Services
I offer three levels of editing:
Proofreading: This is the most basic service, providing correction of spelling, grammar, punctuation errors, and basic formatting. It is the final edit of a text, carried out after copyediting to catch any possible errors not corrected during the copyedit.
Copyediting: This includes proofreading, along with a review of sentence and paragraph structure, stylistic consistency, clarity of meaning, word usage, logical flow, redundancies, word repetition, discrepancies, cross-reference checking, numbering accuracy, and other fundamental elements of composition, and it includes querying the author when revisions cannot be made based on the editor's judgment or a set of rules.
Substantive Review: Sometimes called line editing or content editing, this type of edit entails in-depth suggestions to the author for the overall improvement of content, including deletion of repeated or inappropriate content, discretionary deletion of content to fit the text to a prescribed word count, suggestions for additional content and improving logical flow, basic fact checking, suggestions for improving chapter and subhead order and titles, and checking for possible copyright issues, among others. It will involve some rewriting, or suggestions for rewriting.
More information about editing levels can be found at the Editorial Freelancers Association (https://www.the-efa.org), where I am listed as an editor in the membership directory (https://www.the-efa.org/memberinfo/maggie-lyons-12388/). You can also find more information about my services in my profile at LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/in/maggievlyons).
To ascertain which of my services is appropriate for you, send me two or three sample pages for my review.
Examples of Documents
Business
- advertising copy
- annual reports
- audiovisual texts
- blog copy
- brochure
- capability statements
- catalog copy
- fact sheets
- marketing plans
- media/press releases
- newsletter/magazine articles
- proposals
- reports
- request for proposal
- training manuals
- website content
- white papers
Academic (mainly humanities)
- dissertations
- essays
- journal articles
- textbook/reference books
- theses
Nonprofit Organization
- development plans
- grant proposals
Self-Help/self-improvement
- any topic
Other
- cover/query letters
- resumes
- Middle-grade children's fiction and nonfiction
My copy editing and proofreading services cover most types of documents. If the above list does not show the type of document you need to have edited, contact me to discuss your project. I use Microsoft Word software in the Windows 10 operating system. I also offer basic edits of PDF files using Adobe Acrobat X Pro. I edit American, Australian, British, and Canadian English and ESL (English as a second language) documents. I return edited documents by e-mail. I can also handle hard copy if absolutely necessary.