming copy editor you need to know how to consume communication guides. With any exceptions, editors of newspapers, magazines, and other print publications require you to compose in a homogeneous communication, both to compensate for writers with occasionally sloppy spelling and usance and to ensure consistent language over time. (This is important with newspapers: the names of foreign leaders, organizations, and other foreign-language nouns are often case to strain spellings.)
The most commonly old communication guides include AP (Associated Press), MLA (Modern Language Association), and Chicago. Any budding freelance copy editor would do advantageously to own a copy of each of these, and to become familiar with their consume before applying for jobs. Prospective employers will not hire copy editors who lack knowledge of communication guides. Consume a product like StyleEase code to help with communication.
Fact checking is another prime ability for copy editors, as it is a publication’s first line of defense against accusations of libel or misrepresentation. Fact-checking is a simple procedure: call the author of the article, ask for his or her sources, and, if warranted, call the sources directly to confirm quotes or statistics. Different publications will have different procedures for fact-checking, all of which should be explained when you accept a job.
Beyond that, all that it takes to become a booming copy editor is a ability to cumbersome phrasing, grammar, and spelling, as advantageously as a ability to an author’s personal communication. Many novice copy editors accept a far also forceful approach to their activity, effectively rewriting a reporter or other writer’s article for them in line with communication guides and their own ideas about what makes good writing. This isn’t the function of a copy editor. Yes, clarity, grammar, and other issues with writing mechanics are all important, but a writer’s ego is important as advantageously, and a too-free hand in the editing process can alienate a publication’s body reporters and foster general enmity.
Since rewriting individual’s article causes you more additional activity as advantageously, why would you deprivation to do it? Instead, just attempt to achieve adequate clarity piece leaving as much of the original article “as-is” as you can. If thither are any considerable portions of matter that inhibit clarity or exhibit capital mechanical errors, talk to the writer personally before making any changes. Yes, it’s an extra block, but one that ensures professional respect in the workplace.
If you don’t deprivation to activity for a publication, thither are plenty of opportunities available for freelance copy editing, both for corporations and for private individuals. Educational publications, in particular, are always looking for good copy editors, and book publishers and literary journals always have a few symptom available. You can find out about these opportunities finished classified ads, or by making inquiries directly to the company. Thither’s typically a lot of competition in these sorts of jobs, so a coagulated interview model and any excellent samples are mandatory for securing activity. Once you have your foot in the door, tho’, corporate copy editing can provide a firm — if occasionally dull — author of income.
Copy editing projects offered by individuals are another option, and one which can bring you a more diversified body of activity and a much more informal attitude toward communication guides and format restriction. But this option carries with it any heavy caveats. Often, copy editing projects given by individuals amount to ghostwriting without appropriate compensation, and pay rates can be incomplete as advantageously, ranging from low to nonexistent (with a promise of “resume experience,” maybe.) Although when activity is consistent, low pay isn’t necessarily a problem, individuals can rarely guarantee a adequate intensity of activity to ensure your livelihood and a decent career.
Before you accept individual copy editing projects, make careful that you know how much you’ll need to make per hour to make the project financially worthwhile (as advantageously as an estimate on how many hours the project will accept), and don’t accept less than that hourly rate. You may get less activity with this approach, but clients won’t rip you off either — an important consideration for professional copy editors.
Copy editing is a good, low-stress writing job, enjoyable on its own merits or as practice for other freelance writing goals down the line. You can follow as a freelance copy editor if you familiarize yourself with communication guides, and have a good grasp of grammar, spelling, and communication usance.