Understanding Content Editing: Roles, Types, and Best Practices
Understanding Content Editing: Roles, Types, and Best Practices
When a writer completes content for your organization, that's only the start of the copywriting and editing process. Next, as a best practice, you can hire a talented editor to make that content even better. The final draft will be published-ready, allowing you to confidently place it on your website, blog, or social media profile.
Though the term 'copy editing' refers to manually reviewing a finished piece of content, there’s so much more to it than that.
Different types of editing serve a unique purpose in the content development process, and each one benefits your organization’s content marketing team at some point.
In this copy editing guide, familiarize yourself with each form to understand what you can handle and when you might benefit from partnering with a professional and reliable editing service like Scripted.
What Is Copy Editing?
While you may hear the term ‘editing’ and think about correcting spelling and other mistakes, ‘copy editing’ goes above and beyond that. For example, copy editing also involves checking the accuracy of the information or considering the overarching themes within a fiction manuscript. There are also SEO and other critical considerations.
As NY Book Editors puts it, "Copy editing is the process of checking for mistakes, inconsistencies, and repetition. During this process, your manuscript is polished for publication. Contrary to popular belief, the copy editor is not a glorified spell-checker."
A copy editor is one of a content creator's most complete, meticulous, and involved partners. However, the degree of editing you invest in will depend on your needs, involvement, project, and budget.
What Is Content Marketing, and Where Does Editing Fit In?
Content marketing is a strategic marketing plan designed to create and share valuable, relevant content for a target audience. Today's demands for long-form content and interesting materials mean business owners must regularly engage in content marketing.
Plenty of brands now turn to freelance writers and editors to ensure that their processes or products' deliverables are created and published on a timely basis with accurate and helpful information inside. This approach also helps companies stay within budget, as they do not need to hire writers and editors in-house.
A freelance writer will usually help the company draft its content marketing deliverables, be that from scratch or using a content brief. By creating a brief, brands can include any relevant information to help guide writers and editors. These briefs may include target keywords, relevant research, writing style requests, and more.
Once the initial draft is written, the company will use a content editor or copy editor with which they’ve partnered. These are all different roles, although they can sometimes be mixed. Of course, a freelance writer should still turn in a polished piece that requires minimal edits, but it’s a good idea to separate the final editing from the freelance writer’s role.
Benefits of Hiring a Professional Editor
Editing and proofreading are key components of the overall writing process. Everyone makes mistakes, even professional writers.
Regardless of the size of the piece, it should be reviewed by an editor before it is published. When edited properly, published work looks more polished and professional and helps engage readers more effectively.
Even when the writer is a reliable professional, a fresh set of eyes can help identify mistakes that may have slipped through the cracks. You or an editor may also notice certain missing requirements, such as requested keywords, internal links, etc. On bigger projects, such as book publications, it's common for the editing process to include four or five rounds of revision as a result.
Professional editors provide many benefits to those involved in content marketing, including:
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A unique perspective on the overall content, identifying weak areas that may benefit from more research.
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The ability to improve the writing to become more accessible to readers based on SEO best practices.
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Ensuring that no minor mistakes compromise the effectiveness of the final published piece, as even minor mistakes can hinder your reputation and level of perceived professionalism.
However, the word editing is a broad term that means different things to different people. Depending on the depth and length of a process or project, various levels of editing might be required.
Content editing and copy editing are actually two different skills that different freelancers can provide. Sometimes, two separate editors are hired for the editing process, depending on the scope of work. However, many experienced editors will handle both aspects — copy and content editing.
Effective copy editing focuses more on the technical elements of the text, such as vocabulary, syntax, and grammar. A content editor is more concerned with optimizing the text for search engines and ensuring the information is factual.
Both copy editors and content editors look at the document line by line and frequently use tools and features such as Track Changes to ensure that the document's recipient is aware of the changes made.
Furthermore, these editors might insert comments when something is unclear or when they have made a change to the document that they are not sure the client will accept.
Understanding the Roles
As discussed above, a content editor and a copy editor differ. Here’s what to consider when hiring an editor.
What Is a Content Editor?
A content editor is a professional editor who looks at the writing from a big-picture perspective. For example, if editing a book, a content editor might focus on things like plot development, the overall dialogue, factual mistakes, the organization of chapters, and any inconsistency in the plot. Feedback provided by a content editor on a project like this can include suggestions that certain passages be completely rewritten or omitted and help with plot development.
A content editor will also suggest reorganization, reduction of repetitiveness, clarification of vague issues, and more. The editor thinks about how this fits into the bigger content marketing strategies, which persona the piece is aligned with, and how well it fits the brief and overall goals.
A copy editor, however, is frequently used later in the process and dives into greater detail as a result. By the time the piece reaches the copy editor, the freelance writer has likely already done one round of revisions based on the content editor’s feedback — if separate editors are used.
What Is a Copy Editor’s Role?
A copy editor focuses on the nearly final document, be it a one-page blog or a full-length book, at a closer and more technical level. This stage is usually the final proof of a piece before it is published to ensure that grammar, spelling, and punctuation are all accurate. A copy editor will review for things such as:
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Grammar
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Word usage
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Flow
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Punctuation
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Spelling
A professional copy editor might leave comments on an online document but is more likely to edit it directly and ensure that it has been fully polished before being submitted for publication. This is why copy editing is usually the last phase in the process: it ensures that bigger-picture issues, such as the reorganization of text or chapters, do not have to be revisited or completed more than once.
Using a second person in the copy editing role is very common because of the fresh perspective and unique set of eyes that this person can bring to the project. This person can likely catch mistakes that might not have been noticed in previous rounds of editing — especially if writing style is a concern.
In other cases, such as when leveraging an end-to-end platform like Scripted, content flows from a professional writer to a skilled editor and often to an account manager to ensure all requirements are met before passing the project onto the client.
Different Types of Editing
Here are some of the types of editing you may require. Again, some editors specialize in certain types, whereas other experienced editors will handle all the following.
1. Proofreading
Proofreading, sometimes called mechanical editing, checks written content's grammatical accuracy. It ensures correct spelling, capitalization, syntax, punctuation, formatting, noun-pronoun agreement, verb usage, word usage, and sentence structure. That can improve the credibility and authority of your content, encouraging readers to come back for more!
Proofreading offers more benefits than using a spellchecker. Super-talented copy editors look 'under the hood' of content to identify writing inconsistencies and ensure no grammatical mistakes or typos embarrass your organization.
You might use a free tool like Grammarly or ChatGPT to proofread your content, but the results differ. A human proofreader will manually review your writing, word by word, and enhance content readability, helping you reach your content marketing goals.
Proofreading might involve:
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Identifying commonly made grammatical errors in content
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Manually correcting content
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Making sure content uses the right English
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Sending content back to copywriters for grammatical revisions
While sometimes neglected, proofreading is a critical step in the content creation process because it improves your reputation with an audience. Even one or two errors might cause a reader to question the validity of your work, but an experienced copy editor can catch these mistakes before you publish your content.
If you're not fluent with the rules and mechanics of grammar, it's best to have a professional editor painstakingly review your writing before publishing it. But, if you insist on ‘proofing’ your own work, it can be helpful to follow tips such as printing your written draft and reading it aloud to spot errors.
2. Line Editing
When most people talk about copy editing, they likely mean line editing. This process involves reviewing a piece of content as a whole, considering its tone, accuracy, clarity, consistency, and overall effectiveness. Line editing helps ensure a content piece’s argument and main points are clear, well-supported, and match your house style. This process also ensures content adheres to style guides such as the Chicago Manual of Style or the Associated Press (AP).
When line editing, you can take two approaches. If you decide to line-edit your work, it's best to step away from it for a few days and then read through it again with a clear mind. Alternatively, you can utilize a copy editing service like Scripted to provide an unbiased critique from a third party and strengthen your piece.
Think of line editing as an art, not a science. While free tools like Grammarly can identify inconsistencies in word choice, phrasing, and overall tone, only a human copy editor can ensure that content adheres exactly to your brief and stylebook, line by line. Unlike digital tools, these professionals have interpersonal skills and know how to enhance the flow and pacing of written content so it resonates with your readers.
3. Fact-Checking
Fact-checking is a more straightforward type of copy editing. It ensures all facts are accurately represented and appropriately attributed according to the publisher's style requirements.
While fact-checking services exist, you can fact-check your content by revisiting referenced works to double-check accuracy and add citations before publishing. However, this process can be labor intensive and prevent you from completing other business tasks.
Fact-checking is critical in copy editing because it prevents your organization from spreading misinformation to audiences. Not fact-checking claims you make in content pieces could jeopardize the reputation of your business and impact the search engine optimization (SEO) of your articles.
Google, for example, favors content with reputable sources, such as credible news articles, government organizations, peer-reviewed research studies, and whitepapers.
A recent copywriting trend is the rise of AI-generated content like that created with ChatGPT. However, this tool can't verify information like a human copywriter or editor can, resulting in your content lacking credibility.
Using a professional copy editor to remove factual errors and check information with authoritative sources will improve your content marketing objectives and ensure your content is error-free.
4. Rewriting
Sometimes, as a result of line editing, rewriting involves reconstructing a portion of a written piece. It might be a copy editor’s job to rewrite content sections by removing outdated information, replacing existing sentences with new ones, and ensuring content matches your intended style and tone.
A content writer might rewrite an entire article if you want to improve SEO, change the perspective of a piece, or make content more relevant to audiences after a recent business or industry development. Many approach these projects with a tune-up mentality.
If you're facing a rewrite, leveraging an outside party to provide a fresh outlook and approach to the piece can be helpful. A good copy editor will restructure certain portions of your content to meet your requirements, helping you create content that appeals more to your readers.
Many companies are now hiring human editors to edit AI content to ensure the final draft is of the highest quality.
Content rewriting might involve:
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Changing words and sentence structure to improve content without changing its original purpose or intent.
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Adding a new keyword or series of keywords to the existing content so it ranks higher on search engines like Google.
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Improving tone, grammar, and syntax and executing other copy editing jobs.
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Adding tables of content, page numbers, bullet points, and other aesthetic elements to existing content pieces.
The best content editing platforms might provide you with a document that shows edits made to your original content so you can track changes.
5. SEO Copy Editing
When writing for the web, it is important to write and edit your copy for search engine optimization. This approach means identifying the keywords your target audience is searching for. Scripted and other content editing platforms can also help with this process, incorporating those words or phrases regularly and naturally throughout the copy.
Whether you are optimizing content for search engines for the first time or have intermediate knowledge of SEO, a copy editing platform like Scripted can transform your search rankings on platforms like Google. That can help you attract more people to your website or blog, increase brand awareness, and target potential customers with your products and services.
While they don't necessarily provide a direct copy edit, SEO copy editors like Scripted’s freelancers can help with other SEO measures, such as ensuring your site links are up to date, your content is tagged appropriately, and you use the right heading types for search engine crawling (H1s, H2s, H3s, etc.).
These professionals can also create meta descriptions, SEO titles, page titles, link slugs, alternative image text, social media posts, and other elements that can improve your search rankings.
SEO copy editing is important because 68% of all internet experiences start with a search engine. You can promote your offerings through greater content optimization and establish yourself as a credible and authoritative content creator to a potentially global audience. Some of the world’s most successful companies use SEO copywriting and editing to move potential customers through their sales and marketing pipelines.
6. Content Refreshing
Generally, it's a good idea to refresh your content regularly. This process can involve a simple content review to check for a stale or outdated tone of voice, inaccurate or changed information, and other out-of-date copy. Refreshing digital content can also help improve SEO results.
Say you own a real estate business and created a blog post a couple of years ago about the best places to purchase property in your market. That list might have changed considerably since you published the blog post, making it time for a content refresh. An experienced copy editor can quickly remove outdated data and freshen up your content. That means you don’t need to write a new blog post from scratch.
While you can likely refresh your own copy, it can be very affordable to leverage a copy editing service for this work. The copy editors can provide a fresh perspective on your messaging and quickly adapt your copy to a new tone of voice. You can also save time refreshing your content and focus your efforts on other areas of your content strategy.
Copy Editing Best Practices
If you are taking on a project as a copyeditor or hoping to hire one, here are the best practices that should be followed.
Continuously Advance Your Skills
Language is a fluid art form that requires the utmost accuracy, given that the finest details can completely change a sentence's meaning or perceived meaning. As a copy editor, you must be aware of all the nuances that go into a language, both technically and socially.
One expectation of a copy editor is knowing whether "high-risk" should have a hyphen. Still, they're also required to know where punctuation marks go when using quotes and whether or not you can ever begin a sentence with a numeral. As such, copyeditors must constantly research and understand language and its usage as it evolves — they must also be aware of different writing styles (AP, Chicago, etc.).
Be Meticulous With Details
Copy editors are paid to find even the smallest mistakes, like the misplacement of an apostrophe or comma.
It's tedious and time-consuming work that often requires an editor to review a paragraph a handful of times before it is ultimately considered proofed and polished. If you tire of redundancy or have difficulty paying attention to the small details in writing, copy editing isn't the job for you.
Strive for Consistency
Another element of copy editing isn't just correcting what is not factual or grammatically accurate but seeing the "bigger picture" and ensuring consistency through a given piece of work.
Consistency comes in many forms, including whether or not certain words are capitalized, how you choose to punctuate certain interjections, and the terms used to describe specific events or experiences.
Meanwhile, a copy editor's job is to check for and remove redundancy. In fiction and non-fiction works, a copy editor must ensure the writing flows nicely, follows an enticing arch, and concludes with a well-rounded point.
Match the Voice
One of a copy editor's most complicated and admirable functions is polishing a manuscript without impacting the author's voice. Rather, a copy editor is tasked with adopting the author's voice and vision to ensure they don't step on anyone's toes as they slide in to make corrections and changes.
Ideally, if a copy editor sees the need for a major change (especially in a work of fiction), they'll collaborate with the author to work together on that change rather than making the bold move of rewriting it themselves. Yet, for many clients, this is exactly what they want, so it's important to understand a client's expectations before you take on a project.
Benefit From Detachment
Writers often pour hours into their writing that will take only moments to read. As a copy editor, it's your job to take advantage of your detachment from the project to help the author shine. Where the writer may struggle to delete a sentence, a copy editor should be able to step in and say, "This doesn't add much value. I think this paragraph reads so much better if you end on the previous sentence."
A copy editor should use their detachment from the project to highlight strengths and weaknesses, making changes accordingly to help the writing shine.
How Scripted Helps You Achieve Your Copy Editing Goals
You can save time, get the confidence that comes from partnering with an experienced professional copy editing partner, and make sure your writing projects stay within deadlines by using the services of a freelance writer and editor.
When someone other than the company and the writer is involved as an editor, you’ll pick up on mistakes big and small that could have compromised the overall success of the finished product. Since an editor is trained to think about how this will sit with the audience and look either digitally or in printed form, this can greatly benefit companies that need someone with that unique perspective.
Your content marketing team might need a freelance writer and editor if you’re making a big push with your upcoming content or have a steady volume of projects. Working with freelancers means you can partner with someone as much or as little as you need, reaping all the benefits of a professional writer and editor every time you hit publish.
Whether you are seeking an end-to-end content creation solution or would like human-edited AI-written content, Scripted copy editing solutions can help you ensure higher-quality content.
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