A cog to the writer’s wheel
Copy-editors are not here to alter your book’s integrity. Your style – your tone of voice – remains intact. If your book is intentionally sprawling, we embrace its sprawl. We…
Letting the train take the strain
About eight years ago, maybe a little under, an English writer living in Western France got in touch. He had spent half a decade researching then writing a book about…
Advantage: Northerner
The way I pronounce ‘no’ in English gave me a massive advantage when I moved to Spain. I can’t imagine how difficult it would’ve been if I’d had a Southern…
On bohemians and puritans
A LinkedIn poster has becried countless errors in a novel by the recipient of multiple PEN America awards.The post’s author firmly placed the blame squarely on the shoulders of the…
Innateness
There’s a popular online game doing the rounds. Created by Monsieur Benjamin Tran Dinh, the Metro Memory Game has become an instant hit. You can access it here: https://london.metro-memory.com Tran…
Tense stand-off
Is the sentence in the image correct? As is often the case, it depends. This is my fitbit, and fitbit is a US-owned consumer electronics and fitness company. The language…
Restricted view
This is not copy-editing
Some years ago, I was hired as the British-English copy-editor for a vastly wealthy multinational after a lengthy and complex test.You know the company. The commission was to be completed…
Living through lockdown
Distant trains metallically clickety-clack Sheffield-bound on the Peak District line, or smoothly thrum to Manchester Piccadilly on the TransPennine line. It's named Branch Street Allotments for a reason. Ah! Hear…
Nit-picking
❓Who would have thought there was a common arthropodic thread running through the world of hair-splitters❓ Pedantry is tiresome to others, but it is a necessary trait when you're a…
Hiring a professional copy-editor versus editing your own work
A first-time author asked what changes I would make to improve her novel. Here was my response: Hmmm, how can I help? Well, with the book I've just finished copy-editing…