A professional editor can significantly improve your written text, make it more presentable to the audience and help you avoid all kinds of mistakes. In-depth editing is equally beneficial for an academic paper, website copy, eBook, and business document. However, it is essential to choose a reliable and competent editor who can strengthen your text without altering its meaning and fix all issues. Below, you will find recommendations for choosing a reliable editing company.
Where to Look for Professional CV Editing?
If you need a professional CV editing service, choose a curriculum vitae editor who specializes in correcting resumes exclusively, not a general or academic editing agency. A good CV editing services editor not only corrects grammar, punctuation, and style in your CV, but also improves document structure and format, and adds keywords. This makes your experience and skills more appealing to employers and increases your chances to get an interview with your dream company. Whenever you need to edit and improve your CV, be sure to contact a specialized agency.
How to Choose a Trustworthy Editing Company?
On the internet, you can find dozens of editing companies and agencies promising to improve your posts, academic papers or business documents in no time. However, do not hurry to pay to the very first company you found on Google – do this first:
Clarify Your Expectations
There are many types of editing. For example, structural editing involves improving the structure of the text, tone of voice, and clarity, eliminating repetitions, and suggesting what should be added or removed. Copyediting means checking grammar, and spelling, correcting sentence structure and the consistency of facts. Or, you might need proofreading – a correction of typos, punctuation, capitalization and other minor issues.
Understand what type of editing you need and ask the company if they provide such services. Otherwise, you will be disappointed if you need in-depth editing of your book manuscript and will receive a simple grammar check.
Know the Price in Advance
Many companies advertise their price (per word or per page), but it makes sense to discuss a final price with an editor or a support rep. Editing companies are often willing to make a discount if you order many pages. Also, pay attention to the deadline – getting your document edited by tomorrow can be twice as expensive as if you had ordered a week in advance.
Some agencies will ask you to pay upfront, while others request payments in installments. Reliable editors also provide guarantees of satisfaction and refunds in case of late delivery. Find out this in advance as well.
Browse Customer Reviews
Before you place an order, it is a good idea to read reviews from previous customers. Pay attention not only to testimonials posted on the website, but also to reviews on third-party websites (such as TrustPilot or social media). Upon reading such reviews, you’ll get a better idea of what to expect from a particular company.
Ask your friends or colleagues if they can recommend an editing company. Reading reviews is helpful, but it is much better to get a recommendation and hear about the first-hand experience from someone you know.
Ask About Editors’ Qualifications
Get in touch with the company and clarify what education and training their editors have. Ideally, you want someone with at least a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature, Journalism, Communications or a related field, and 1+ year of experience. If the company refuses to tell about their editors’ background or they respond that they have “great editors”, this is a warning sign.
Also, note that many editing agencies are located overseas, so look for a US-based company with local editors in the first place.
Pay Attention to Their Customer Service
Trustworthy editing companies are attentive to their customers’ needs. As a rule, they have a 24/7 toll-free phone number or a live chat so that you could get in touch if any issue arises.
Talk to a support representative before you order editing of your manuscript or corporate documents. Do they sound friendly and eager to help? Do they answer all your questions politely and assist in choosing the right service, or try to upsell? Good customer service often means that the company cares about its reputation and provides editing services of good quality.
Check the Samples of Work
To evaluate the quality of work, ask the editor to provide samples of work. Take a look at the samples before and after, and review the editor’s suggestions. This is the fastest way to understand what quality of editing you can expect from this company.
When it Comes to Personal Statement Editing, Always Consult an Expert
A personal statement is an essential element of your college application. In this essay, you need to explain your interest in the particular college or university and show motivation and the ability to successfully complete the course.
Since the admissions committee is very strict about personal statements, it is helpful to hire a personal statement editor who could correct it before sending, fix errors and suggest content improvements. A qualified personal statement editing services editor can increase your chance of getting accepted by a college.
Examples of Free Services for Self-editing
Professional editing can significantly improve the structure, content, and quality of writing, helping you better communicate with the target audience. Yet, if you need to check your copy for mistakes immediately or cannot hire an editor for any other reason, you can use these free online services:
- Grammarly. This app can check your grammar, spelling, punctuation, and even plagiarism in real time. An extension for Chrome is also available. In a premium version, you can improve sentence structure, clarity, tone, and readability by following the app’s suggestions.
- Hemingway Editor. This app is mostly focused on analyzing sentences for readability, and marks long or complex sentences. It can also spot grammar issues, passive voice overuse, adverbs and other common issues in writing so you could make your text clear and reader-friendly.
- Scrivener. Designed for book authors in the first place, it can help you with formatting your book, planning the plot, organizing notes, and editing the written text.
These free and easy-to-use checkers can help you fix the most common writing mistakes. However, no software can compare with the help of a professional editor who can improve the quality of your text at all levels and provide personalized advice.
