Beth Battrick
Freelance editing in Canberra, Australia
My passion for language, words and ideas has had me correcting people for as long as I can remember. While chasing words at university, I discovered a flair for precision that led to a career in editing and proofreading.
A Master of Arts (Linguistics) then deepened my appreciation of language and its complexity, and accreditation by the Institute of Professional Editors formalised my experience in refining and perfecting text.
I offer editing services for books, web sites, reports, articles. Got complex language? Technical jargon? I can make it beautiful.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does my work need to be cleaned up before I send it to you?
Absolutely not. I'm here to help you polish and structure your work: together we will make your voice clear and strong.
What sort of editing do you do?
Get the list! Editing is a broad term that means getting text clean, finished and correct. Here's an explanation of the types of editing I do:
- Substantive editing: an in-depth read of the text, looking for issues of cloudy language, inconsistency and inaccuracy. This may involve some rewriting, restructuring, and consultation with you to clarify meaning and review wording. This is the most thorough level of editing I offer.
- Structural editing: a medium-level review of the text to find ways to improve the structure and layout. This usually involves reorganising text by tidying up subheadings and paragraphing, lists, footnotes, tables, boxed text and examples. There is plenty of communication between you and me as I reshape, but don't reword, your text.
- Copyediting/line editing: copyediting (also called line editing) is a lighter read of the text looking for spelling and grammatical errors and punctuation hiccups. Substantial copyediting can involve making sure a style guide is applied all the way through (e.g. for a journal or a departmental circular), while light copyediting can mean just making sure the text is logical and error-free. Copyediting doesn't mean major rewording or reorganising, but a simple read through for errors and sense.
- Proofreading: the final check of a text, proofreading involves looking over the very last draft of work (the final proof). Depending on how I've been involved with the project so far, proofreading can mean scanning to make sure previous editing suggestions have been correctly included, or it can mean a light last-chance check for readability, typos and layout.
The more involved I am with your text, the longer it will take. These aren't cut-and-dry separate processes; it's more like a spectrum of how closely I engage with your work. If you're not quite sure what your text needs, drop me an email with a few details and we'll figure it out.
Sounds great! How can I get you to edit my work?
Easy. Send me an email with the following details about the work:
- a quick summary (report? article? epic novel cycle?);
- its length (word count, page count, or both);
- any deadlines, strict or vague;
- what you want from me as an editor (an in-depth and thorough textual exploration or a light once-over for typos and punctuation—or somewhere in between?).
Attach an extract from the work (a few pages will do). I'll have a look and send you a price estimate based on your specifications and sample. If my estimate sounds good, you can send me the rest of the work and I'll have a closer look, then send you a statement of work and a confirmed or revised estimate. This will make sure we're both completely clear on what it is I'm going to do with your text and how much it will cost.
What format should I send my text as?
Ah, an easy one. Send me your text as any of the following:
- .doc/.docx (Microsoft Word format)
- .rtf (Rich Text File format)
- .odt (Open Document format)
- .txt (plain text format)
- .tex (LaTeX format)
- HTML (online content)
Note that I can accept .pdf (Portable Document Format) for light proofreading only: since .pdf files don't make it easy for me to directly manipulate the content, significant editing is challenging.
Got something a bit unusual? Drop me a line and ask!
Do you accept work from international clients?
Absolutely! Since I work electronically, location is no obstacle. If you're overseas, mention it when you get in touch, so I know of any adjustments I need to make for language use or time zone differences.
What's your position on the semi-colon?
It's a beautiful, useful, but frequently over-fetishised piece of punctuation.
Experience
Years of editing legislation for Federal Parliament at the Office of Parliamentary Counsel gave me a fervour for plain language and the guts to take on projects of any size. Got complex language? Technical jargon? I can make it beautiful.
From there, I moved to ANU E Press, which lit my fire for proofreading academic texts, online publications and promotional copy. Let me help you get people excited about your work.
Get in touch at beth.battrick@spoonfully.com.