Month: May 2019

A photo of the Shakespeare and Company bookshop

Copy-editing vs. Proofreading: A Simple Guide for New Authors

As you’ve probably just discovered, a search for ‘copy-editing vs. proofreading’ brings up hundreds of different results, from ‘line editing’ to ‘proofreading’, and words such as ‘developmental’, ‘opinionated’ and ‘beta reading’ get thrown around, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and confused. If you’re unsure where to start with getting your manuscript edited, it’s worth understanding … Read More

A greeting card with 'I use semi-colons' on

How to Use Semicolons: A Simple Guide

I have found that some forms of punctuation appear to be an unfathomable mystery to a lot of people, and for some reason, semicolons are the worst offender. I have seen comments on Reddit along the lines of ‘I have no idea how to use semicolons so I generally just stick one in a sentence … Read More

Handwritten notes on a page

Seven Top Tips for Self-Editing: A Guide for New Authors

You’ve finally finished that novel or short story collection. It’s taken you months… maybe even years! Hooray! …WHAT NOW? Before you consider professional editing and publication, it’s always worth going over your work at least once. It can be tempting to just hand your work over to someone else, and self-editing often feels like the … Read More