Editing
Elaine works as a full-time editor, managing the European copy editing team for a FTSE 15 data analytics and publishing company. She copy edits daily news and pricing reports in the petchems industry for accuracy and compliance. She also works on layouts in In Design for publication.
In her previous role, she worked as a full-time editor for an educational not-for-profit provider of professional qualifications in the UK. Amongst her many duties, she edited and tagged written copy for In Design layout in our print textbooks and guides as well as the online copy for learning materials published on our virtual learning environment in Moodle.
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She feels that editing is where my main talents lie. Many people can write but not everyone can edit. Writing takes research, reading widely, and looking at the big picture; then, you have to synthesise that material into something that's easy to digest and easy to read, especially for digital environments. However, not all writers can produce clean copy. Who can blame them? Writing is essentially a creative skill; whereas editing is a very technical skill. It requires hours of patience and combing through text for layout changes and consistency, variations in pattern, clarity, mistakes, overall quality and understanding, and much more. Many creatives just don't have the resignation to both write and edit seamlessly (usually their talents lie in one or the other).
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With Elaine, you have both a writer and an editor – and with Jae too. We can comb through your text and pick out mistakes; we can comment as a reader (reader-response style or even academic-style); and we can help you generate ideas and provide suggestions for improvement.
As a side note, Elaine loves using semicolons as a 'super comma'. Check out one of her favourite Grammar-nerd comics, The Oatmeal's Matthew Inman, on the subject: How to use a semicolon. And here's another funny one from Ali Brosh at Hyperbole and a Half about the 'Alot monster'; she's another much-admired favourite of Elaine's.
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Get in touch if you'd like to work with Jae or Elaine.
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What we can do for you
Here's a list of the most common content we have edited.
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Website copy
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Manuscripts
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Creative fiction and non-fiction, including plays and novels
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Educational materials for print and online publication
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Bachelor's and Master's degree dissertations and theses​ (a throwback to Elaine's academic tutoring days)
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Want to see our past writing work or other service offerings?
Read through our portfolio or see our other services below.