Difference Between Copy Editing and Proofreading for Authors

In the writing world, the terms copy editing and proofreading can sometimes be used interchangeably. But treating both as the same step in the process or worse, skipping out on either with the assumption that they're one and the same is bad news for your book. If you're wondering why you need a copy edit and a proofread, then this video is for you. Hey there. Hi, I'm Julie the Book Broad, the founder of a fabulous self publishing services team called Book Launchers. Chatting with someone interested in working with us, I had to smile because he said, I listened to the audiobook version of your book and I learned enough to know that there are a lot of editors I need. So if you want to learn all the ins and outs and all the editors and all the things to help you write a book, definitely grab a copy of Self Publish and succeed. I cover it all There are three main editors we have work on every book. First, we put the book through a content or a developmental edit. That's the 30,000 foot view of your book for structure, credibility, flow, and reader connection. This edit makes your book so much better. Copy editing and proofreading are two different and essential steps in the editing process that come after that content edit. The copy edit is what makes your book grammatically correct and consistent. It gives it that polished feel. Despite how often they're lumped together as twins, though, both steps copyedit and Proofread involve hiring their own separate expert editors, and both steps offer their own unique benefits for your book. These can be summed up in two Copy editors catch all the mistakes the author missed, and proofreaders catch all the mistakes the copy editor missed. Well, okay, if it were that simple, I wouldn't have to make a video about it, would I? So let's dive in a little bit deeper and clear up the copy editing and proofreading conundrum for good. Before a book hits copy editing, it's been fully written and it's gone through all the content editing needed to get it from a first draft to a complete product. All the content is in the book and it's got a strong structure and a great flow. At Book Launchers, most of our authors go through a content edit, two copy edits, and some opt for a fact check that happens in between the two copy edit rounds. And then we do a proofread. The goal of copy editing is to make the document clear, concise, and grammatically correct, while ensuring the voice is singular. We also sometimes make readability adjustments, so if your book comes to us at a college level. We'll look at word choices and sentence structure to simplify the book to make it more readable. The ideal Flesch Kincaid score is closer to a grade 8 level, but we may not want to make that big of a change to an author's voice if that's just who they are. Regardless, that whole thing happens in copyedit. These rounds of editing are meant to add that high shine polish to an author's book. Using the Chicago Manual of Style with a few house rule exceptions, a copy editor is on the hunt for places to make the authority sounds smart. You know, like eight hours of sleep and two cups of coffee smart. That means catching spelling, grammar and punctuation errors and going elbows deep into making necessary changes to ensure a high quality book. Copy editing takes a sharp, detail oriented eye, the love of rules, and a great deal of laser fine focus. A tiny error won't ruin your entire book. There may even be errors that your readers wouldn't notice. But if they do and they see a handful, I promise you'll be reading reviews about all the errors for the rest of your life. Working with a copy editor makes sure that you're publishing a professional book and saving you from looking like an amateur. Okay, so that was copy editing. Check the next step is a proofread. At this point, your book is already in tip top shape. That means that a proofreader is the last line of defense against errors and inconsistencies that have gone unseen. This last step in the process is to catch any lingering spelling, grammar and punctuation errors to ensure that headings are properly applied. Double check references and citations, and ultimately check the formatting. Formatting issues fall under a proofreader's to do as well, like checking paragraphs for consistent indentation, eliminating double spaces between sentences, ensuring consistent styling for bulleted lists, and more. Once the manuscript goes through the proofread, you're all done. Just kidding. You can't get rid of me that easily. Okay, it's time to take the copy editing and proofread document of your book and design it into something beautiful that will make your readers look like. Well, look at your book with all of those adorable heart eyed emojis. You probably need a book designer for that. Once you have a designer do their magic and create an interior layout of your final book files, your proofreader is back in the saddle because their job isn't quite finished. Or if you're reading an audiobook, this is a great time for you to read your book out loud and catch any last little errors or issues that may have been introduced in layout or missed with all of the other editing. When I was reading the audiobook for self publish and succeed, one that I found that had gone unnoticed was a numbered bullet that was 12333. Oops. So if you read your book out loud, you may catch these errors that the layout designer accidentally introduced when hard coding the design of your book. A proofreader in layout can also help to pick out any final formatting faux pas, align the table of contents and page numbers, and they'll also spot anything the designer may need to correct before the final file is sent to print. So to recap, a copy editor goes into your manuscript and goes line by line through focusing on word choice, sentence structure, punctuation, and voice. They're trying to create one singular voice throughout that manuscript. Then a proofreader is going to go in and look for typos, misplaced punctuation, and make sure there's consistency of style applied everywhere. And then often a proofreader is involved in identifying layout issues like numbering indents and tables and figure placement in your manuscript. One last note. You might be tempted to automate the proofreading step with machine logic. I know you might think, hey, a machine can spot errors and fix them for way less money than an editor. And you might be right. But when it comes to editing, saving the money is not worth it. A robot can be programmed to follow rules and fix mistakes, but it just, at least to date, does not replicate the same human touch or human eye. And now that this copy editing proofreading lesson is over, it's time to smash that thumbs up button in celebration of editors that make us look good as authors, and then head to this video on what a content editor does if you want to learn more about that kind of editing. If that's not what you need, then this is the latest and greatest video from the channel and it's sure to be a delight. So click on over. I'll see you there.