Ask Our Staff: What is Copyediting
Emily Park and Julie Van Pelt are two of seven production editors in the Books Division of the University of California Press. Their department turns a manuscript—your manuscript—into an actual book. In this video they talk about the first step in doing that: copyediting, specifically book copyediting. They discuss what it is, what you can expect, and how you and your copyeditor will work together.
What is copyediting?
Copyediting is expert but not arbitrary. Your copyeditor brings years of experience editing book-length works and has a reason for every mark they make, suggesting style and usage guidelines that fit your book.
Your copyeditor partners with you to make your book more itself. Your copyeditor edits according to your book, to help your writing, voice, and meaning come through. Copyediting supports the work you’ve already done and helps you finalize what will go out into the world.
So your copyeditor is your first general reader, and they’ll ask questions to clarify precisely because they’re not as close to the work as you are and might see things you don’t—a connection that might be clearer, a more precise word choice, and so on.
What is unique about scholarly copyediting?
Scholarly copyeditors are attuned to academic conventions but are not necessarily experts in a given field.
As a stand-in for an informed general reader, they are equipped to help your book reach its broadest possible readership, not just specialists.
In addition to general copyediting tasks, they standardize citations and references and aim for consistency and coordination among parts of the book, checking cross-references, illustrations against captions and text, and so on.
How do copyeditors work?
Your copyeditor reads your book start to finish, line by line.
As they read, your copyeditor will be alert to discrepancies in your manuscript. Your copyeditor will avoid overstepping into your subject area expertise but will point out questions and inconsistencies so that you yourself can confirm or reconcile. You can ask questions back, you can revise or reject a suggested edit—copyedits and your copyeditor are there to support you and your work.
Your copyeditor will use editing references to look things up—style manuals, dictionaries, and other resources. They’ll keep a style sheet of these choices, to keep track of consistency throughout your book.
Logistically, your copyeditor will edit in MS Word using Track Changes, so you can see suggested changes and questions for you to answer. And your copyeditor will give you instructions for reviewing the edit.
What does UC Press look for in a book copyeditor?
UC Press has a pool of seasoned freelance copyeditors whose experience reflects the types of scholarship that we publish, as well as our progressive scholarly mission.
At the start of the production process, your in-house production editor will suss out your manuscript’s needs and seek a copyeditor with the best skills to meet those needs: a sympathetic reader who will bring their expertise to bear. The copyeditor provides dedicated focus on your book with the oversight of the production editor. For more about the latter, check out our Ask Our Staff video “What Does a Production Editor Do?”