copy-editor/proofreader

As a copy-editor or proofreader you'll ensure that material is clear, consistent, complete and credible, and that text is well written, grammatically correct and accessible. You'll take the initial material, or the copy, and make it ready for publication.

You'll work on a range of publications, including:

books
journals
newspapers
websites
other electronic resources.
You'll be required to correct spelling, grammar and layout (proofreading), check content, impose consistent styles and reword or rewrite (copy-editing). This depends on the project, the employer or the client and their own specialist experience. Many copy-editors/proofreaders perform both functions in tandem.

They're employed by publishers, businesses and public bodies but increasingly on a freelance basis, so it's common to have several clients at the same time. Many people retrain for editorial work as a second or third career.

Responsibilities
Activities depend on experience and whether you work in-house or freelance. They may include:

correcting spelling mistakes and grammatical errors
sub-editing text written by a number of authors to ensure consistent house style
working with IT-based publishing systems and databases, as well as via the internet or from paper manuscripts
liaising regularly with authors and publishers by phone and email
checking that authors have provided all the required materials and paperwork
resolving queries directly with the author, e.g. style and text inconsistencies
coding manuscripts for design features, such as hierarchy of headings, to instruct the production team
creating artwork briefs to detail the content of illustrations
ensuring that illustrations are correctly captioned and referred to in the text
producing or working to a style checklist to ensure consistency in hyphenation, capitalisation, formatting of references, etc
maintaining awareness of new words or phrases coming into popular usage with a view to ensuring they're appropriate for the readership
discussing and resolving any potentially libellous sections with the commissioning editor and author
retrieving articles from archives and rearranging within publications
preparing preliminary pages for the title, contents and preface of a publication
overseeing the work of indexers, typesetters and designers
typesetting and designing layout (increasingly for freelancers)
ensuring that publications are prepared on budget and to schedule
managing marketing and business activities (for those who are self-employed).

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