10 Considerations for Effective Copy Editing.
By: Jason Healey
Tags: Copywriting Tips, Language, Copywriting, Copy Editing

Of all the competencies I’ve developed, writing has come most naturally.

I’m great at writing from pieces of my own design. I’m terrible at interpreting the vision of others.

I don’t mean making something that already exists better. Rather, knowing how a person wishes to express themselves and translating that onto the page. It’s more complex than an accessible tone-of-voice document can affect.

Where I excel, is in copy editing. Copy editing is true collaboration. It is the embodiment of trust, an exchange of ideas, and a translation of thought into meaning. Resulting in the construction of something greater than either individual may have conjured alone.

Conversely it is a battle of wills. But that’s a focus for another day.

Copy editing leans heavily on a knowledge of the technical elements of writing, but there are a number of other considerations the editor must account for when auditing a draft.

10 Considerations for effective copy editing:

You’re not the author; therefore you’re more objectively placed to determine whether the premise of the piece is clear. It’s in your interest to assume the role of the target audience. Then to ask, “As the target audience, why am I reading this?” If the author of the piece hasn’t considered who their audience is and curated their communication accordingly, the piece will inevitably suffer from a lack of engagement.



For the majority of articles published, the reader has no personal connection to the writer. The assumption needs to be made, that the only motivation for someone to read is for the expected return the piece will provide. To learn, to solve a problem, or to feel something. The editor then wants to follow the “Why am I reading this,” question, with another — “Why do I care?”



If the title, or overview of an article was compelling enough to inspire a click, will the content of the composition provide the rewards the reader was anticipating? This will of course vary from reader to reader and be influenced via intention and utility of the narrative, but I don’t think there’s any confusion as to the metrics that indicate success — stats confirming the number of reads, comments, and likes. Is the position taken cohesive and consistent? Does it effectively unify the ideas presented into a logical form that resolves satisfactorily. Is the reader likely to feel a degree of contentment that they’ve invested their time in the content produced? Are the sentences clear? I tend to offer rephrasing suggestions, rather than going straight for the rewrite.



The issue presented is generally that if the sentence needs to be read more than once for meaning, it’s unlikely that a reader will persist.



Steve Krug’s User Experience philosophy, Don’t Make Me Think, applies effectively to sentence structure. A reader’s flow shouldn’t be corrupted by unnecessarily long passages, where effort is given in a bid to determine meaning.



Conversely, good writing inspires people to think; about the ideas presented, not the intention of a sentence. Is the context explicit? Is your intention supported by adequate scaffolding, so the reader is able to extrapolate the meaning. Has the author leaned too heavily on acronyms and jargon. Often used by insecure people to elevate themselves. There’s nothing clever about employing vehicles that readers can’t parse, that break the flow of their reading to determine whether ARSE is an abbreviation for Australian Research and Space Exploration, or the American Republic Of Secondary Education. Does it sound authentic? Will a reader find the expression credible? Will they be able to make an emotional connection to the author. Does it match the assigned tone of voice? It’s one thing to write from your heart, but most of the copy editing I find myself doing, is by writers who are producing content for a specific business or organisation.



While intellectually, no one would think that all the content written on site was penned by the same individual, it remains reasonable that readers expect congruence in these communications. Being able to identify how a brand has defined their communication style and whether a writer has achieved that vision is an essential part of the copy editing process.

The process benefits from a writer who is courageous and willing to accept feedback. While a copy editor’s role isn’t to arbitrate over whether the author is hampered by feelings of insecurity, this process is a potent method toward that determination.