Technical Editing
Reports • Proposals • Procedures
Services I Offer | The Editing Process | What It Costs | Work With Me
Tell me if this sounds familiar:
You have a high-stakes writing situation—preparing a competitive proposal, compiling a detailed report, composing a standard operating procedure, generating customer-facing documentation—and you’re finding it’s a lot to juggle. You fundamentally believe in your skills, your message, and your team, but the complexity of the writing situation is making it seem like those things won’t shine through as brightly as they might, that they won’t connect with your reader in the way you want.
That’s where I come in. As a technical writer and editor, I can ensure that your writing is organized, consistent, and rhetorically powerful and that it shows your team’s skills in the best possible light. By taking care of the fiddly details and complexities of high-stakes writing, I free you up to focus on the big picture and to do what you do best, whatever that is.
There are so many things that can make writing difficult and split your attention away from your core skills. With my help, you can put your energy to its best use, letting me worry about things like these:
- Maybe you have multiple writers contributing content, but their styles are so different it’s hard to integrate them. I can unite them into one voice.
- Maybe you’re struggling to organize a long and complex document in a way that will work for multiple readers with very different needs. I can wrangle all the sections and subsections into a logical, highly navigable structure.
- Maybe you want to include plenty of detail for your reader, but you’re worried about getting too deep in the weeds. My skill as a technical communicator is translating expert-level, insider information for non-expert, non-inside readers.
- Maybe you want the final document to look better than the standard Word template with its boring fonts and one-inch margins. And you definitely don’t want any small errors to reflect badly on you. I can proofread and design your document for maximum impact.
Let me help you conquer your next writing task with confidence.
Services I Offer
Every project has its own particular needs, and I will work closely with you at the outset of a project to determine which services are right for you. Here are the main types of editing services I offer when working with writers and organizations on technical projects:
Click each to learn more.
Substantive editing involves considering all aspects of a document—its content, structure, organization, flow, tone, style, and presentation—in order to craft a fundamentally clearer message. At this level, I work closely with you to help you discover the essence of what you want to say and the most efficient, convincing way to say it.
If you are just starting out on a particularly long or complex project, including me on the team early on means I can help juggle some of the balls, freeing you up to focus on what you do best. I’ll track and incorporate the contributions of multiple authors, figure out the right structure for the document, manage the fact-checking and citing of sources, confirm that we are hitting the right level of detail to meet the audience’s needs, and whatever else needs to be done so that you can keep an eye on the big picture.
Even if your project is well under way or nearing completion, substantive editing can result in dramatic improvements to a document as my distance and experience let me see and consider things that someone so close to the work can’t see. And it saves time in the long run because much less copyediting or proofreading are needed later.
For documents that are structurally sound and essentially complete, copyediting brings a needed polish. More than just correcting errors, copyediting focuses on the paragraph and sentence levels of the document, helping identify the best wording and clearest presentation and ensuring a consistent, appropriate voice and style.
If you are confident about the big-picture success of a writing project but want to ensure that the language is clear and precise and the nitty-gritty details are consistent and correct, then copyediting is the service for you.
As part of copyediting, I often compile a stylesheet—a record of usage decisions such as how key terms are spelled and capitalized, how headings are formatted, and when abbreviations are to be used. Stylesheets don’t only improve the document at hand; they streamline future projects, helping you achieve a coherent style across all your work.
Proofreading provides the final check a document receives before submission or publishing. The focus here is on individual words, letters, and punctuation marks, on removing any lingering grammatical and mechanical errors.
When I proofread, I check that all formatting elements of the document—the margins, spacing, font size, placement of page numbers, headers, footers, and more—are absolutely consistent. Where a stylesheet exists, I ensure the document adheres to it in all respects.
If you have a finished document and are confident about the things that substantive editing and copyediting would cover, then proofreading can help bring your project over the finish line with that same degree of confidence.
Preparatory editing involves researching a document’s genre and the conditions in which it will be published in order to plan a more effective document.
If you are preparing to write a grant proposal or respond to a CFP, preparatory editing will help you craft a strategy for putting together the strongest pitch. I’ll research the application guidelines and sponsoring organization, examine any evaluation rubrics, and analyze previous examples of successful and unsuccessful entries, and then we’ll create a template document as a starting place for your writing, thus maximizing your chances of succeeding.
Because preparatory editing results in a clear plan of attack and a document template you can use when writing, the amount of additional editing the document will need after being written is usually significantly reduced.
Document design means turning a finished text into a ready-to-print document. It involves choosing typefaces and colors for headings and text; setting margins, gutters, columns, and leading; and establishing a branded look with logos and layouts.
I am well experienced with both the principles of document design and the software that makes it possible. From common word processors like Microsoft Word and Google Docs to industry-standard design software like Adobe InDesign, I have the skills necessary to make your work shine.
Flyers I designed for my university department
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Sample, anonymized pages from an accreditation report I designed
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Web design has long been one of my passions, and I bring to the work not only my skill as an editor but also my background in technical communication, my flair for visual design, and my understanding of user behavior. I create sites that engage and inform users without confusing them or requiring guesswork to find needed information.
Whether you have an existing website that needs improving or want to create something from scratch, I can help at all stages of the project:
- Site architecture: I can help plan out the structure of your site to ensure the right information is included on the right pages and that navigation between them is intuitive and logical.
- Content: I can write or improve the actual words of your site so that information is conveyed clearly, correctly, and concisely and so that your brand identity is presented consistently and on-message. I understand how readers’ eyes move through a webpage and can thus craft highly readable, easily navigable content.
- Design: Pages don’t only need to read well—they have to look great. I have a designer’s eye, enabling me to maximize user engagement with your content.
- Usability: Though troubleshooting, testing, and a bit of intuition, I can make sure that users are able to find information and complete tasks on your website with minimal friction or frustration—whether that means reorganizing the entire site or tweaking the words on a single page.
- Accessibility: I believe all users should be able to access your site’s content, regardless of their individual abilities or method of access. From color contrast to behind-the-scenes functionality, I can ensure your site meets the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
You’re looking at an example of my skills right now—I wrote and designed this entire site myself, hand-coded it, and put it online for the world to see.
The Editing Process
Though no two editing jobs are ever quite the same, the typical process for working together on a project goes something like this:
Query & Initial Meeting
You contact me and describe the project, indicating what you are writing and what help you need.
We have a meeting—over Zoom or in person—to discuss the parameters of the project, when you need the work done, and what you want the final product to look like.
Contract
We sign an editing agreement, a simple contract that details the following:
- a description of the services to be performed
- a timeline within which the project will be completed
- the terms of payment
- a confidentiality agreement
Editing
I perform the work as agreed, providing regular updates about my progress.
As needed, we will trade drafts back and forth over email, collaborate on a Google Doc, or work from a shared file in a Dropbox folder—I’m open to the workflow that best suits your needs. We may have additional meetings as well, depending on the length and complexity of the project.
Delivery & Follow-Up
I provide the agreed-upon products for your review once I’m finished.
If any minor follow-up work is needed, I’m available to help at no additional charge.
What It Costs
When working on technical projects, I typically charge an hourly rate. That rate depends on the scope of the project, the deadline by which you need it done, and my current volume of jobs—so I always recommend contacting me as early as possible to make sure you get the best deal.
Based on our initial discussion and my examination of your documents, I’ll include an estimated total cost for the job in the editing agreement, but the final fee won’t be determined until the job is finished. Rest assured though: My estimates are extremely accurate, and I will never exceed the estimated time without prior authorization from you. If it ever looks like more time will be required than estimated, I’ll first discuss with you how I might redistribute my efforts to get you the most value for your money within the estimated time.
I’m happy to file tax, direct deposit, independent contractor, and other paperwork in order to enable your organization to provide payment through the method most convenient for you.
Work With Me
Technical editing is a skilled trade requiring a high degree of expertise and lots of experience to do well. With a doctorate in technical communication and nearly 20 years of experience, I have both.
Contact me today and let’s get started!
