Helping you, the writer, make their text the best version of itself.
As an Australian editor, my main form of editing style is based on the Style Manual (6th edition; John Wiley & Sons Australia; 2002). However, I’ve worked with many overseas manuscripts, including those published in Canada and the United States and am comfortable using a range of styles appropriate to a given manuscript.
My services are as follows:
- Beta reading
- Manuscript assessment
- Substantive editing
- Copyediting
- Proofreading
Beta reading
Feedback on a story from the perspective of a professional reader. Constructive feedback, advice and impressions of a text.
Manuscript assessment
An appraisal of your manuscript with feedback and constructive criticism on elements of your writing such as:
- plot
- character
- structure
- dialogue
- pace
- style.
A manuscript assessment also identifies broad areas of the manuscript in need of improvement such as spelling, grammar and punctuation, and suggestions for developing these areas, but it does not cover this form of editing (see copyediting and proofreading).
Substantive editing
A form of editing that focuses on the document as a whole and includes:
- structure
- content
- style.
Substantive editing helps develop the manuscript at a higher level, identifying the purpose of the text, how it’s trying to tell its story and what might need to be improved to achieve these. This might help identify whether a particular character’s arc works across the story or not, or whether a given chapter leads into the conflict in the next chapter.
Copyediting
This form of editing aims to remove mistakes and inconsistencies in a manuscript. Copyediting focuses on:
- language
- spelling
- punctuation
- consistency of style
- clarity of meaning
- crosschecking references.
This form of editing often follows a style guide or style sheet to ensure consistency of the style of spelling, capitalisation, punctuation and hyphenation across the manuscript.
Proofreading
Proofreading checks that a document is ready to be published. Proofreading is there to make sure grammar, spelling, punctuation, and chosen styles – layout issues too in some cases – have all been followed and any errors fixed.
It’s the final level of polish before publication, and all major story development issues should have been taken care of beforehand. Having someone to proofread your manuscript means you also have an extra set of eyes to check for errors that the author or copyeditor may not have picked up on.
Please use my contact page so we can discuss how I can make your manuscript the best it can be and should you want to enquire into my rates.
Other services
Some of my other services that may be included with any of the above include:
- Style guide/style sheet development
- Continuity guide
- Rules clarity and playtesting (for roleplaying games or boardgames)
Scott Vandervalk 