A light copyedit is for manuscripts that have been previously edited and are only in need of a final grammar check or for authors on a particularly tight budget. A medium edit is a better fit for most books, but if you can’t afford a medium copyedit, a light edit will at least ensure that your book is free from errors.
Light copyedits focus only on grammar issues and involve checking and correcting indisputable issues with the following:
- Abbreviations, acronyms, and special characters
- Capitalization
- Italics and bold type (appropriateness and consistency)
- Numbers within the text
- Numbering and alphabetization of footnotes, table of contents, chapters, etc.
- Punctuation
- References, footnotes, and other documentation
- Spelling and hyphenation
- Style sheet (provided upon request)
- Syntax and usage
- Tables, charts, graphs, illustrations, and associated captions
- Terms (flag words that may need to be defined for readers)
- Typecoding (on request)
- Word usage and syntax
The following issues may be flagged with a comment but not corrected:
- Factual inconsistencies and continuity errors
- Permissions (flag potentially copyrighted material)
- POV
- Tense
- Unclear phrasing
- Voice
- Wordiness*
*A light copyedit ignores wordiness within individual sentences that is not likely to cause confusion for readers. Larger sections of wordiness or sentences that are unclear will be flagged.
A light copyedit is .0118 cents a word.
If you have any questions or would like to schedule a light edit, don’t hesitate to contact me. Free sample edits are available for manuscripts over 20K.