Working with an experienced editorial professional makes sense if you are producing any sort of written text. This free booklet will show you why. Learn what editors and proofreaders do and how they can help you produce clear and consistent communications.

• Use our ‘who does what and when’ chart to find the right person to work with you.
• Apply the tips and proofreading checklist to help check your own writing.

PDF download, 24 pages

The CIEP’s honorary president, David Crystal, puts the case for using the services of a professional editor. A good editor, as he makes clear, is not a pedant or a self-styled member of the grammar police, but someone who reads the author’s work carefully, objectively and sympathetically; points out ambiguity and lack of clarity, checks references and cross-references for accuracy and consistency, and ensures that the style follows the stylistic norms of the publisher. Someone, in other words, who can keep the author ‘linguistically and creatively safe’.

Do you need proofreading or copyediting? This fact sheet summarises some of the differences to help you find the right kind of editor to work on your text. Editors may find it a useful resource to pass onto clients.

Advice on how to get started as an editorial professional, why it's important to invest in training and how to choose a course. There’s more to it than being good at spotting typos.

Books usually adhere to a standard basic structure. This fact sheet looks at the terminology for some of the main features of books and the order in which they appear.

A list of some easily confused words in British English, including some tips for remembering the differences and choosing which word to use. Plus keyboard slips: a paired list of words that look very similar but mean different things.

Professor Lynne Murphy questions whether a worldwide standard English would help us communicate, or whether there's value in retaining the distinct voices of the many different Englishes across the globe.

This infographic has some top tips for building good working relationships between client and editor.

This fact sheet summarises some good practice tips on writing queries to authors, gleaned from the CIEP's experienced trainers and mentors.

Zombie rules are ‘laws’ of language that are no longer, or never were, valid. Yet they refuse to die, and so continue to haunt people who work with words. We take a look at some common zombies and why they may be best laid to rest.

Rob Drummond, Reader in Sociolinguistics at Manchester Metropolitan University, looks at his research on language and identity, language diversity and the language of young people and asks what makes swearing so linguistically interesting in form and function.

This infographic sets out the ideal stages in the publishing workflow, for all sorts of texts from documents to books, and highlights where editors and proofreaders can help.

Academic clients include academic publishers, packaging companies, academic institutions and independent authors. This fact sheet looks at the general considerations when working in this area, and how to get started.

Language can sometimes perpetuate unconscious biases, stereotypes and unfair assumptions. It’s our professional responsibility to advise the authors we work with if their use of gendered language is problematic and to help them to find inclusive alternatives. This fact sheet summarises some of the main points to look out for and how to sensitively raise issues with your author.

Unlike a business plan, which tends to focus on financial outcomes and growing a client base, a business resilience plan sets out the potential problems you and your business may face and how you will cope with them. It will help you to organise your daily working practices, but can also be given to a trusted colleague or family member who may need to cope in your absence. We should all have one!

Changing a text from one version of English to another or checking that the desired style has been used isn't a straightforward task: there are often subtle differences in spelling, meaning and usage that distinguish the versions of English around the world. This fact sheet is a starter list for some common differences between British and US style.

Scope creep happens when a project’s workload expands beyond what was originally agreed between the client and the editor or proofreader. This fact sheet will help you learn strategies for identifying and dealing with scope creep to avoid negative consequences for you, your client or the project.

Efficient editors use macros in Word to speed up repetitive tasks or carry out several actions at once. This fact sheet will introduce you to macros, step you through creating and running a macro and get you thinking about how they can make your editorial practice more efficient.

This fact sheet gives some useful tips for getting those all-important first clients when you are starting an editorial business.

Experienced editors use a range of tools and techniques to achieve greater efficiency, making their work more financially viable. Here we look at some timesaving tools for working in Word, which is the program professional editors use most often to edit text.

There are very many books and resources on the English language, but you can't (and shouldn't) buy them all when you're starting out. This sheet highlights some of the essentials and priorities for supporting your editorial practice.

There are as many different ways of building sustainability into an editorial business as there are editors, but here are some general tips to keep the momentum going through the first few years, and take your business to the next level.

It is good professional practice to plan how your business matters will be dealt with after your death. This fact sheet looks at what to consider when drawing up a succession plan.

In the context of book and journal publishing, a packager is an intermediary company that produces a finished document for the end publisher. They often work with freelance copyeditors and proofreaders, and it can be a way to gain steady work and experience. However, this way of working has its frustrations and issues too. In this fact sheet we look at the pros and cons.

Bestselling author and copywriter Andy Maslen tells you how to make your web copy stand out in a crowded marketplace, how to keep readers on your webpage and how to communicate quality and justify your fees.

In this discussion paper, Sarah Grey looks at recent changes around gender and language. She starts with a quick review of how language change works, looks at some specific examples of recent changes, and ends with tools you can put to work in your editing to make sure that you stay up to date with language usage.

In this entertaining and erudite focus paper, Jeremy Butterfield considers what editors should do about the whom vs who debate.

A practical tool for recording your editorial jobs, including hours worked, word counts and fees earned. It's also a great tool for recording your experience for upgrading your CIEP membership.