Why do I need an editor? I’m not an author!

Does your company produce written material in any form?

• Advertising?
• Client brochures?
• Web pages?
• Procedure manuals?
• Business plans?

If so, then you are an author!

Whatever your business, one of the primary things your company sells is its professional image. Written materials have a lasting affect on your image with your clients and employees. Your polished office and tasteful suit certainly contribute to that image. So do your speech, body language, and conversation. However, the client only sees you or your office for as long as they sit with you. They take your brochure away with them, where it continues to affect your image, long after your smile is just a memory.

If that brochure has poor grammar, incorrect punctuation, poor sentence structure, inconsistent verb-tense, or is not formatted consistently, it is sending a message to the client. Consciously or not, it will affect their perception of you and your company.

I always use my word-processor’s spell-check and grammar-check to catch any errors I may occasionally make. Isn't that enough?

No, spell-check is not enough.

Most of us rely on spell-check these days. We’ve all seen the obvious “spell-check errors”. (“May West”, rather than “Mae West”.) We’ve all mentally scolded the other guy for not actually proofreading their work. Then we do it ourselves.

The computer is not a smart machine. It can’t tell which word is correct. It can’t tell a wright (who works on ships) from a rite (like graduation). Grammar-check will not notice if you begin speaking in the third person, past tense and then switch to first person, present tense. It takes a human eye to catch these things.

I’ll proofread my work from now on. I still don’t think I need a copyeditor.

A large part of a copyeditor’s job is knowing what to look for. “William H. Rehnquist was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.” That might look like a perfectly fine sentence, but a copyeditor will tell you that there is no Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: The correct title is Chief Justice of the United States.

A copyeditor will warn you that “a billion” refers to a different amount in Britain than it does in the United States.

A copyeditor will notice if you have six offices but 3 secretaries (instead of three secretaries).

Chances are there isn’t a dictionary, grammar-book, stylebook, or usage guide in your office. You’re stuck trying to remember how to use “who” and “whom”, or what the rules are for pluralizing acronyms and numbers. (Is it “ten RN’s” or “ten RNs”? “Three 7’s” or “three 7s”?)

So that's all your company does? Proofreading?

Not at all! While we will gladly edit your document to Chicago Manual, MLA, APA, or AP standards, we offer a range of other services as well.

Need to create a procedure manual? We can help!
Need to make your résumé more effective? We can help!
Need to create a special dohickey for your Web site? We can help!
Prepairing your grant proposal? We can help!