A Copyedit:
Corrects spelling, grammar, punctuation, and syntax;
Ensures consistency in spelling, hyphenation, numerals, fonts, and capitalization;
Flags ambiguous or factually incorrect statements (especially important for Ad copy);
Tracks macro concerns like internal consistency.
There will be some overlap between the work of a general editor and a copyeditor. Most developmental editors will point out technical errors or logical inconsistencies when they jump out, because they’re trying to make your writing better, and because editors tend to be perfectionists by disposition.
Our team combs through your prose, fixes your grammar and typos, capitalizes proper nouns, or changes all spellings of color to colour, harbor to harbour because we’re in Canada, not the United States. This is the job of a copyeditor, and it requires a rule-based understanding of standard Canadian, British, or American English usage that traditional editors don’t have. As such, your copyedit may, at our discretion come with a “style sheet” that explains how these rules and principals apply to specific things in your promotional Ad copy. So while your general editor will probably not have The Canadian Style: A Guide to Writing and Editing or the Chicago Manual of Style committed to memory, our copyeditor might.
There is one other reason that line editing and copyediting aren’t the same jobs: copyediting should always come after line edit, never at the same time or before. The page-by-page, sentence-by-sentence content of your promotional copy should be finalized before being fine-tuned on the level of a copyedit. Because what is the point of spending time (and money) proofreading portions of an early draft that might be significantly altered, completely cut, or rewritten by the time the final draft rolls around?
- At an agency, a Copyeditor is usually the last person who touches the text of a promotional ad copy before it goes into production—after final sign-off on your promotional copy.
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- The job of our editor is to help you tell a better story, to sell your product or service through words.
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- The job of a Copyeditor is to make sure the grammar is correct.
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At Evolving Media, promotional copy that describes your product or service, regardless of industry, is written and edited, before the design process.
A final edit of the promotional piece (ad, brochure, catalogue, or website), and obtaining a signature is required before going to press or launching your website.