Paul Sellars – Editor

More than two decades of freelance experience in publishing, with clients including Canelo, Head of Zeus (Bloomsbury), HarperCollins, Penguin, and Whitefox. I’ve worked on fiction and non-fiction, handling everything from authors’ manuscripts to OCR’d scans of print titles for electronic reissue.

Copyediting and proofreading have traditionally been distinct parts of the publishing process, although the emergence of digital workflows has led to some overlap.

Copyediting comes first and involves checks for consistency and clarity – of language (spelling, punctuation, style), but also in the use of structural elements (chapter and section headings, lists, blockquotes).

Proofreading is the final pass and aims to catch any remaining errors or deviations. A copyedit might include (careful, sympathetic) rewording of the author’s text; a proofread would usually be limited to smaller corrections.

In both cases, consistency is key. In addition to correcting errors, I’ll work with you to devise a stylesheet for your book – very simply, a list of all preferred forms and usages – and ensure that a uniform ‘house style’ is applied throughout.