If you’re like me and too shy to put your hand up at the end of the training session, this page is for you :).
Q: Do you “do” (proofreading / line editing / structural editing / copy editing) too?
I can’t remember the last time I did a straight proofreading job. I’m also not a fan of terms like ‘line editing’, since most people—even editors themselves—aren’t always very consistent about what they mean.
In my experience, each job is somewhere on a line between in-depth editing (working on structure) and light language work with a few comments.
Before a project begins, I’ll take some time to look at your material and hear what you’d like to see happen. Based on that, I’ll draw up a list of tasks that we both agree on. I’ll usually give you a short sample too, so you can be sure I’ve understood what you want to be done before work starts.
Q: How much do you charge?
How did I know you were going to ask that?!
Let me turn it around: how much work does your article/book/course need? I can’t know that until I’ve seen your draft, so it doesn’t make sense to give cold figures. After we’ve talked about your project and the work is clear, I’ll give you a quote and let you decide.
Q: Do you do SEO?
That depends what you mean. I won’t create your SEO strategy or do keyword research: that’s best left to either you or a specialist. However, if you have keyword or style requirements then I can follow them. I can also compare your content to any competitors you’ve chosen and point out how yours stands. And finally, if you have a main keyword then I can suggest your meta title and description.
The rest of good on-page SEO, like having clear headings, making text easy to follow, breaking up paragraphs, and so on is basic editing sense too, so it comes automatically.
I have experience working with SurferSEO if you need to improve your on-page SEO based on an audit.
Q: Can you be my alpha/beta reader?
Absolutely. I’d be happy to read through your blog, article or course and give you my thoughts on how it could be improved.
Q: Do you edit fiction too?
Unfortunately not. I focus on non-fiction, as that’s where my interests and skills lie. The more I edit the more I feel that there’s quite an overlap between what makes good fiction and what makes good non-fiction, but for now, I don’t work on fiction.