I'm gonna tell you a little secret about copyediting.
Shhhh.
A solid 25 percent of copyediting is helping writers not to get kvetched at by people who like to kvetch at writers over picayune shit.
Now, that might seem to be giving in to the enemy, but trust me: Writers like it. (Most of them.)
Shhhh.
A solid 25 percent of copyediting is helping writers not to get kvetched at by people who like to kvetch at writers over picayune shit.
Now, that might seem to be giving in to the enemy, but trust me: Writers like it. (Most of them.)
December 11, 2025 at 8:46 PM
I'm gonna tell you a little secret about copyediting.
Shhhh.
A solid 25 percent of copyediting is helping writers not to get kvetched at by people who like to kvetch at writers over picayune shit.
Now, that might seem to be giving in to the enemy, but trust me: Writers like it. (Most of them.)
Shhhh.
A solid 25 percent of copyediting is helping writers not to get kvetched at by people who like to kvetch at writers over picayune shit.
Now, that might seem to be giving in to the enemy, but trust me: Writers like it. (Most of them.)
I have two guiding principles when copyediting: consistency, and knowing when to be inconsistent.
"Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself."
"Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself."
December 14, 2025 at 9:23 PM
I have two guiding principles when copyediting: consistency, and knowing when to be inconsistent.
"Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself."
"Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself."
You want a funny copyediting story?
Here's a funny copyediting story.
Quite a few years ago, I copyedited, back to back, two manuscripts: one by Elizabeth Strout, one by Janet Evanovich.
(It's a long story.)
Unlikelily, both writers, at one point, wrote, adverbially, "feet first."
1/
Here's a funny copyediting story.
Quite a few years ago, I copyedited, back to back, two manuscripts: one by Elizabeth Strout, one by Janet Evanovich.
(It's a long story.)
Unlikelily, both writers, at one point, wrote, adverbially, "feet first."
1/
December 11, 2025 at 9:11 PM
You want a funny copyediting story?
Here's a funny copyediting story.
Quite a few years ago, I copyedited, back to back, two manuscripts: one by Elizabeth Strout, one by Janet Evanovich.
(It's a long story.)
Unlikelily, both writers, at one point, wrote, adverbially, "feet first."
1/
Here's a funny copyediting story.
Quite a few years ago, I copyedited, back to back, two manuscripts: one by Elizabeth Strout, one by Janet Evanovich.
(It's a long story.)
Unlikelily, both writers, at one point, wrote, adverbially, "feet first."
1/
"Slop" is the perfect Word of the Year for 2025. No notes!
Signed,
An editor who has edited way too much slop this year 😭
#amediting #copyediting #edibuddies #editing #freelanceeditor
Signed,
An editor who has edited way too much slop this year 😭
#amediting #copyediting #edibuddies #editing #freelanceeditor
Merriam-Webster’s human editors have chosen ‘slop’ as the 2025 Word of the Year.
December 15, 2025 at 10:50 PM
"Slop" is the perfect Word of the Year for 2025. No notes!
Signed,
An editor who has edited way too much slop this year 😭
#amediting #copyediting #edibuddies #editing #freelanceeditor
Signed,
An editor who has edited way too much slop this year 😭
#amediting #copyediting #edibuddies #editing #freelanceeditor
I love proofing medical journal articles because I always learn new words. Today's is "estimand." #editorsky #copyediting #amediting
December 15, 2025 at 11:00 PM
I love proofing medical journal articles because I always learn new words. Today's is "estimand." #editorsky #copyediting #amediting
Polish your book until it’s publication-ready ✨
For your editing needs, I’ve got you covered!
I offer professional manuscript copyediting for fiction/nonfiction, focused on all elements and style (CMOS).
📩 Open for projects
#CopyEditing #WritersOfBluesky #IndieAuthors #AmEditing #WritingCommunity
For your editing needs, I’ve got you covered!
I offer professional manuscript copyediting for fiction/nonfiction, focused on all elements and style (CMOS).
📩 Open for projects
#CopyEditing #WritersOfBluesky #IndieAuthors #AmEditing #WritingCommunity
December 13, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Polish your book until it’s publication-ready ✨
For your editing needs, I’ve got you covered!
I offer professional manuscript copyediting for fiction/nonfiction, focused on all elements and style (CMOS).
📩 Open for projects
#CopyEditing #WritersOfBluesky #IndieAuthors #AmEditing #WritingCommunity
For your editing needs, I’ve got you covered!
I offer professional manuscript copyediting for fiction/nonfiction, focused on all elements and style (CMOS).
📩 Open for projects
#CopyEditing #WritersOfBluesky #IndieAuthors #AmEditing #WritingCommunity
Great copyediting job (words I don't get to type often!)
Come work with me! Salary range $85,000-$100,000. Benefits include a union, fairly low insurance premiums and so many cat photos. job-boards.greenhouse.io/propublica/j...
Copy Editor
New York City, United States; Remote, United States
job-boards.greenhouse.io
December 9, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Great copyediting job (words I don't get to type often!)
also, just because your book hasn't gone into copyediting doesn't mean we aren't working on the book in other ways—marketing and publicity, copy and metadata, etc. a lot goes into publishing a book!
Put differently: projects “sitting” doesn’t mean time lost/wasted. We spend weeks scheduling projects for publication in a specific month. Not hearing anything for a few weeks while your ms is one of 20 being prepped for production doesn’t mean it will appear in the world any later.
December 11, 2025 at 6:12 PM
also, just because your book hasn't gone into copyediting doesn't mean we aren't working on the book in other ways—marketing and publicity, copy and metadata, etc. a lot goes into publishing a book!
(That said, I do always laugh remembering that when I worked on the student paper and started bringing my kitten to Sunday night copyediting meetings, it took like two months before the editor in chief realized a cat had joined the staff. Investigative instincts not tuned to kittens apparently.)
December 12, 2025 at 2:20 PM
(That said, I do always laugh remembering that when I worked on the student paper and started bringing my kitten to Sunday night copyediting meetings, it took like two months before the editor in chief realized a cat had joined the staff. Investigative instincts not tuned to kittens apparently.)
This is clever. There are times when you want to use nonstandard capitalization, but the word falls at the beginning of a sentence, so no one will be aware that you've capitalized it. (In that case, reword the sentence.) #copyediting
December 14, 2025 at 6:19 PM
This is clever. There are times when you want to use nonstandard capitalization, but the word falls at the beginning of a sentence, so no one will be aware that you've capitalized it. (In that case, reword the sentence.) #copyediting
No. I don't think I've ever submitted anything I've ever published in paper form. I used to get printed manuscripts back for copyediting, but they don't do that anymore either; now everything is done in Word or PDF. Which I prefer anyway; it's easier to make and track changes.
You submit actual paper? I've worked for two publishers (of tech books), doing conversions of, among other things, fonts. Submissions on paper would have been entirely unwelcome, since we would have had to hire someone to type it into a file we could use, with all the errors that go with doing so.
December 10, 2025 at 4:11 PM
No. I don't think I've ever submitted anything I've ever published in paper form. I used to get printed manuscripts back for copyediting, but they don't do that anymore either; now everything is done in Word or PDF. Which I prefer anyway; it's easier to make and track changes.
Live example of a margin note to I just made at the start of a manuscript. I strive to make the editing process as unscary as possible. Editing should be a joyful collaboration, not a schoolmarm rapping your knuckles because you got an answer wrong.
December 13, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Live example of a margin note to I just made at the start of a manuscript. I strive to make the editing process as unscary as possible. Editing should be a joyful collaboration, not a schoolmarm rapping your knuckles because you got an answer wrong.
when i graduated college i found myself having to choose between two jobs
1. a part time gig with a local medical college doing copyediting
2. a full time job with a b2b telemarketing company that had health insurance
i went with the full time gig and boy was that a mistake
1. a part time gig with a local medical college doing copyediting
2. a full time job with a b2b telemarketing company that had health insurance
i went with the full time gig and boy was that a mistake
December 13, 2025 at 5:45 AM
when i graduated college i found myself having to choose between two jobs
1. a part time gig with a local medical college doing copyediting
2. a full time job with a b2b telemarketing company that had health insurance
i went with the full time gig and boy was that a mistake
1. a part time gig with a local medical college doing copyediting
2. a full time job with a b2b telemarketing company that had health insurance
i went with the full time gig and boy was that a mistake
"Copyediting: A Practical Guide."
omg. Kat Abughazaleh just posted that if she's elected, she'll swear in on a copy of Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower.
If you were elected to public office (never mind whether you'd ever actually run), what book would you swear in on?
If you were elected to public office (never mind whether you'd ever actually run), what book would you swear in on?
December 10, 2025 at 10:58 PM
"Copyediting: A Practical Guide."
*whose photos = holiday photos
can't blame autocorrect, just shitty copyediting here
can't blame autocorrect, just shitty copyediting here
December 10, 2025 at 8:48 PM
*whose photos = holiday photos
can't blame autocorrect, just shitty copyediting here
can't blame autocorrect, just shitty copyediting here
comments really do mean the world? lol no, i learned that i could write something worth reading. Even if it will always need more copyediting. Even if few actually want to read it.
And that sentence fragments are easier to parse than the french-style paragraph-long sentences in my zero drafts.
And that sentence fragments are easier to parse than the french-style paragraph-long sentences in my zero drafts.
December 16, 2025 at 2:22 AM
comments really do mean the world? lol no, i learned that i could write something worth reading. Even if it will always need more copyediting. Even if few actually want to read it.
And that sentence fragments are easier to parse than the french-style paragraph-long sentences in my zero drafts.
And that sentence fragments are easier to parse than the french-style paragraph-long sentences in my zero drafts.
Copyediting the worst copy in the world. Hoping it's fucking AI because otherwise... Have removed dozens of 'for the blind', one 'partial site' but this has ended me...
December 9, 2025 at 10:15 AM
Copyediting the worst copy in the world. Hoping it's fucking AI because otherwise... Have removed dozens of 'for the blind', one 'partial site' but this has ended me...
Do you think the grocery store will give me a free turkey in-exchange for some copyediting
December 9, 2025 at 1:14 AM
Do you think the grocery store will give me a free turkey in-exchange for some copyediting
Copyediting is dead .?
December 8, 2025 at 5:51 AM
Copyediting is dead .?
Today in copyediting catches spell check won't flag: slight-of-hand movement ➡️ sleight-of-hand movement. #amediting
December 6, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Today in copyediting catches spell check won't flag: slight-of-hand movement ➡️ sleight-of-hand movement. #amediting
"is the sentence longer than bluesky's character limit" is probably a pretty good metric for copyediting amateur prose tbf
There’s a sentence on page 2 that is longer than Bluesky’s character limit.
And the sole knowledge that sentence conveys is “Olivia was born on January 6th.”
And the sole knowledge that sentence conveys is “Olivia was born on January 6th.”
December 8, 2025 at 2:20 PM
"is the sentence longer than bluesky's character limit" is probably a pretty good metric for copyediting amateur prose tbf
authors, you know what can happen when you become addicted to tweaking your text during and after copyediting, and during review of page proof? you risk over-seasoning the soup. ever eaten over-seasoned soup? think about that experience if you feel tempted to request "just a final few changes"
December 9, 2025 at 4:39 PM
authors, you know what can happen when you become addicted to tweaking your text during and after copyediting, and during review of page proof? you risk over-seasoning the soup. ever eaten over-seasoned soup? think about that experience if you feel tempted to request "just a final few changes"
My first post-college job was copyediting database magazines, and I remember an editor introducing me to the phrase "no one ever got fired for buying Microsoft."
This is the political equivalent. No one ever faces consequences for punching left. Or throwing trans people under the bus.
This is the political equivalent. No one ever faces consequences for punching left. Or throwing trans people under the bus.
California Governor Gavin Newsom said on Thursday that the Democratic Party needed to be “more culturally normal” and “less judgmental.”
December 7, 2025 at 4:07 AM
My first post-college job was copyediting database magazines, and I remember an editor introducing me to the phrase "no one ever got fired for buying Microsoft."
This is the political equivalent. No one ever faces consequences for punching left. Or throwing trans people under the bus.
This is the political equivalent. No one ever faces consequences for punching left. Or throwing trans people under the bus.
I won't follow this advice either but we should all sweat the typos/honest mistakes a bit less (particularly in an age of 120-150k books essentially now having zero serious copyediting)
The sheer laziness is one of the things that bothers me most about the style of column writing Phillips embodies.
If I make a small mistake in a post I spend all day wanting to crawl into hole but these guys will just happily write any bollocks without any research at all.
If I make a small mistake in a post I spend all day wanting to crawl into hole but these guys will just happily write any bollocks without any research at all.
Because of course Henry had got the full roll call from Dulwich College and of course Trevor Phillips couldn’t even be bothered to read the stories he’s writing about
December 8, 2025 at 1:17 PM
I won't follow this advice either but we should all sweat the typos/honest mistakes a bit less (particularly in an age of 120-150k books essentially now having zero serious copyediting)
Absolutely.
Happily, in at least the second half of my career at Little Random, our writers tended to be good vastly more often than not, and their editors did right by them, so by the time we got to copyediting things tended to go well.
1/
Happily, in at least the second half of my career at Little Random, our writers tended to be good vastly more often than not, and their editors did right by them, so by the time we got to copyediting things tended to go well.
1/
December 6, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Absolutely.
Happily, in at least the second half of my career at Little Random, our writers tended to be good vastly more often than not, and their editors did right by them, so by the time we got to copyediting things tended to go well.
1/
Happily, in at least the second half of my career at Little Random, our writers tended to be good vastly more often than not, and their editors did right by them, so by the time we got to copyediting things tended to go well.
1/