Copy edit
A copy edit is a correctness pass over a manuscript: grammar, punctuation, spelling, usage, consistency and basic continuity, applied against a chosen style guide and recorded on a style sheet.
A copy editor fixes subject-verb agreement, dangling modifiers, comma splices, hyphenation, capitalisation and number style. They enforce one spelling of every name from the first page to the last. They catch that your protagonist's eyes changed colour in chapter nine, that Tuesday became Thursday without a day passing, and that the pistol was a revolver two chapters ago. Anything ambiguous comes back as a query rather than a silent rewrite, because the voice is yours.
What a copy edit covers
- Grammar, spelling and punctuation, including dialogue punctuation and dialogue tags.
- Consistency. Hyphenation, capitals, numbers, italics, and the spelling of every invented word.
- Continuity. Ages, eye colour, timelines, who is in the room, how long the journey took.
- Light fact checking. Real places, dates and technology, flagged when something looks wrong.
- Style. Conformity to a chosen style guide, and to your own preferences where they differ.
Fiction copy editing in the United States usually follows the Chicago Manual of Style with Merriam-Webster; British work more often uses New Hart's Rules with an Oxford dictionary. Every decision made along the way lands on a style sheet, which you should receive with the edited file.
An example
Before: Walking into the kitchen, the kettle was already whistling. "Your late" Anna said.
After: When she walked into the kitchen, the kettle was already whistling. "You're late," Anna said.
Why it works: the first sentence had the kettle doing the walking (a dangling modifier), the dialogue had the wrong your, and the line was missing the comma before the tag. Nothing about the style changed. That is a copy edit.
Where it sits in the editing order
- Developmental edit: is this the right story?
- Line edit: does every sentence work?
- Copy edit: is it correct and consistent?
- Proofread: are the finished pages clean?
The copy edit comes after the prose is final, because every rewrite after it creates text nobody has checked. If you are still planning to cut scenes or rework chapters, it is too early.
What a copy edit will not do
It will not fix a structural problem, and it will not make flat prose vivid. Those are a developmental edit and a line edit respectively, and no amount of correctness substitutes for either. A manuscript can be free of errors and still be a story that does not work.
Frequently asked questions
Is copyedit one word or two?
Both are correct. American publishing, following Merriam-Webster and the Chicago Manual of Style, usually closes it up as copyedit and copyeditor. British publishers more often write copy-edit with a hyphen, and many people write copy edit as two words. Pick one and use it consistently.
Is copy editing one word?
It can be either. Copyediting and copy editing both appear in reputable style guides and publishing houses. This glossary uses copy edit and copy editing as two words to match line edit.
What is the difference between a copy edit and a proofread?
A copy edit works on the manuscript before layout and checks correctness and consistency across the whole book. A proofread is the last check on the laid-out pages, catching typos and errors introduced by typesetting.
Does a copy editor change my writing style?
They should not. A copy editor corrects errors and enforces consistency, and anything that might be a deliberate choice, such as a sentence fragment or dialect in dialogue, comes back as a query rather than a silent change.