Editing Services

Copy Editing forSelf-Published Authors

The final editorial stage before formatting — grammar, punctuation, consistency, and a full style sheet.

You're close to publishing. The manuscript has been through developmental and line editing — or several rounds of self-revision — and you're satisfied with the story and the prose. What's left is the technical layer: grammar, punctuation, spelling, consistency in character names and timelines, and adherence to professional publishing conventions. That's copy editing — the final quality check that separates a manuscript that's clearly professional from one that's clearly not.

1–2

weeks to delivery

7

items delivered

4

steps in our process

What is copy editing?

Copy editing is the systematic correction of grammar, punctuation, spelling, and style throughout a manuscript, following an established style guide — typically the Chicago Manual of Style for fiction and narrative non-fiction. A copy editor also tracks consistency: checking that character names are spelled identically throughout, that timeline references don't contradict each other, that made-up terminology is used uniformly, and that capitalization and hyphenation decisions are applied consistently. The copy editor doesn't rewrite — they correct and flag. The result is a clean manuscript accompanied by a style sheet documenting every decision made, ready for print formatting or ebook formatting.

What's included

What you receive

  • Grammar and punctuation correction throughout the full manuscript
  • Spelling and typographical error elimination
  • Consistency check: character names, place names, timelines, made-up terminology, and factual references
  • Capitalization and hyphenation uniformity throughout
  • Adherence to Chicago Manual of Style or your specified style guide
  • Style sheet documenting every decision made — delivered with the manuscript
  • Light query notes for any factual ambiguities or unclear passages that need author clarification

Who is this for?

Authors with a content-complete manuscript ready for final polish

You're satisfied with the story and the prose. You've revised, possibly line edited, and now need the systematic technical correction that separates a professional manuscript from an amateur one before it goes to formatting.

Self-publishers preparing for Amazon KDP or IngramSpark upload

Readers have no patience for grammar errors and spelling inconsistencies — and they'll say so in reviews. Copy editing is the baseline standard for any book distributed on a retail platform. It's not optional for authors who want to be taken seriously.

Authors who self-edit but want a professional final check

Even experienced writers miss errors in their own work — the brain autocorrects what the eye should catch. A professional copy editor approaches your manuscript fresh, without the familiarity that causes authors to skim over mistakes.

Our process

  1. 01

    Submit your manuscript

    Send your manuscript and any existing style notes or preferences — style guide, character name spellings, preferred hyphenation conventions. If you have no preferences, we apply Chicago Manual of Style throughout.

  2. 02

    Scope review and confirmation

    We review word count and manuscript density, confirm the quote and delivery date. Dense manuscripts with heavy dialogue or technical terminology may take slightly longer.

  3. 03

    Copy editing

    We do all the work — moving systematically through your manuscript, correcting errors and flagging queries. Every change is tracked; every decision is documented in the style sheet. We share progress updates as we go and flag anything that needs your input before finalising. For most manuscripts, delivery takes 1–2 weeks.

  4. 04

    Delivery and acceptance

    We deliver your manuscript with tracked changes and your completed style sheet for your review and approval. Go through the edits, accept what works, and flag anything that doesn't feel right — this is your book, and we're not done until you're satisfied with the result.

Frequently asked questions

Copy editing corrects grammar, punctuation, spelling, and style inconsistencies throughout the manuscript, and produces a style sheet documenting every decision made. Proofreading is a final check of the laid-out pages — it catches errors introduced during formatting. Copy editing happens before formatting; proofreading happens after. Both are necessary for a professional self-published book.

Yes. Formatting is applied to a final, corrected manuscript. If you format before copy editing, any corrections made afterward may require re-formatting — wasting time and money. The correct order is: developmental editing → line editing → copy editing → formatting → proofreading.

We follow the Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS), the standard reference for fiction and narrative non-fiction publishing in the US. If you have a house style guide or specific preferences, we'll follow those instead — and document all decisions in a style sheet delivered with your manuscript.

Copy editing is priced by word count and manuscript density. Contact us for a free, no-obligation quote — we respond within 2 business days. Our publishing packages bundle copy editing with line editing, formatting, and cover design for authors publishing their first book.

Most copy edits are delivered in 1–2 weeks for an 80,000-word manuscript. We confirm a delivery date at booking so you can plan your publishing timeline. Rush turnarounds may be available — contact us to discuss.

We can, but we'd recommend line editing first. Copy editing corrects technical errors; line editing improves prose craft. If your prose needs significant work at the sentence level, line editing will produce changes that a copy editor would then need to review again. The correct sequence saves time and money.

Related Services

Line Editing →

Prose-level refinement — the step before copy editing.

Print Formatting →

Interior layout for KDP and IngramSpark after editing is done.

Ready for a clean, publish-ready manuscript?

Tell us about your manuscript — word count, genre, and where you are in the editing process. We'll confirm a quote and timeline within 2 business days.

Get a free quote →