We’ve All Been There: 4 Ways to Improve Your Copyediting Skills
We’ve all had that moment: sending out a promotional email with a missing word or realizing your e-book has a formatting error after it’s already in your audience’s hands. It’s frustrating to have put in so much work, only to miss a small mistake – and it can ruin an entire campaign.
Beyond the personal irritation, these errors can hurt your brand. Over time, they can add up, making your business appear less professional and prompting your audience to notice in a negative way. It may sound extreme, but what if your audience starts to think that if you can’t catch typos, maybe your technology or product isn’t as polished as it seems?
We know we’ll never be completely error-free (even spellcheck misses things), but we’ve found that by building a clear review process and sticking to it, we can avoid many common mistakes. Here are a few best practices we rely on that you can easily apply to your own work.
1. Separate Editing from Proofreading
Editing and proofreading are often used interchangeably, but they are very different tasks. Editing focuses on content – things like structure, tone, and clarity. Proofreading, on the other hand, is about catching spelling mistakes, grammar issues, and other small errors.
To be more effective, separate these two stages. Start by editing the piece: check for logical flow, ensure the message is clear, and make any necessary content changes. If it’s not something you wrote, take a moment to read through it like a fresh pair of eyes, understanding the bigger picture first before diving into the details.
Once editing is complete, give yourself a break – even a short walk or a coffee break. This helps your brain reset, preventing you from overlooking mistakes you’ve already “fixed” in your head. When you return to proofread, you’ll be less likely to miss errors that you’ve already processed.
2. Use a Style Guide
Mistakes aren’t always about typos. Small, consistent issues – like using em-dashes and en-dashes interchangeably – can also affect how professional your work appears. This is where a style guide comes in handy. It ensures consistency across your content, from punctuation rules to formatting choices.
If your company doesn’t have a style guide, consider creating one or advocating for its creation. Your style guide should address everything from preferred grammar rules to specific industry terms. For example, should you introduce acronyms on first use, or spell them out first and add the acronym in parentheses? A well-documented style guide will save you from having to remember all these little details.
3. Have a Clear Process
If your team is larger, content might go through several hands before it’s final. A structured process helps ensure consistency and quality. For example, in our team, content starts with a writer, then moves to an editor, and finally returns to the writer for any final adjustments. In larger organizations, there might be a proofreader at the end of the chain.
Whatever your process is, it’s important that everyone involved knows their role and what’s expected at each stage. The more clearly defined the process, the less room there is for mistakes to slip through the cracks.
4. Slow Down
Often, mistakes happen because we’re rushing – our brains predict what comes next, and when we’re reading quickly, we skip over things we think we’ve already seen. This can be a problem when editing. For example, try reading this sentence:
“Yuo cna porbalby raed tihs esaliy desptie teh msispeillgns.”
Our brains can fill in the gaps and understand the meaning, but when you’re editing, this prediction reflex can cause you to overlook simple errors.
To avoid this, try reading the text aloud. This forces you to slow down and review each word individually. If you’re still missing things, consider reading the text backward, which can help you focus more on each sentence rather than the overall meaning.
Final Thoughts
There are plenty of tools and strategies to improve your copyediting, but the key to reducing errors is sticking to a well-defined process. Mistakes often happen when we’re rushed, so even if you’re working on tight deadlines, always follow your review process and make time for careful proofreading.
By staying organized and methodical, you’ll be able to catch more errors, avoid overlooked details, and consistently produce polished, professional content.
