Perhaps you’re looking for a copywriter to write a blog for you but you’re not sure about the best structure for it? As a copywriter, I’m very happy to offer my expertise and guide clients through the options available. But just to give some initial insight into the process, this blog describes several of the most common copywriting ‘formulas’ that are used today. The hope is that by understanding what your copywriter is trying to Read more
Are you wondering what all the fuss is about AI and copywriting? Well, I certainly was until a few weeks ago when I finally had time to start investigating. What I found literally kept me awake at night, thinking about the potential of AI – not only for copywriting but also for many other uses. AI has been lurking around in the background for many years, but the arrival of ChatGPT in 2022 brought it Read more
This post is intended for authors who are using MS Word to prepare a manuscript, paper, report or other document. It highlights some of the aspects that many people get wrong, in the hope that others won’t make the same mistakes. Of course, a Word document will sometimes get converted into another format prior to publishing, in which case the formatting is not quite so important. But in other cases, the reader will eventually see Read more
Do you want to improve your academic/non-fiction writing? If so, you’ve come to the right place. This post is aimed at authors of journal papers, technical web content or other non-fiction material, who want to produce top-quality writing. While other posts have focused on simple proofreading tips for students and issues that are more relevant to those who are using English as a second language, this post highlights some common errors that I regularly encounter, Read more
Getting your manuscript or paper back after it has been proofread/edited is an exciting time. You’re desperate to dive in for the final push before submission. But, wait, what’s this? Your editor has added lots of comments and queries to your Word document, and now you’re not sure what you should do about some of them. This blog provides a detailed explanation of what I suggest you do when faced with the most common queries Read more
Writing in English is hard, even when it’s your first language. It’s full of peculiar quirks and exceptions that will often trip up even the wariest of native speakers. So, I have huge respect for people who write using English as a second language (ESL) – after all and like many English people, my skills in a second language are virtually non-existent. Much of my work comes from academics around the world who have written Read more
Lots of my clients ask me whether their manuscript will be “perfect” or “free from errors” after I’ve edited or proofread it. The answer to this – from me and perhaps any other editor who is being completely honest – will generally be along the lines of: “Probably not. I’ll aim for perfection but it’s difficult (or impossible) to achieve.” However, it’s not necessarily all bad news. This blog explores the issue further. Standards Read more
Following on from a previous blog discussing proofreading tips for students (& others), I stumbled across a very helpful video on YouTube recently. It’s called Word 2016 Tutorial: A Comprehensive Guide to Word for Anyone by Sali Kaceli and contains tips and tricks that many users might find useful. I’ve been using Word for many years but I still picked up a few nuggets of information that will come in handy in future. For example, Read more
Many independent authors, academics and businesses contact me to ask for their paper, manuscript, blog, etc to be proofread as soon as they have finished writing it. This usually leads to a discussion about whether they actually need a copy-editor rather than a proofreader. Generally, this situation arises because many people aren’t aware of the processes that written material usually goes through prior to publication, and nor are they aware of the problems with their Read more
The topic of this blog has already been briefly discussed here; however, this post aims to give a lot more detail and advice on how to check your document after it has been proofread and returned to you. Firstly, and just to clarify, this blog is written for the intended audience of academics, students and (non-publishing) corporate clients who are working with a document in MS Word format using the Track Changes function. Proofreading for Read more