Copy editing and proofreading: what's the difference. Who performs them?

COPY EDITING AND PROOFREADING: WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE? WHO PERFORMS THEM?

John Linnegar, copy editor, proofreader, trainer

Wednesday 28 January  1.00 pm

This lecture is FREE but booking is essential to secure a place.

Are you an about-to-be author of a book, an article or a chapter? Or relatively new to publishing? Or simply curious about the process of refining a text in preparation for its publication? Then this lecture could be just the ticket for you.

Why do authors’ words need to undergo both copy editing and proofreading? And what do these interventions entail? Corrections to grammar, punctuation and spelling errors? And what about matters of fact and of inconsistency within and between sections or chapters?

During this session, the mysteries and misunderstandings about these two crafts – aimed as they are at improving writers’ words and even saving their reputations – will certainly be dispelled. The way in which this will be done is to share a number of documents with the audience: raw, unedited texts, their copy-edited product, and the final proofread versions of the typeset or laid-out text as pages of the book or the article.

Essentially, there are some fundamental differences between these two crafts that we generally, and authors in particular, need to be aware of. First, there’s the level or depth of engagement with the text; second, the time taken to deliver on their briefs differs; third, the medium in which these activities are performed differs; fourth, the nature of the errors detected and corrected are somewhat different; and finally, there’s the level of engagement with the author regarding matters that the copy editor or the proofreader is unable to resolve.

TO BOOK: https://www.webtickets.co.za/performance.aspx?itemid=1575251239