Editing Needs Covered

by Sara Davies | Jan 27, 2020 | proofread

With only so many hours in the day, your editor wants to focus on helping you create amazing story arcs and deep, engaging characters. She does not want to spend her valuable time fixing your spelling, grammar, weak words and awkward sentence constructions.

Your editor – whether a freelancer you’ve hired or the publishing house acquisitions editor you’re asking to publish your book – expects to see a certain level of polish. Unless you want to see the veins stand out on her neck, fix these seven common issues before you submit your manuscript.

1. Cut the Adverbs

Have you heard these wise words before?

“The road to hell is paved with adverbs.”
— Stephen King

“An adverb modifies a verb, and nine times out of ten? If you need to modify the verb? It’s because you’re using the wrong verb.”
— Max Adams

“Cross out as many adjectives and adverbs as you can.”
— Anton Chekhov

“Death to all modifiers, he declared one day, and out of every letter that passed through his hands went every adverb and every adjective.”
— Joseph Heller

Adverbs, more often than not, prop up a weak verb. You’re better off cutting the adverb and using a strong verb in its place. Consider the following before-and-after examples:

1. “I never want to see you again,” she said furiously. She pulled the door closed loudly as she left.
2. “I never want to see you again,” she snapped, slamming the door behind her.

Which version paints a better picture in your mind?

Trust strong verbs and nouns to do the work for you rather than rely on adverbs. Use an editing tool if you need to highlight every adverb, then go back and replace them with stronger wording.

2. Fix Your Repetitions

Do too many of your sentences start with pronouns?

She said okay. He held the door open. They left together. It was raining outside.

While this is an obvious example, you’d be amazed how often it happens. When you’re writing a scene about your main character, I’ll bet you’ve used “she” too many times. Frequently starting sentences with a pronoun makes writing feel tedious and dull.

Similarly, you might not notice that three sentences in a row start with an “-ing” word. Consider the following:

Eliminating the errors is the best course of action. Fixing the discrepancies will go a long way to making your editor happy. Submitting your manuscript in a polished state makes any editor smile.

Vary your sentence structures to keep your readers engaged with your work. When you start some sentences with clauses, some with pronouns, and others with proper nouns, you mix it up enough to keep it fresh.

3. Death to Clichés!

And you thought adverbs were bad!

Editors suffer apoplexy when confronted with clichés. Unoriginality at its worst, clichés scream of lack of imagination or just plain laziness. Safeguard your editor’s health by finding an original way of describing people, places, or situations.

This great quote comes to mind:

“Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.”
— George Orwell

What should you do instead? Call on vivid imagery, weird associations, counterintuitive comparisons and so on. This is the time to let your personality as a writer shine through – be as unique as you like, and use those writing skills of yours to paint a truly original picture that will captivate your reader, instead of making their eyes glaze over at a well-worn turn of phrase.

4. Eliminate Redundancies

Redundancies creep into manuscripts all the time and they drive editors crazy.

Don’t “add an additional” chair to the table.  Just “add” the chair.

Don’t send “send advance notice” to your editor, just “notify” her.

Don’t “ask a question” of your editor, just “ask” him what you need to know.

Each of the above examples creates excessive words that your reader, and your poor editor, must wade through. Why do that to them?

Be kind. Ruthlessly cut redundant words and phrases – your editor will appreciate it. And, even more importantly, so will your readers.

Here are some more redundancies that seem to roll off the tongue (or fly from the fingers):

• First began
• False pretense
• Final outcome
• Collaborate together
• Advance planning
• Absolutely necessary
• Frozen ice
• Armed gunman
• Past history
• First conceived

Are you guilty of using any of these?

5. Use Active Voice

This is one of those rules passed down by generations of writers – because it’s good advice. Sentences written in the active voice tend to be stronger than those written in passive voice.

In an active sentence, the subject is at the start and the object is at the end. For example:

• Tommy delivered the newspapers. (subject – verb – object)

In the passive, it’s reversed:

• The newspapers were delivered by Tommy. (object – verb – subject)

Neither of these sentences is grammatically incorrect. However, you want your strong verbs coming from the subject, rather than the subject having something done to it.

Like many of these rules, this does not mean that you must remove every occurrence of the passive voice – sometimes it works – but often, your sentence will be more effective if you rearrange it.

6. Declutter Your Sentences

“Sticky sentences” are filled with glue words (of, the, an, on, at, that, is, have, etc). Glue words offer no meaning or clarity to your sentence; they just take up space.

Here’s an example:

• “Because of the fact that I was able to get good grades, my dream of becoming a student at an Ivy League college is almost coming to fruition.”

The Glue Index (the number of sticky words compared to the total words in the sentence) is 53.6%. You want that number below 40%. Consider this rewrite:

• “With my good grades, I will reach my dream of attending Yale.”

The first sentence had 28 words that wound around and didn’t get right to the point. The second one is 12 words long, has a Glue Index of 33.3%, and states the point succinctly.

Use an editing tool to find the sentences in your document with a high Glue Index and see if you can make them clearer.

7. Vary Your Sentence Lengths

Short sentences are choppy. Long, verbose sentences that crawl around, weaving through several different ideas without leading anywhere in particular, are hard to follow. Sentences with between 11 and 18 words are average and easier to read.

When you vary your sentence lengths, you create an engaging rhythm that readers and editors respond to. You want your editor to comment positively on your sentence variety.

Another important element to make your work engaging is how easy it is to read. Check the Flesch Reading Ease Score of your document. If the average fifth grader can read your manuscript and understand it, you’ve achieved success. If your editor sends your manuscript back with red pen everywhere asking you to simplify, your readability needs work.

Your goal is not to impress your editor with your command of a unique and intricate vocabulary – or to prove that you own a great thesaurus. It’s to clearly tell an engaging story in the simplest, most inconspicuous way possible. If a reader – or an editor – stumbles through your work, expect some yelling.

Conclusion

Give your readers, and your poor editor, a break! Don’t bog them down with errors and technical gaffes that you could (and should) have caught.

An editing tool like will help you tighten up your writing so that everyone can concentrate on the amazing story you’re telling. Your editor can focus on helping you create real-life characters and a thrilling narrative arc that keeps readers turning pages until the very end.

If you need any document (essay, dissertation, thesis, CV or resume, article, magazine, blog, email, book, etc) edited or proofread, then you’ve found the right website!

I will edit or proofread any InDesign, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Libre Office or PDF (annotate) document you have.

I have a lot of positive feedback on my Testimonials page, so please take a look to see their comments. I also have reviews on Facebook, Yell, Yelp, Free Index and My Local Services. I always do my best work when people really need me, so please take a look at the services I offer and get in touch!

I look forward to hearing from you! You can also email me at [email protected].

“Sara was able to turn it around quickly”

by Sara Davies | Jan 18, 2020 | proofread

“I found Sara Davies of Prootheword through the findaproofreader.com website. I picked Sara because she had the experience that I was looking for, she could work flexibly and her quote for the work I wanted done was reasonable. Sending Sara the work was remarkably hassle-free and she was able to turn it around quickly. I would definitely recommend her services.”
– Irene Shelley, editor-in-chief, Black Beauty & Hair magazine, UK
[copy edited & proofread June/July issue of Black Beauty & Hair magazine, April 2019]

I’ve just completed the latest, February/March 2020, edition of Black Beauty & Hair magazine. It all went really well and the latest issue must be out now – go buy it!

If you need any magazine, article, book, website, essay, dissertation or CV/resume edited, you know where to come. I can edit any Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Libre Office or InDesign document to an exceptional level, and annotate any PDF you require.

So why not contact me and let me know what you need editing? I will edit whatever you need. All you have to do is contact me (you can email [email protected] if you’re not happy with contact forms), let me know the word count of what you need editing and type of document it is, attach it if you want, and that’s it!

I will then send you a quote of my price and we can take it from there. Once we’ve agreed a price, I will do the work and send the edited document back to you via email (or, if it’s a big file, via a dropbox, WeTransfer or whatever means you prefer).

You can then either pay me directly through your bank or through PayPal (all my details are on the invoice I will send you). I also have an IBAN and BIC so international payments can be made.

I guarantee you will be happy with the work I do! I will make any amendments you require at no extra charge. I like having happy customers, which is why I’ve been successful so far.

I have a lot of positive feedback on my Testimonials page, so please take a look to see their comments. I also have reviews on Facebook, Yell, Yelp, Free Index and My Local Services. I always do my best work when people really need me, so please take a look at the services I offer and get in touch!

I look forward to hearing from you! You can also email me at [email protected].

“Hire Sara, forget the rest!”

by Sara Davies | Jan 16, 2020 | proofread

“Excellent job, finished on time. Hire Sara, forget the rest!”
‒ Rhyan O’Sullivan, Hove, UK
[proofread and edited online course for the TEFL Academy, February to March 2017]

[proofread and edited online course for the TEFL Academy, February to March 2017]

This is great feedback I had from a guy I edited a TEFL course for using PowerPoint. He was clearly very happy with the work I did for him.

So why not contact me and let me know what you need editing? I will edit emails, blogs, essays, articles, courses, dissertations, magazines, books, websites, whatever you need. All you have to do is contact me, let me know the word count of what you need editing and type of document it is, attach it if you want, and that’s it!

I will then send you a quote of my price, and we take it from there. Once we’ve agreed a price, I will do the work and send the edited document back to you via email (or, if it’s a big file, via a dropbox, WeTransfer or whatever means you prefer).

You can then either pay me directly through your bank or through PayPal (all my details are on the invoice I will send you). I also have an IBAN and BIC so international payments can be made.

I guarantee you will be happy with the work I do! I will make any amendments you require at no extra charge. I like having happy customers, which is why I’ve been successful so far.

I have a lot of positive feedback on my Testimonials page, so please take a look to see their comments. I also have reviews on Facebook, Yell, Yelp, Free Index and My Local Services. I always do my best work when people really need me, so please take a look at the services I offer and get in touch!

I look forward to hearing from you! You can also email me at [email protected].

Commas, Semicolons or Colons?

by Sara Davies | Jan 11, 2020 | proofread

Where and whether to use commas, semicolons and colons can be difficult to understand – even for a professional at times! So I am here to help.

Below are some rules for using commas (,), semicolons (;) and colons (:).

Rule: Use a comma between two long, independent clauses when conjunctions such as and, or, but, for, nor connect them.
Example: He had painted the entire house, but she is still working on sanding the floors.

Rule: If the clauses are both short, you may omit the comma.
Example: He painted and she sanded.

Rule: If you have only one clause (one subject and verb pair), you won’t usually need a comma in front of the conjunction.
Example: He had painted the house but she still needs to sand the floors.
This sentence has two verbs but only one subject, so it has only one clause.

Rule: Use the semicolon if you have two independent clauses connected without a conjunction.
Example: I have painted the house; I still need to sand the floors.

Rule: Also use the semicolon when you already have commas within a sentence for smaller separations, and you need the semicolon to show bigger separations.
Example: We had a reunion with family from Southampton, Hampshire; Betchworth, Surrey; and Bath, Somerset.

Rule: A colon is used to introduce a second sentence that clarifies the first sentence.
Example: We have set this restriction: do your homework before watching television.
Notice that the first word of the second sentence is not capitalized. If, however, you have additional sentences following the sentence with the colon and they explain the sentence prior to the colon, capitalize the first word of all the sentences following the colon.

Rule: Use a colon to introduce a list when no introductory words like namely, for instance, i.e., e.g. precede the list.
Example: I need four paint colours: blue, grey, green and red.

I hope this helps you! If not, please email me ([email protected]) and ask me anything you need to know about the English language.

If you need any document edited or proofread, all you have to do is get in touch! Just let me know the length of document you want edited or proofread, your timescale, if you have one, and the type of editing you require (please remember to include an email address). I will then email you a quotation (my prices are fully negotiable) and we can take it from there!

I have a lot of positive feedback on my Testimonials page, so please take a look to see their comments. I also have reviews on Facebook, Yell, Yelp, Free Index and My Local Services. I always do my best work when people really need me, so please take a look at the services I offer and get in touch!

I look forward to hearing from you! You can also email me at [email protected].

Price of editing

by Sara Davies | Jan 7, 2020 | proofread

The cost of professional editing varies widely, affected by things such as the level of experience an editor has, how in demand they are and where they are located. However, as with all things in this world, you get what you pay for.

You may find an editor who is happy to edit your 50,000-word book for just £100, but how can you be sure they will edit your book properly for that figure? In short, you can’t. However, if you research the editor you are looking to use, check any testimonials they have from previous work they have done, and look at their qualifications and experience, you can assure yourself that they are likely to work hard on your book. For a book of 50,000 words, for example, you should expect to be paying at least £500 for a thorough edit.

The price you will have to pay will also be affected by the level of editing you require. Proofreading is the cheapest form of editing, copy editing will cost more, while content editing – also called substantive editing – will be the most expensive. This is due to the level of work involved in these processes.

Some editors charge per word, other editors charge per thousand words, while others charge by the hour. It is important that you check how the editor you choose charges so that you can be clear on what the cost will be.

As a guideline, you should expect to pay at least £10 per 1,000 words for proofreading, £15 per 1,000 words for copy editing and £20 per 1,000 words for content editing. This is only a guide, but it is worth knowing what sort of price you will be expected to pay.

As editing a document means making sure your work will be in the best state it can be, it is important to make use of editing services. If your essay, article, website, application or book is full of spelling mistakes, punctuation errors and grammatical mistakes, it will not be taken seriously. After all, first impressions count.

Due to the above, it is worth paying to ensure your document is as perfect as it can be. You took the time to write it, so you want to be certain that it reaches its intended audience reading really well. While researching the editor you choose to ensure your document reads well is very important, it is just as important to get the editing done.

If you need a long document edited very quickly, you should expect to pay more. But if time is not as issue, then the price will be less. This is because an editor who is expected to turn work around very quickly will not be able to take breaks or take on any other work. All these things should be kept in mind when thinking about the price of editing.

In conclusion, the price of professional editing varies widely. The length of document you need editing is the main factor that will affect the price. The type of editing required – proofreading, copy editing or content editing – is another factor. But editing is an essential activity that every document needs.

If you have any questions about the English language or need help getting your document into shape, then please get in touch with me. I will sort out all the English on every document you have and make sure it employs perfect English!

If you have any questions about the English language or need help getting your document into shape, then please get in touch with me. I will sort out all the English on every document you have and make sure it employs perfect English!

All you have to do is get in touch! Just let me know the length of document you want edited or proofread, your timescale, if you have one, and the type of editing you require (please remember to include an email address). I will then email you a quotation (my prices are fully negotiable) and we can take it from there!

I have a lot of positive feedback on my Testimonials page, so please take a look to see their comments. I also have reviews on Facebook, Yell, Yelp, Free Index and My Local Services. I always do my best work when people really need me, so please take a look at the services I offer and get in touch!

I look forward to hearing from you! You can also email me at [email protected].

Editor needed!

by Sara Davies | Jan 4, 2020 | proofread

Whoever needs a document – email, letter, blog, website, essay, dissertation, CV or resume, article, magazine, book or whatever it is – edited or proofread, I can do it for you!

I will also check through any references or bibliography you may have in your work. 

I am fully conversant with all styles (such as Harvard, APA, Chicago, Oxford and so on), so you can be assured I will do a great job for you. If your document needs to follow a certain style, please let me know.

All you have to do is send an email ([email protected]) or visit my contact page. Tell me the word count and type (Word, InDesign, PDF, etc) of document you need edited or proofread, attach it if you want and send it.

If you have any questions about the English language or need help getting your document into shape, then please get in touch with me. I will sort out all the English on every document you have and make sure it employs perfect English!

All you have to do is get in touch! Just let me know the length of document you want edited or proofread, your timescale, if you have one, and the type of editing you require (please remember to include an email address). I will then email you a quotation (my prices are fully negotiable) and we can take it from there!

I have a lot of positive feedback on my Testimonials page, so please take a look to see their comments. I also have reviews on Facebook, Yell, Yelp, Free Index and My Local Services. I always do my best work when people really need me, so please take a look at the services I offer and get in touch!

I look forward to hearing from you! You can also email me at [email protected].

Price of Professional Editing

by Sara Davies | Dec 22, 2019 | proofread

The cost of professional editing varies widely, affected by things such as the level of experience an editor has, how in demand they are and where they are located. However, as with all things in this world, you get what you pay for.

You may find an editor who is happy to edit your 50,000-word book for just £100, but how can you be sure they will edit your book properly for that figure? In short, you can’t. However, if you research the editor you are looking to use, check any testimonials they have from previous work they have done, and look at their qualifications and experience, you can assure yourself that they are likely to work hard on your book. For a book of 50,000 words, for example, you should expect to be paying at least £500 for a thorough edit.

The price you will have to pay will also be affected by the level of editing you require. Proofreading is the cheapest form of editing, copy editing will cost more, while content editing – also called substantive editing – will be the most expensive. This is due to the level of work involved in these processes.

Some editors charge per word, other editors charge per thousand words, while others charge by the hour. It is important that you check how the editor you choose charges so that you can be clear on what the cost will be.

As a guideline, you should expect to pay at least £10 per 1,000 words for proofreading, £15 per 1,000 words for copy editing and £20 per 1,000 words for content editing. This is only a guide, but it is worth knowing what sort of price you will be expected to pay.

As editing a document means making sure your work will be in the best state it can be, it is important to make use of editing services. If your essay, article or book is full of spelling mistakes, punctuation errors and grammatical mistakes, it will not be taken seriously. After all, first impressions count.

Due to the above, it is worth paying to ensure your document is as perfect as it can be. You took the time to write it, so you want to be certain that it reaches its intended audience reading really well. While researching the editor you choose to ensure your document reads well is very important, it is just as important to get the editing done.

If you need a long document edited very quickly, you should expect to pay more. But if time is not as issue, then the price will be less. This is because an editor who is expected to turn work around very quickly will not be able to take breaks or take on any other work. All these things should be kept in mind when thinking about the price of editing.

In conclusion, the price of professional editing varies widely. The length of document you need editing is the main factor that will affect the price. The type of editing required – proofreading, copy editing or content editing – is another factor. But editing is an essential activity that every document needs.

If you have any questions about the English language or need help getting your document into shape, then please get in touch with me. I will sort out all the English on every document you have and make sure it employs perfect English!

All you have to do is get in touch! Just let me know the length of document you want edited or proofread, your timescale, if you have one, and the type of editing you require (please remember to include an email address). I will then email you a quotation (my prices are fully negotiable) and we can take it from there!

I have a lot of positive feedback on my Testimonials page, so please take a look to see their comments. I also have reviews on Facebook, Yell, Yelp, Free Index and My Local Services. I always do my best work when people really need me, so please take a look at the services I offer and get in touch!

I look forward to hearing from you! You can also email me at [email protected].