A Peek Into Process: How I Do a Book Copyedit

You’ve written your book, self-revised it a ton, gotten beta reader feedback, and maybe worked with a developmental editor. Now, everyone’s telling you it’s time for a copyedit. But what actually happens in a book copyedit?

Copyediting a book is not merely running a spellcheck or reading the book. A book copyedit involves:

• Formatting in Microsoft Word
• Cleaning up common typographical errors
• Reading the words and sentences as they’re written
• Looking up words and style preferences in the dictionary and Chicago Manual of Style, the style guide that’s used for book publishing
• Fact checking
• Provide feedback on inclusive language
• Creating and maintaining a style sheet to ensure consistency
• Tracking details about the setting, timeline, and characters

When I do a book copyedit, I’m fully immersed in your manuscript’s timeline, characters, settings, and stylistic preferences so that I can catch issues and help you fix them so your book is polished and makes a good first impression with readers.

In this blog post, I’ll break down my book copyediting process step-by-step so you see what I’m actually doing with your manuscript when you send it to me.

Why Is a Book Copyedit Necessary?

In a book copyedit, I can help you polish your manuscript so that:

• You make a good first impression with your readers
• Grammatical, stylistic, and punctuation errors don’t make your readers put your book down
• Your unique voice shines through and sticks with readers

Whether you’re self-publishing or querying literary agents, a book copyedit ensures that your manuscript will make a good first impression on readers, whether those readers are literary agents or people who buy your book. Whoever that reader is, you want to make sure that they’re not getting distracted by incorrect commas or misspelled brand names.

A book copyedit ensures that your product—your book!—is polished and ready for readers.

What Does a Book Copyedit Include?

In a book copyedit, I help polish your prose by editing your manuscript for internal consistency and correcting errors in spelling, grammar, and writing mechanics so nothing distracts a reader from the content of your story.

In a book copyedit, you’ll receive:

• A brief cover letter explaining the work I’ve done on the manuscript
• The copyedited manuscript with tracked changes and in-line comments
• A style sheet to ensure consistency in spelling, punctuation, and style throughout the manuscript

Ready to learn exactly how I copyedit a book? Read on!

How I Do a Book Copyedit Step-by-Step

The following steps are generally how I approach a book copyedit, separated out into these four book copyediting stages:

• Manuscript cleanup
• The actual copyedit
• Post-edit
• Sending the copyedit

After you’ve signed my service agreement, paid the deposit, and sent me your manuscript, I start with a manuscript cleanup.

Manuscript Cleanup

I clean up your manuscript’s formatting.

I make routine formatting changes without track changes to minimize clutter, including:

• Changing double spaces to one space
• Deleting extra spaces at the ends of paragraphs
• Adjusting spacing for dashes and ellipses
• Changing straight quotation marks to curly quotation marks

I use macros (recorded shortcuts in Word that automatically carry out a series of tasks) to make a lot of these formatting changes, so this part of the process goes pretty quickly.

Then, I implement Word styles throughout the manuscript. This helps me set up the Word file so that it’s really easy to navigate to different sections and chapters. You’ll be able to see an outline of all the sections, chapters, and subheadings in the book in the Navigation pane on the lefthand side of your Word document. The Navigation pane with an outline of the book’s sections and chapters will pop up on the left side. Clicking on the title of a section or chapter will take you to that place in the document.

This makes it super easy for me to bounce around while I’m copyediting, and it makes it easy for you to navigate the document when you’re revising.

I run your manuscript through PerfectIt and spellcheck.

After cleaning up the formatting, I click through Word’s built-in spellcheck and review what it flags. Sometimes, it flags things that are actually errors that need to be fixed. But a lot of times, it’s flagging made-up fantasy words, brand names, and people’s names, suggesting things that don’t align with Chicago Manual of Style, or incorrectly saying there should be a comma before every instance of “so.” So I take these suggestions with a grain of salt and end up accepting only a fraction of them.

Then, I use a Microsoft Word add-in called PerfectIt. PerfectIt is an amazing proofreading software tool that works inside the Word document. I’ll let PerfectIt explain what it does: “PerfectIt scans your whole document for difficult-to-locate errors, such as missing acronym definitions, capitalization inconsistencies, and common misspellings. This saves hours of manual checks and frees you up to focus on more substantive work.”

Note: PerfectIt is not an AI tool. I do not use any generative AI tools or programs in my editing process. See my AI policy for further details.

Think of PerfectIt as a much better spellcheck that’s checking for consistency and words spelled, hyphenated, and capitalized in different ways. Running your manuscript through PerfectIt lets me flag inconsistent spellings, capitalizations, and punctuations so I can decide how to make them consistent throughout your book.

You’ll note I said “so I can decide how to make them consistent”—that’s because the PerfectIt software isn’t choosing which version of a spelling or what punctuation to use. It’s flagging the inconsistencies, and it’s up to me to choose what to change and what to leave as is.

In fact, as you can see in the screenshot of a PerfectIt hyphenation check below, I have to know when the hyphenations are inconsistent and incorrect and should be made consistent versus inconsistent and correct and should be left alone (all-night may be hyphenated before a noun but not hyphenated when standing alone).

My human editorial knowledge is essential to this part of the book copyediting process, even when using an automated consistency checker.

For instance, PerfectIt might flag that your manuscript uses both “antiracist” 57 times and “anti-racist” 20 times. I’ll decide which version to use—let’s say “antiracist” for this example—and note this in the style sheet I’m creating for your book copyedit. PerfectIt then lets me easily click “fix” and change all instances of “anti-racist” to “antiracist.”

As I’m running your manuscript through PerfectIt and spellcheck and coming across terms that are unique to your book and your preferences for how to spell, hyphenate, and capitalize words, I start the book’s style sheet.

I create a style sheet.

As I’m running your manuscript through PerfectIt and spellcheck, I start your manuscript’s style sheet. A style sheet is a list of words, stylistic preferences, and notes about your book to ensure consistency in spelling, punctuation, and style throughout your manuscript.

Read more about style sheets here.

Every editor has a different style sheet template that they use. Mine is adapted from a Google Sheet template by Jeri Walker from years ago (I’d link to it, but her site is no longer active). Over the years, I’ve updated it to CMOS 18 and added and deleted categories to make it work for me.

I like creating my style sheet in Google Sheets because I can have it open in a browser tab next to Merriam-Webster and Chicago Manual of Style while I edit, making it super easy to copy and paste in a new word. But before I send the style sheet to an author, I convert it into a Word document so that it’s easier for you to use.

A style sheet is a list of words, stylistic preferences, and notes about your book to ensure consistency in spelling, punctuation, and style throughout your manuscript. I start with a template style sheet that I’ve developed over the years for book copyediting and start adding your manuscript’s words and stylistic preferences to it.

For instance, using the example from the previous section, as I run your manuscript through PerfectIt and see instances of both “antiracist” and “anti-racist,” I’ll add “antiracist” to your book’s style sheet so that I know throughout the copyedit that I’ve already made that spelling decision.

I set page count goals for editing.

I use Trello for project management. In the Trello checklist for your book copyedit, I write out page count goals and which days I plan to edit them on. For example:

• Chapters 1–2 (48 pages) | Tuesday
• Chapters 3–5 (51 pages) | Wednesday
• Chapter 6 (45 pages) | Thursday

This helps me visualize when I’ll be working on your book so I can stay on track with the edit.

The ‘Actual’ Book Copyedit

I prep my workspace for the day.

Water and coffee within reach. Wrist rests in front of my keyboard. Noise-cancelling headphones on. Word doc open on my main desktop monitor and the style sheet open on my second monitor.

I read the manuscript out loud.

I read each sentence out loud (yes, actually out loud!) and use tracked changes and comments to record my suggested edits. Reading out loud forces me to slow down so I catch typos, missing words, and incorrect words.

Reading out loud also helps me hear the rhythm of the prose, which is important in copyediting.

For instance, reading out loud lets me hear that two sentences in a row end with the phrase “in the living room” and it doesn’t sound great. Let’s change one of those instances so the prose flows better. I may track a change to delete the second “in the living room” because it’s unnecessary to the sentence. Or if it’s a bit more nuanced of an edit, I’ll leave a comment that says something like “These sentences both end in “in the living room” and it sounds awkward. Can we revise here for a better flow?”

I look up stuff I don’t know or want to double-check.

If I come across a word whose spelling I’m not sure of or I think may be used incorrectly, I use my very handy GoogleFetch and MerriamFetch macros to quickly look up words whose spellings or meanings I want to verify. I also use GoogleFetch to look up proper nouns and verify their spelling and capitalization. Is it “BuzzFeed” or “Buzzfeed”? Let’s check. (It’s BuzzFeed!)

I also look up stuff I’m not sure of. For instance, if I come across “for goodness sake” in a manuscript, I might look up “sake” in Chicago Manual of Style and verify in CMOS 7.21 that the preferred punctuation for “for…sake” phrases is “for goodness’ sake.” I’ll add an apostrophe to the phrase (with tracked changes on so the author can see it), then I’ll run a quick search in the manuscript for “sake” and find any other instances where that error occurs and fix it.

I use tracked changes and in-line comments.

To communicate the suggested edit to you, I use Microsoft Word’s tracked changes and comment functions.

In a book copyedit, I use tracked changes to:

• Delete or add words, phrases, or sentences
• Suggest ways to rewrite sentences that are hard to read, are confusing, or have an error like a dangling modifier
• Correct spellings, punctuation, and capitalization

I write comments for questions and suggestions I have about a particular word, sentence, paragraph, or scene/section.

I fact check.

If I come across a fact that sounds fishy or that I don’t know, I search for it online and look into it a bit.

When fact checking:

• If I can easily verify that the fact is correct, I might note it in my style sheet (if relevant) and keep copyediting. Example: Yes, chicken korma has nuts in it, so this character’s allergic reaction to korma makes sense.
• If I can easily verify that the fact is wrong, I either edit it in the manuscript or leave a comment pointing out the issue, with a link to a source. I may also note it in the style sheet or my cover letter if it has wider implications elsewhere in the book. Example: The cereal Frosted Flakes is made by Kellogg’s, not General Mills. So in the sentence “I love General Mills because they make Frosted Flakes,” I’ll replace “General Mills” with “Kellogg’s” in the tracked changes.
• If I can’t easily verify the fact, I’ll leave a comment for you with my question. Now it’s up to you to dig into it! Example: A negroni is traditionally made with gin, Campari, and sweet vermouth, but in this paragraph, the character takes a sip of a negroni and says she hates the taste of whiskey. I’ll leave a comment for the author with this context and ask: Should “whiskey” be “gin” here?

And yes, I even do fact checking when copyediting novels! If you say your character drives from St. Louis to Kansas City in two hours (when it usually takes a little under four hours), readers will be confused, be taken out of the book, and maybe even lose trust in you as an author.

I provide feedback on inclusive language considerations.

I have prewritten comments about inclusive and conscious language that I’ve adapted from Crystal Shelley’s Conscious Language Toolkit for Editors and loaded into TextExpander. When I come across a word or phrase that isn’t inclusive, such as “mankind,” I can easily pop in that prewritten comment and customize it to the passage.

So for “mankind,” I’ll pop in this comment: “Unless gender is purposely being referenced or specified, it’s often best to opt for gender-neutral terms. Otherwise, the language may appear biased to readers. Alternatives here could be humanity, humankind, or people.”

Another example: If a parenting book references “mothers and fathers,” I’ll leave a comment suggesting we use the gender-neutral term “parents” to be more inclusive.

I update the style sheet.

As I edit, I add words that are unique to your manuscript or that you’re styling a certain way to the style sheet.

Usually at the end of each chapter or so, I go back through the chapter and update other pages of the style sheet, like the timeline and details about characters or places that we learned in the chapter. I’ll copy and paste these details directly from the manuscript so that the style sheet is unambiguous and clear.

For instance, if a new character, Amanda, has just been introduced in chapter 5 and is described as having “tight red coils around her pale face” and wearing “cat-eye eyeliner,” I’ll make a new entry for Amanda in the character section and copy those phrases directly into the description of her:

Amanda | meets Jake at Mission Taco in ch. 5; tight red coils around her pale face; cat-eye eyeliner

Post-Edit

I update the style sheet.

There’s a lot of updating the style sheet, huh? That’s because the style sheet is the source of truth for how words are spelled, capitalized, and punctuated in your manuscript.

After I’ve copyedited your book front to back, I go through the style sheet and search for variations of the words I’ve recorded. For instance, if I’ve recorded in the style sheet that you prefer to hyphenate the word “anti-vamp,” then I’ll search for instances of “antivamp” and “anti vamp” in the manuscript and correct them to “anti-vamp.”

If I’ve flagged any issues in the style sheet, I’ll review them now and might email the author about them. For instance, if a character’s name changes halfway through the book, I’ll email the author and clarify which one they want to use (or check if I’m missing something).

I review my tracked changes and comments.

I read through every single comment I’ve left in the manuscript so I can:

• Fix spelling mistakes and typos in my comments
• Delete comments that I know the answer to now
• Rewrite questions and suggestions based on info I now know from later in the book

I scroll through my tracked changes and spot-check sentences where I made heavier edits to ensure I didn’t insert any errors.

I draft the cover letter.

I write you a brief cover letter explaining the work I’ve done on the manuscript. My cover letter includes:

• How to use tracked changes and comments in Microsoft Word to review the edits
• How to navigate the Word document
• How to review the style sheet
• Notes on the copyedit: An outline of the categories that the majority of my edits fell into
• Suggestions for book design (if applicable)
• Note on automated/AI spellcheck or grammar checking programs
• Next steps: How to review the manuscript and basic recommendations for what to do next, depending on your publication goals

A lot of my cover letter sections—like the first three sections about tracked changes, navigating Word, and the style sheet—are pulled from a template I’ve personally written and developed over the years. I update those templated sections based on your particular book.

The notes on the edit are specific to your book. I use this space to highlight types of edits I commonly made in your book so you understand why I’m suggesting to change them in the Word document.

For instance, I might highlight that I edited a lot of dangling modifiers throughout the book, lowercased a lot of nouns that weren’t proper nouns, or cleaned up punctuation around dialogue tags to align with Chicago style. This info is also helpful if you self-edit your own work! It gives you broad ideas of things you can look for as you revise your writing.

I listen to the entire manuscript.

I listen to the entire manuscript through Word Read Aloud, a feature in Word that has the computer read aloud your manuscript word for word. This might sound like overkill, but I always find missing words or typos when I listen to the manuscript. Every single time. Even when you physically read out loud through the manuscript—like I do in my first pass of edits—your eyes naturally skip over some missing words and typos.

Listening to the manuscript with Read Aloud also gives me a chance to review my edits to ensure I didn’t insert any errors during copyediting. And it gives me a chance to review any inconsistencies or questions I had after my first pass of copyedits.

I proofread the cover letter.

Before I send you your book copyedit, I proofread the cover letter by running it through spellcheck and PerfectIt and listening to it out loud with Word Read Aloud to catch any typos or missing words.

I finalize the style sheet.

I go through each category on my style sheet and read the entries to look for any errors, lingering concerns, or inconsistencies I need to flag for the author. I organize the Words category alphabetically so it’s easier to use.

The last thing I do is copy the contents of my style sheet from my Google Sheets into a Word doc so that it’s more usable for authors. When I put the style sheet in Word, I run a quick spellcheck to ensure there are no major typos in it. Then, it’s ready to go.

Sending the Book Copyedit

I send you the copyedits.

I email you an email to say that your copyedits are complete! I’ll send you a link to a Dropbox folder where you can download:

• The brief cover letter
• The copyedited manuscript
• The style sheet

I like sending these through Dropbox so that my email storage doesn’t yell at me. You can download the files directly from Dropbox and get started reviewing my suggestions.

You send the final payment.

Thank you! 🙂

You read the cover letter, then review the suggested edits in your manuscript.

I ask my authors to read through my cover letter first, then review your manuscript as described in my letter.

It’s important for you to work out of the Word document I’m sending you rather than trying to apply the edits to your own copy of the file. That’s because in my cleanup round of editing, I make routine formatting changes without track changes to minimize clutter as described above. So if you don’t work out of the Word document I send, you’ll miss these small but important changes.

You’ll resolve the tracked changes and comments on your own by accepting or rejecting my tracked changes and deleting my comments once you’ve addressed them.

Tip: I recommend reading through the tracked changes and rejecting any you do not want to be in your final file. Leave all changes that you are OK with. Then, once you’ve rejected the changes you did not want, go to the Review tab in Word and click Accept All Changes to accept the rest of the changes. This should save you some time from accepting each little tracked change individually.

I’m available over email as you revise.

As you revise your manuscript, I’m happy to answer occasional questions over email, like “Hey, does it solve the timeline problem if I move the wedding to Friday instead of Saturday?” or “Can you look at this paragraph and tell me if this description of where A Sunday on La Grande Jatte is located in the Art Institute is more accurate?”

That said, if you want me to review all the edits you’ve made, we’ll need to do a separate round of copyediting to accommodate that (see Book Copyedits Round 2 below).

You clean up the manuscript.

Once you receive my edits, you’ll review my tracked changes and comments and resolve them as you work through the revisions.

At the end, you’ll be responsible for accepting/rejecting all tracked changes and deleting comments from the manuscript so that your file is clean before you send it to agents or self-publish your book.

Optional: Book Copyedits Round 2

For most authors who are comfortable working in Word with tracked changes and comments, the process above works well.

But if you’re not as comfortable working in Microsoft Word or want me to review your changes, we can do another round of copyedits. Here’s what that looks like:

After you’ve reviewed my suggested edits and made your revisions, you can send me the manuscript back, and I’ll do another round of copyedits. I’ll read through your new revisions and make sure you haven’t added errors or inconsistencies in your revisions. If I run into any questions, I’ll ask you over email. When I’m finished, I’ll send you back a clean manuscript that is ready to send to agents or design for self-publication.

If you want this option, please tell me when you first reach out about your book copyedit. My default quote and timeline for book copyedits doesn’t include this second round of copyediting, so if you’re interested in it, let me know from the beginning so I can accommodate it in the quote and timeline.

Looking for a Professional Book Copyeditor to Copyedit Your Book?

Each editor tackles projects in a different way. Over the years, I’ve developed this book copyediting process based on my professional training through the University of Chicago’s editing certificate program and the copyedits I’ve done for publishers and authors.

If you’re an author and have questions about my process or about copyediting in general, reach out or leave a comment! I’d be happy to answer any questions.

Are you looking for a book copyeditor? Read more about my editorial services and contact me today to discuss pricing and timelines.