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

Monday 25 January  5.00 pm  COURSE FEES R115; Staff and students R58

 There will be a book launch at 6.30 pm after the lecture.

Are you an about-to-be author of a book, an article or a chapter? 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 word choices, grammar, punctuation and spelling errors, for sure. But what about matters of fact and of inconsistency within and between chapters?

During this lecture, the mysteries surrounding these two crafts – aimed as they are at improving writers’ words – will be dispelled by sharing a number of documents with the audience: raw, unedited texts; their copy-edited products, and the final proofread versions of the laid-out text as pages.

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

Recommended reading

Davies, G and Balkwill, R. 2011. The Professionals’ Guide to Publishing: A Practical Introduction to Working in the Publishing Industry. Kogan Page Publishers.

Einsohn, A and Schwartz, M. 2019. The Copyeditor’s Handbook: A Guide for Book Publishing and Corporate Communications. University of California Press.

Mackenzie, J. 2011. The Editor’s Companion. Cambridge University Press.

Van de Poel, K, Carstens, WAM and Linnegar, J. 2012. Text Editing: A Handbook for Students and Practitioners.

TO BOOK: https://www.webtickets.co.za/v2/performance.aspx?itemid=1602815153