Business Communications - Copyediting, Copywriting, and Proofreading: A girl's dream work!

I recently took a Copy Editing and Proofreading class with Jack Smith of The Smith Group. It was a day-long class through Evenings at Emory and I highly recommend the program. Jack specializes in working with nonprofits and focuses on grant writing. We spent the morning talking about the business side of writing/freelancing and the afternoon focusing on the meat of copyediting/copywriting.

The class was 99% women, very Type-A who love pointing out grammar mistakes other people make and who each had an opinion in a highly-charged conversation about whether or not the serial comma should be used. Yes...it was that type of group.

I furiously took notes all day and for those interested, have compiled some useful trends, information, and tips about copywriting, copyediting and proofreading.

-Many people incorrectly and interchangeably use the words copyediting and proofreading. The real definitions are that copyediting means to compile existing/already written material. It is the content and organization of material to cohesion. Proofreading is the final check before launching.
-Content and organization is the meat of copyediting.
-know your grammar weaknesses. Mine are trying to put together words that should not be compound words, such as pot luck, grant writing, table coth, etc. My natural inclination is to make all those words one word. I also always go back and check my subject/very agreements.
-When working on a project for a client, it is extremely important to know what they’re looking for before you begin. That means making sure the client explains exactly what result they want achieved so you both aren’t working on a gazillion drafts.
-It’s also important to know how many pages you can copyedit in one hour. Copyediting is a very tedious task and it’s important to schedule breaks, so factor that in.
-The business has evolved. Gone are the days when copywriting used to mean coming up with advertisements in the paper and copywriters worked on staff. Now the work is more contractual and a large portion of it is online vs in print.
-this doesn’t have much to do with copywriting, but Jack stated (and I wholeheartedly agree), that the opportunities for an employee to stay with the same organization for 30 years are gone. Organizations have evolved, and people need to do the same to stay marketable. As an employee, have a proactive plan, strategy, and purpose. If you are freelancer, multiply this times ten.
-when freelancing, understand your niche and how you fit in. What is your USP? What differentiates you?
-trends that are important to know: the prevalent use of bullet points, italics, and bold to categorize text. NEVER underline a word online unless it is hypertext.
-trends in formatting: one space after the period, not two, and we’re not indenting paragraphs anymore but flush left and ragged right. Double space between paragraphs.
-it’s also interesting to pick up on small nuances and make sure you’re adapting to the language of your clients. For example, if you’re still putting a hypen between “non” and “profit,” that’s the sign of an amateur. The trend is to spell it without the hypen (nonprofit). Small things like that will differentiate you from your competition and show the client you fit in.
-when beginning to freelance, it’s important to have a robust portfolio. Do this by working pro-bono, bartering, or charging a very low rate and then build up from there.
-these days, it’s important to write in an inverted pyramid structure.

We learned a TON more and I’d be happy to share some of the handouts – just reach out to me!