The sub-title of this post should be: “How to make the most cost-effective use of a professional author’s editor”.

I occasionally get queries from graduate students looking for editing assistance with their dissertations. My response is often as follows:

The cost of an editorial review is dependent on several factors: the level of editing necessary, the length of the manuscript, and the turnaround time required. I should also mention that I require written confirmation from your supervisor that they are aware of and agree with your use of editorial support for your thesis before I can even begin.

Generally, I will only proofread and copyedit theses. If your supervisor agrees, additional feedback can be provided, such as structural and logic commentary, but I do not offer rewriting services to thesis clients.

Regarding costs, most professional editors estimate based on word count not page count. Therefore, x# of pages (of 250 words/page) would cost around $$ to $$$ plus GST, depending on the hourly rate of the editor. Don’t be dissuaded by a specific hourly rate – often a more expensive editor will be faster and catch more errors than a less expensive (and often less experienced) editor. An alternative billing option is to set a fixed budget and we would work together to get the biggest improvement for your investment. I can give you a better estimate of costs if you provide me with some sample pages to determine the intensity of editing required.

A good proportion of the queries are spooked by either the cost and/or the fact that I require that their supervisor be informed about the process. Why do I require their supervisor’s consent? As a member of the Editors’ Association of Canada, I follow the standards of ethical conduct established for editing academic theses. Following these standards ensures that the student’s work remains largely their own.

According to surveys of editors across Canada, editorial services can range from $30 to $90 per hour. The range can be geographically dependent, but is often directly linked to the skill and knowledge of the service provider. Technical editing rates in specialized scientific fields can be even higher. Some editors offer discounts for academic clients, but the most effective things that students can do to control costs include:

1. Use your word processor’s spell checker and grammar checker – apply what makes sense and ignore what doesn’t. Microsoft’s grammar checker is notorious for missing grammatical mistakes or offering error-riddled suggestions.

2. Use your word processor’s find and replace functions to:

• remove all double spaces after periods;
• make sure that specialized terms are spelled correctly throughout the document and make a list of approved spellings of special terms (your own dictionary, which will make your life easier in the future); and
• get rid of contractions in formal documents (search for the apostrophes).

3. Read your document carefully. Use a few different techniques to slow yourself down and increase your rate of catching errors:

• Read out loud – to yourself or to someone else. If it sounds funny – it probably has some type of error.
• Read it backwards – go through the document line by line from the bottom to the top. This helps you pay attention to each sentence individually.

4. Cross check all your figures and tables with references in the document, including your table of contents and the figures themselves. After many iterations, errors tend to creep into drafts and what you may refer to in the body of the document as figure 4, has now become figure 6. Checking the legends of figures and tables is essential to make sure that the conclusions in the legend are complementary (not contradictory!!) to the narrative.

Taking these steps should smooth out the draft and make it easier for a professional author’s editor to catch the remaining problems still in the document.

Last month, I attended an Editors’ Association of Canada meeting in Saskatoon for a training session on the ‘Fundamentals of Communicating Numerical Information”.

Melissa Spore, an instructional designer at the University of Saskatchewan and co-author of Presenting Numbers, Tables and Charts (Oxford University Press, 2003), was a delightful presenter and gave me a lot to think about.

The presentation covered the core concepts within her book and generated several “Well, duh, why didn’t I think of that before?” moments for me. Many of the rules proposed by Bigwood and Spore are glaringly obvious when you stop and think about them, but unfortunately it is all too easy to ignore the obvious. Isn’t it funny how frequently we discount KISS (that’s Keep It Simple Silly!) principles especially in our writing?

Looking back at project I have authored and edited over the years, I am ashamed to say that I too have broken some rules. But I’ll do better now, I promise.

If you have a chance, I would highly recommend adding Bigwood and Spore’s book to your reference bookshelf or requesting it for your library! (ISBN 0-19-860722-9) I’ve added some links to more information and places to purchase the book below:

Bigwood and Spore’s website: Plain Figures
Presenting Numbers, Tables and Charts at Amazon.ca

In my previous post on self-editing, I touched on the fact I have learned many new things from the Editor’s Association of Canada. One of the things I have learned is much like any area of specialty, unique jargon can be confusing to non-specialists.

I have learned copy editing is very different from structural or stylistic editing and is not to be confused with proofreading. What!?!

Copy Editing = Editing for grammar, spelling, punctuation and other mechanics of style; checking for consistency of mechanics and internal consistency of facts.

Structural Editing = Clarifying and/or reorganizing a manuscript for content and structure.

Stylistic Editing = Clarifying meaning, eliminating jargon, smoothing language and other non-mechanical line-by-line editing.

Proofreading = Reading proofs of edited manuscript.

My greatest challenge when reviewing manuscripts is to limit myself to only a few of these tasks as required by the client. My nature is to try to “fix everything”, which is why my internal definition pools these tasks together. Most of my writing tasks include all of these activities, so learning how to break these tasks out into discrete steps and focus on one facet of editing individually will be an interesting challenge indeed.

~Definitions adapted from Schedule A of the Standard Freelance Editorial Agreement published by the Editors’ Association of Canada. The original document is available at http://www.editors.ca/hire/sfea/index.html

I recently joined the Editor’s Association of Canada (June 2008) for networking and professional development and I have learned some things I didn’t know before. I am not the most anal retentive, obsessive compulsive, control freak on the planet. (My husband still doesn’t believe this is true.) I have my moments, but apparently editors, by my observation, are among the most detail oriented people I have ever met. Some are obsessed with grammar, punctuation and semantics to a degree that is frightening.

(I am already giggling with perverse glee in anticipation of my editor’s reaction to the punctuation in this post.) You may be thinking, dear Reader: “Hold the phone! This editor uses an editor?” And my response is yes – if you want (near) perfection you cannot self-edit.

I suppose this is not technically accurate; you can self-edit if you are aware of your writing weaknesses and actively look for and compensate for them. The greatest issue is the author’s brain is programmed to “see” words missing from the manuscript, even when they aren’t there. Surely everyone has seen the email where every word is scrambled (the first and last letters are accurate), but you can still read the paragraph?

Hence, the second set of eyes.

Why would someone hire an editor? According to the Editor’s Association of Canada, “an editor can help make your message clear, correct, attractive and appropriate to your market.” That sure sounds nice, but what does it really mean?

When I coach clients through the writing process, I try to help them learn about the requirements (style, layout and content) of their writing project.  Often, tight timelines make it impossible for writers to focus on all of the details when they are working hard to include as much content as possible. My role as a coach and editor is to ensure they address the requirements and deliver a polished piece of writing that (hopefully) achieves its intended purpose.

Does the use of an editor = success, i.e., funded grant applications and business plans or accepted manuscripts? I wish I could say it does (just think of what that would mean for my business), but content is the most important part of any document. The contribution of an editor is to help the author make the document easy to read, understand and recall.

“Good writing will not save bad ideas, but bad writing can kill good ones.” – Jacob Kraicer

Here is the caveat-not all editors are the same: some specialize in science and technical writing (like me) and others edit literary works. (There are other specializations too.) Importantly, picking an editor with experience working in your genre will save you time teaching them how to edit in your required style.