Editorial Services

“Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.”—Aldous Huxley

If you want your written work to be taken seriously, you must make sure you’ve got your facts straight.

You could ask Siri, Alexa, and ChatGPT for information, and they’ll provide you with facts and figures to fill in the blanks in your written work. What they won’t do is probe ideas or check your facts with non-AI sources. Among the credible sources Laura Longley checks for you are government agencies, financial institutions, and nonprofit organizations.

If you need help with research for information to add dimension and detail to your writing, just add it to your scope of work. Laura also will research imagery, audio, and video for content development projects.

“‘The frog is slimy; I don't want to touch it.’ Won't a comma be sufficient enough here? Why do I need a semi-colon?”—Reddit

Google Doc’s Spellcheck is not proofreading. Neither is MS Word’s Spelling & Grammar.

“Don’t rely entirely on spelling checkers,” advises the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Writing Center. “These can be useful tools, but they are far from foolproof. Spell checkers have a limited dictionary, so some words that show up as misspelled may really just not be in their memory. In addition, spell checkers will not catch misspellings that form another valid word. For example, if you type ‘your’ instead of ‘you’re,’ ‘to’ instead of ‘too,’ or ‘there’ instead of ‘their,’ the spell checker won’t catch the error.

“Grammar checkers can be even more problematic. These programs work with a limited number of rules, so they can’t identify every error and often make mistakes. They also fail to give thorough explanations to help you understand why a sentence should be revised. You may want to use a grammar checker to help you identify potential run-on sentences or too-frequent use of the passive voice, but you need to be able to evaluate the feedback it provides.”

They are also unlikely to catch word meaning and usage. In the Reddit query above, “sufficient” is sufficient. It means “enough.” Also, it’s semicolon—one word—not semi-colon.

Take a few minutes to review UNC’s Editing and Proofreading handout. Not only is it packed with useful information, but it also incorporates a quiz within the text, Your challenge: to find the seven errors (three spelling errors, two punctuation errors, and two grammatical errors). See if you can spot them.

Columnist Dave Barry has a word of advice: “Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.”

“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.”—Mark Twain

Don’t expect ChatGPT to find the right word for you. Like a thesaurus, an app will offer you options, but only you will know whether “world history” or “infamy” better captures your meaning. (See “The Edit That Will Live in Infamy.”)

A skilled copy editor gets into the weeds of clumsy sentences, passive verbs, sloppy grammar, inaccurate citations, inconsistent capitalization, random hyphenation, incorrect names, and illogical arguments.

“OpenAI has equipped ChatGPT with the ability to correct grammar, simplify complex texts, convert movie titles into emojis, and even fix bugs in Python code.”—The New York Times

You may not need to convert movie titles into emojis, but there’s no question that today AI is changing communications—and will grow in impact in the future. To learn how to make the most effective use of this technology, reach out to Laura Longley and book a complimentary consultation.

“I hate writing, I love having written.” —Dorothy Parker

Most of us would not quarrel with poet and wit Dorothy Parker. Writing isn’t easy, which is why so many people who have to produce content would prefer to have someone else—or some bot—do the writing.

Whether you need a newsletter, website content, annual report, white paper, or ebook, ChatGPT is one option. A better choice: Laura Longley, whose expertise and decades of experience can out-write any algorithm.

Start with a complimentary consultation on your goals, scope of work, deadline, and budget. You’ll have a proposal and estimate from Laura within 24 hours. With your approval, she’ll get right to work for you.

“The beautiful part of writing is that you don't have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon.” ―Robert Cormier

It’s an editor’s job to help you get it right. To that end, Laura Longley offers substantive editing as well as copy editing and proofreading.

Editage, an international firm that advises authors who specialize in the life sciences, uses the analogy of flight levels to explain the differences.

Substantive editing is the view from the cruising altitude of 30,000 feet. The focus is on the big picture. As Editage explains, substantive editors “work very closely with authors to suggest improvements in organization, structure and consistency, maintain a single authorial voice, and ensure that content, language, style and presentation are suitable for the manuscript’s intended purpose and readership.”

Trust your writing to Laura Longley, whose experience in substantive editing is, well, substantial.

See Testimonials.

Think of this service as “all of the above.” Many of the projects you’ll find in the Portfolio fall into this “concept-to-completion” category.

Longley Editorial Services pricing is based on the nature and scope of work as well as your deadline.

Hourly: $50 per hour is Laura’s standard fee for basic editorial services, which include researching, proofreading, and copy editing. She rarely requires more than an hour or two for a 1,000-1,500 word article or newsletter.

Fee: The more advanced or complex the work—writing, substantive editing, project development—the more it makes sense to ask her for a proposal that includes scope of work, schedule, benchmarks, and fee.

Retainer: Laura welcomes clients whose editorial needs are ongoing. She will negotiate a fee after a one-month trial period.

Contact Laura for a complimentary consultation to learn more.