Kate Smyres

Submitting a messy draft for copyediting? While it’s natural to want an editor to fix everything, overly disorganized writing can cause even the best copyeditor to miss some errors. Here’s why: Cognitive Overload: When a copyeditor has to navigate through a chaotic structure, unclear points, or a jumbled narrative, their focus may shift to fixing bigger-picture continuity. This means smaller mistakes, like typos or punctuation errors, can easily slip through. Prioritization: In a draft full of major issues, a copyeditor will naturally focus on what’s most pressing—sentence structure, clarity, and flow. As a result, more minor errors might not get caught. It’s also important to understand how copyediting differs from line editing. Copyediting is about polishing the grammar, punctuation, and consistency, while line editing focuses on refining the prose—improving style, tone, and word choice. If your draft needs a deeper rewrite or heavy restructuring, you might need a line edit first before copyediting can be effective. Here are a few ways to help set your copyeditor up for success: 1. Clean Your Draft: Submit the best version you can. This allows the copyeditor to focus on fine-tuning instead of sorting out major issues. 2. Provide Context: If there are specific sections you're unsure about, let your editor know. The more they understand your intentions, the better they can help. 3. Don’t Rush the Process: Copyediting takes time. When deadlines are too tight, even the best editor may miss things. They are human. The goal is to work together to make your writing the best it can be. The clearer your draft, the more precise the edits will be. #Copyediting #WritingTips #EditingProcess #ProfessionalWriting

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Time for more bloggy goodness! Here are four key principles that good copyeditors apply to their work (rather than that what we actually do to the text). #AptWords #amediting #blog

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What makes a human copyeditor so special? With artificial intelligence dominating most fields, it's easy to forget the power of a copyeditor's mind. If you aren't a copyeditor, you may perhaps not understand the process, but I ask these questions (and some more) when I read a piece of text: 👉 Is the writing clear and concise? 👉 Does it convey the intended message effectively? 👉 What is the purpose of the text? 👉 Is there consistency with the author’s unique voice? 👉 Does the author maintain the flow and structure of their writing? 👉 Are there instances where sentences could be improved? 👉 Is everything spelled correctly? What about punctuation marks? 👉 Are all facts accurate? 👉 Have sources been appropriately cited? 👉 What does the house style say? Why does it state something? Why is the house style silent about this? 👉 Should I check a different source material? A copyeditor’s ultimate goal is to make your writing the best it can be while respecting your voice and intent. So, as I work through each sentence, I ask myself, "Would changing something make it better?" #copyediting #humancopyeditor #mind

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As a freelance copyeditor, it’s important to find ways to enjoy the job and stay motivated. Here are some tips that have helped me (and that I'm still working on myself, honestly): 1. Choose Projects You Care About Whenever possible, take on work that aligns with your interests or passions. Editing content that inspires you makes the process more engaging. 2. Set Boundaries Freelancing offers flexibility, but it’s essential to establish a routine and set clear boundaries with clients. Don’t be afraid to say no if you feel overwhelmed. Maintaining balance is key. 3. Build Strong Client Relationships Consistent, clear communication with clients is critical. A strong rapport makes the editing process smoother and can lead to repeat business. 4. Stay Organized  Use project management tools to track deadlines and tasks. Staying organized reduces stress and allows you to focus on the quality of your work. 5. Keep Learning The publishing world is constantly evolving, so keep up with new trends, grammar rules, and style guides. Lifelong learning helps keep your work fresh and exciting. 6. Take Breaks (This one is huge!) Working on multiple projects or staring at the screen for hours can be draining. Taking regular breaks helps you recharge and boosts productivity. 7. Celebrate Wins  Whether it’s finishing a tough project or hitting a deadline, acknowledge your successes. Celebrating small wins can help you stay motivated. 8. Connect with Other Freelancers Freelancing can feel isolating at times, so build a network of other editors, writers, or freelancers. Sharing advice and experiences with peers can help you stay grounded and motivated. 9. Define Your Why Always remind yourself why you chose to be a copyeditor in the first place. Understanding your "why" will keep you inspired, even when projects get challenging. 10. Enjoy the Freedom  Freelancing offers unique flexibility. Embrace the freedom of setting your own schedule, choosing your workspace, and working on projects that resonate with you. Hope these tips help you find joy and satisfaction in your #freelance #copyediting career! #Publishing #BookMaking #Editing #Freelancing #Copyeditor

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One of the most common typos I see as a cookbook copyeditor and proofreader? Hellman's. It's Hellmann's, folks! Two n's. A close second? Frank's RedHot. Not Franks RedHot. Not Frank's Red Hot. This is your reminder to mind those proper nouns! #cookbookeditor #amediting #proofreader #copyeditor #cookbooks

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While I’m glad that the Associated Press Stylebook tried to create some nuance in its guideline on describing higher-weight people, I find the new entry severely lacking in providing appropriate guidance and context. And I see this entry as a huge missed opportunity for educating people about inclusive ways to talk about body size. (Post 1/2) AP names the groups calling “obesity” a disease without disclosing that when the American Medical Association declared “obesity” a disease, it did so against a recommendation from its own Council on Science and Public Health. AP fails to explain that these groups’ definitions are vague, amorphous, and usually based on the deeply flawed BMI tool (see https://lnkd.in/eh2zf7gC). And AP doesn’t describe the harms of framing “obesity” as a disease (for more, see the American Chemical Society Inclusivity Style Guide’s “Don’t Conflate Weight and Health” section https://lnkd.in/ekM2aH4h). In addition, by giving statistics on the growing number of people classified as “obese” without more context, AP’s section can stoke fear and push people to think of interventions for higher-weight people instead of interventions for things like antifat bias, fat stigma, and inequitable health-care access. Why not instead give statistics on how widespread antifat bias is, for example? AP inappropriately foregrounds the “o” words instead of terms that fat activists and groups like the NAAFA - National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance recommend. Why, after acknowledging that “many say the words obesity and obese are offensive or stigmatizing,” does it then say, “The phrasing people with obesity or a person with obesity is acceptable when a general term is needed and is relevant, unless a group or person prefers other terms”? Better to recommend more neutral terms, like “higher-weight people” and “larger-bodied people,” as the default, general terms (https://lnkd.in/e-czbi3s). AP’s guidance is at times self-contradictory. In the beginning, it says, “Use care and precision, considering the impact of specific words and the terms used by the people you are writing about.” It explains that “the term obesity is used most often in a health or medical context.” But then later it says, “Seek other angles including those in retail, arts and sports, and include the voices and images of people with obesity who are experts in a given area in stories about that topic.” Why use the “o” word in that clearly nonmedical context? Seems a failure to use care and be precise. See part 2 at https://lnkd.in/eNnebDHp

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Welcome to “Style Shenanigans!” A series of posts where this freelance copyeditor shares random style guide facts I stumble across while editing and try to make it deep (???). - For today’s random fact, we’re in APA 7 and looking at how we construct a list. APA Section 6.50 says elements in a series included in a sentence or paragraph narrative should be organized with lowercase letters in parentheses, not with numbers. So even in a sentence such as this – “Writing this post took four steps: (a) finding an interesting fact, (b) drafting some ideas…” – where the list is given a numerical quantity in the narrative before, it should be organized using letters and not numbers. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞? It’s easy to look at this fact and think, “Okay, just make a list using letters. Who cares?” BUT this rule gets to the core of the numbers vs. letters debate – math vs. language. If a list that is numbered in a narrative can be lettered in the actual list, the two are interchangeable. What does this mean for the language lover who is bad at math? What does this mean for the reader who doesn’t want to count each element of the list to make sure the author didn’t miss count? Does a=1 like we found in that math problem in high school? Or are both just constructs we can’t understand?! It seems to me there is a lot more involved than a simple style battle. Readers, we’ve stumbled across the cosmic battle between math and language… what will we find next? (Jokes aside, if you’re looking to work with a super serious professional editor, I can help with developmental editing, copyediting, and proofreading. You can find more information and my portfolio at this link: https://shorturl.at/uv6YM ✉️)

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A great pitch for crafting a great pitch. Spending time and effort on your book proposal is a really clarifying step in the early stages of writing. I love drafting and redrafting the log line, the one-sentence summary of the book, with my authors till we get to the precisely laid out, carefully balanced and enticing string of words that hold worlds within them.

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Tonight I’m reflecting on another similarity between Karen Yin’s book “The Conscious Style Guide” and Dr. Becky Kennedy’s book “Good Inside”: both detail steps to take when you make a mistake. Including instructions for effectively apologizing (or “repairing,” in Dr. Becky’s words) emphasizes the inevitability of making mistakes–in both conscious language and parenting. I’d love to see more inclusive language guides include what to do when we unintentionally use exclusive language. That would help normalize mistakes and–crucially–apologies. Wouldn’t it feel welcoming if an inclusive language guide had a section “What to do when you mess up” and explained simple steps to take? And not just a sentence à la “We all make mistakes; it happens” but practical examples of scripts and approaches? Take the example of an organization’s corporate credit card policy. The organization’s leaders know how easy it is for employees to, for example, set the company card up on the Uber app for a work trip and then forget to switch to their personal card before a personal use of the app. So the policy usually includes instructions for what to do when there’s a personal charge on the company credit card. While this inclusion’s primary purpose is likely to minimize work for the company (the finance department doesn’t have to respond to each person’s question about fixing this mistake), it has the happy corollary of lessening employees’ embarrassment when they make this error because it was obviously foreseen and planned for. The implicit message is: You won’t get kicked out of the company, and you’re not a bad person for making this unintentional mistake. And that’s the kind of message inclusive and conscious language guides should send as well. Has anyone seen inclusive language guides that have instructions for apologizing or repairing after using exclusive language? I’d love to know. #ConsciousLanguage #InclusiveLanguage

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One of the biggest typos I've seen in my experience is "loose" and "lose." Loose is an adjective referring to something not tight. Lose is a verb. ;-) Make sure you keep wary of this, but don't stress too hard. Example: You must lose the loose language. https://a.co/d/04zMJLfH #proofreaidngtips #proofreadingservices #grammarmatters #bookstoread

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It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway. 👉🏼Check. 👉🏼Use reliable sources. 👉🏼Never assume. 🧐Sometimes, you’ll have to make judgement calls. Straddling the 1990s/2000s, I worked at a guidebook publishers (absolutely *loved* it). When working on Middle Eastern/North African titles (book titles, that is), the text would often include words such as vizier, sultan and emir. These were sometimes capped, sometimes lower-cased. No rhyme or reason. Chapters on architecture would mix Gothic and gothic, doric and Doric, rococo and roccoco and Rococo/Roccoco. You get the picture. When you come across these inconsistencies, follow *one* dictionary only. You’ll discover there are contrary lexicographical choices even *within* that dictionary though. European titles often had, say, King Fernando (yes, ‘king’) *and* King Ferdinand. Or François/Francis. For the names of nobs, choose either the English translation or all country-of-origin names – the choice is yours. #Consistency #LanguageMatters

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I'm a work-from-home independent editor. On a normal day, the only time I step out of home is for my evening walks. So I love getting out of the four walls, but I hate that it's for something as boring as walking. I try to make the best of this love-it-hate-it activity by listening to, sometimes, informative YouTube videos. Yesterday I watched one where the speaker, a professor at a top US business school, spoke about overcoming his fear of joblessness and leaving his secure corporate job because he hated it. Apparently, at the age of 27-28, he snuck out of a company conference—dominated by incessant PPTs—to go running. That run changed the course of his life. That made me reminisce about the things I hated during my time in corporate jobs. I think at the top of the list was totally pointless, absolutely useless, and fatally boring PowerPoint presentations. From sales conferences to town-hall meetings, the organizational creature felt compelled to follow a decades-old empty-but-symbolic ritual of making presentations. Almost every time I attended one of those, my mind wandered off, and soon I'd feel extremely sleepy. Many times I wished to get up and leave. Or better—lay my head down on the expensive, expansive conference room table and drift off into a nice slumber led gently by the dull, monotonous voices of the presenters. Boring meetings and presentations have this wonderful lulling quality, like driving on a straight, empty highway on a summer afternoon, or lying on the upper berth of a night train in India—risky and pleasurable at the same time. If you don't want to look like an ass if front of your manager and peers, you have to stifle that yawn, kill that buzz, strangle that drowsiness. And it is SO DIFFICULT to do that! (IYKYK!) But I _think_ 9 out of 10 times I managed to rescue my teetering reputation. How did I accomplish that? Simply by being afraid of losing my job. After watching the aforementioned video, I wondered what I would do if I could go back in time and be a totally fearless employee. After some thought, I decided that if I ever go back to those jobs, and if I had to suffer another boring presentation, I wouldn't fight the urge—I would just go off to sleep. Job be damned (freelancing FTW!). I mean, what's the worse that could happen? I'm sure they wouldn't fire me! I am good at my work. I don't feel sleepy while editing. It's just these meetings and slide decks that deck me and I slide into a somnolent state. I'm sure my manager and HR would forgive this small indiscretion. After all, sleep improves productivity, right? And then, who prevents a family member from sleeping (except babies)? I'm coming from the various speeches where CEOs have called me (and others, of course) family. (continued in the first comment below . . . )

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Writing “The End” doesn’t mean the book is ready for release. Every author needs to self-edit (and hopefully employ a professional, but that’s another topic). I’m Jeanette, a copyeditor and self-editing instructor. I envision a world where writers look forward to the editing process and can go into it with confidence. Which is why it’s my mission to empower you with the right mindset, knowledge, and tools to successfully self-edit your manuscript. That’s where my new course—Everyone Should Edit—comes in. I’ll be beta testing the materials in January/February 2025, and I’m looking for participants. You will attend 9 live Zoom presentations (or watch a recording), which will cover all 12 modules of the course. Beta testing the course will only be $100—a third to a fourth of the cost of the full course once recorded and WAAAYYY less than the cost of employing a professional for every stage. If you want your book to be the best it can be, then you need to self-edit. Learn exactly how by beta testing my new course. === Email me ([email protected]) or DM me for more information. === I’m Jeanette 👋 a copyeditor and self-editing instructor. Follow my profile or #Jeanettediting to see more of me in your feed! #writer #writing #editor #editing #writingcommunity #creativity

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