Editing should make a written or spoken text communicate better. Good editing will not only correct errors of punctuation, spelling or grammar, but will improve the flow of ideas, and enrich the vocabulary. While respecting the author’s intentions and basic style, good editing should also remove unnecessary repetition, and vary sentence structures, making the text concise, lively and more interesting to read.

Following are the three basic types of editing and the approximate time required for each (click for examples, showing changes with the Word Editor):

Proofreading	Punctuation, spelling, general formatting	8 - 10 pages per hour
Light Editing	Spelling, punctuation, formatting, grammar, style	4 - 7 pages per hour
Heavy Editing	All the above, improving the flow of ideas, paragraphing, heavy re-writing for grammar and style	1 - 3 pages per hour

When the editing is complete, the client receives a clean text, for ease of reading and review. In addition, the same file, with full details and all suggested changes, will also be sent, enabling the author to see all the edits and retain editorial control.

It often occurs that the editor has questions about a particular word, phrase or idea, is unsure of the author’s intention, or wishes to make a creative suggestion going beyond the supplied text. In this case, the passage is highlighted and the editor’s will add an explanatory comment. These are later discussed (usually by email or on the telephone) with the author, until a mutually satisfactory solution is found.

Documents of under 2,000 words: 2 - 4 days
Documents of 2,000 - 5,000 words: up to 1 week
Documents of more than 5,000 words: by prior agreement

By prior agreement only, urgent documents of under 2,000 words can be delivered within 24 hours for an additional fee of $0.02 cents per word.

Light Editing
Heavy Editing