Erica edits

Hello,

I'm Erica, aka the bookshop blogger, and in my other life I'm a non-fiction copy editor and proofreader.

This page is here because although I really should have a dedicated website to promote my professional skills, I don't. In my experience so far I've not needed one and, quite frankly, there are better things for me to be doing than battling with web development software. Also, web design really isn't my strong point. If for some inexplicable reason you are here looking for someone to create a glorious website for you, I can make some recommendations – and I can definitely help with the written part – but if you're looking for web developer by visiting a questionably designed blog then maybe you need to re-think your decision-making.

I digress. Back to me and my professional experience.

My strong point is perfecting the written word. 

I can pick out a continuity error at ten pages; I have a sixth sense for identifying facts that fail to deliver; style guides are my way of life; the em dash has always been my favourite item of punctuation; and semi-colons are underrated.

My career covers more than 25 years of wielding a red pen, both physically and on-screen. From fast-paced newspaper deadlines to (slightly) more relaxed books, magazines and reports, I’m experienced in copy editing a range of short and long-form documents to ensure accuracy and improve the reader’s experience.

As an added bonus, I can also write – turning your notes into an audience-appropriate article or report is a particular skill and I can work to tight deadlines for such things.

Please feel free to email me at bookshopblogger@gmail.com if you would like to know more. That could be to find out about hiring me to copy edit your book or report, or it could be to tell me you spotted a typo* in one of my blogs from 2017, all discussions of the English language are welcome too.

I look forward to hearing from you.

* If you're reading this blog considering if I'm any good as a freelance copy editor, please don't. Everyone knows editing your own words is the hardest thing, so typos will creep in, grammar will occasionally wobble, and I'll use whatever punctuation I feel like. Please consider this site to be a relaxed conversation with anyone who cares to dive in. It is definitely not a perfectly crafted piece of writing.