
Ask HN: How do you handle copyediting? - jmduke
I'm somewhat interested in getting into the copyediting space, relying on the tenet that coworkers who generally do proofreading and copyediting (besides, of course, in-house editors) are wasting time that could be better spent elsewhere.<p>I recognize that my experience (mainly marketing firms and Big Tech) is tiny and anecdotal.  How do you handle this kind of stuff?
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ivan_ah
You can do a lot of copy editing yourself. I recommend you print things out on
paper and proofread a couple of times. It is not so hard.

Another trick I use is to get the computer to read the text to me (using mac
os's built-in text-to-speech function). It works really great --- you won't be
able to find the mistake if you reread, but you will definitely //hear// the
mistake.

As for more serious copy editing (my book), I found a freelancer who is going
to proofread the entire thing carefully.

You can also try these simple shell scripts which are good for scientific
texts: <https://github.com/ivanistheone/writing_scripts>

_________

As for getting into that space, I hear that $20-30/hr is the going rate for
copy editing, which is not too exciting. My advice would be to combine your
copy-editing-as-a-service offering with another service. Quality control,
click counting (is the app/website well organized?) or general feedback for
startups.

Copy editing is VERY valuable, but unfortunately most people don't recognize
the value so you will have to work hard to convince them that they need you.

Good luck!

~~~
ScottWhigham
I also do my own copy editing and printing to paper is my way as well. I find
that the physical paper + a highlighter + a pen helps me best. I'm 42 years
old and I'd be interested to hear if others who are in their 20s feel the same
about paper.

~~~
stevejalim
I spent the best part of a decade as a journalist, editor and copywriter and I
never found a more effective way to edit and proof copy than paper + pen.

And whenever I had freelancers in who insisted that on-screen only was
better/faster than on paper for them, I'd let them do it how they wanted, but
they invariably spotted fewer mistakes, so not much faster in the long run.
Anecdotal, sure, but paper works better in my view.

Edit: I'm 37

------
cafard
I was a copy editor before I was a techie. I found that it did not pay well.
This may have partly been because it was in the association publishing world
around Washington, DC. I also reached the point where it was boring me, which
definitely was because it was in the association publishing world.

It appears to me that the company I knew as Editorial Experts Inc. long ago is
now EEI Communications, <http://wwww.eeicom.com>. No doubt other metropolitan
areas have such organizations; you might check in with one of them to see what
sort of work is out there.

I agree with the other posters on paper and pen. Yet Word with track changes
isn't bad.

