Morgan Ridler

Project Background

Morgan Ridler is an art historian who specializes in wall painting at the Bauhaus during the pre-World War II era in Germany. She was preparing a book based on her dissertation on this subject and had received favorable feedback from a university press.

The author had completed her work on the content and needed a round of copyediting before the press sent out the manuscript to peer reviewers. She wanted a copyedit so that the readers could focus solely on the content and not be distracted by grammar or citation errors.

I have known Cara, cofounder of Flatpage, for many years and trusted her and her team. I knew my manuscript would be better for it. I had become overwhelmed with the number of citations and formatting issues my text needed and knew I needed help.

Morgan Ridler

The Collaboration

Copyediting can be useful for authors at many points in the publication process, and this project is a clear example of how a round of copyediting can be advantageous prior to submitting a manuscript to an advisory committee or peer reviewers. During a copyedit, the editor focuses on eradicating errors in grammar and punctuation, adjusting sentence structure for clarity, and applying a style guide like the Chicago Manual of Style to the body text and citations. Once the text is free of basic errors, expert readers can devote their attention to providing constructive feedback on the content rather than pointing out issues in the copy.

The best part of working with Flatpage was the confidence they gave me, knowing that my manuscript was ready for outside readers. Little things as well as larger questions or issues with the text were corrected. The process is very organized and systematic which is also so helpful when you have a very large project.

With approximately 70,000 words in need of editing, the author decided to move forward by sending the editor a chapter at a time over the course of one month. We kept track of the project using a tracker and exchanged files on a shared Dropbox. The editor completed each of the book’s five chapters, plus introduction and conclusion, in a little less than one week each.

The Outcome

The manuscript was submitted on time and sent out for peer review. The author is currently working on revisions.

If one of my colleagues needed this same type of service, I would tell them that it’s well worth it. You will know for sure your text is ready.