Introduction to Editorial Skills: Copy-Editing and Proofreading

How the course is delivered

The course consists of six x 2.25-hour sessions including breaks, each a mixture of delivery and interaction using Zoom breakout rooms and other online tools. There will be a 45-minute exercise set to complete between the sessions, and a 45-minute break. The course will run on from 9.30am to 2.00pm on each day.

You will need access to a computer or laptop with a camera and microphone and with Microsoft Word and either Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (which is free) or Adobe Acrobat Professional installed. To join the course, you  will need to activate a Zoom account. This takes two minutes and does not require any payment. It is purely for administrative purposes.

Any information to be completed beforehand will be sent via email.

Accessibility

Please contact us at courses@publishingtrainingcentre.co.uk with any accessibility or special requirements, for example having in-session captions or the learning materials sent to you in advance.

If you have any concerns about technical requirements or access please contact us on courses@publishingtrainingcentre.co.uk or telephone (+44) 020 8874 2718.

Delegate feedback

“The course was excellent and has given me a more strategic approach to editing.” AMICULUM delegate

“Sarah was an excellent instructor and the course was well planned, useful and engaging. We covered a lot in two days. I have a better understanding of copy-editing and proofreading and the differences between them. I also learnt some tips for better practice.” Quarto Publishing delegate

“I really enjoyed this course. Sarah was brilliant at keeping both days interesting and well planned out. She explained everything so well that I didn't feel overwhelmed with information and the activities were informative and useful. I’ve gained confidence in my editorial skills.” Quarto Publishing delegate

“The course was a great blend between didactic teaching and interactive exercises. It followed a logical format with lots of time for questions and practical application of the skills taught. I have a better understanding of the difference between the copyediting and proofreading roles, an increased mastery of the tools used for these practices, and augmented grammatical knowledge.” Gallic Books delegate

“I really enjoyed the course. The tutor and teaching style were great and very instructive. I have a much more comprehensive understanding of the basics, general rules and reasons why.” Pan Macmillan delegate

“The trainer was great and precise. I now have a real sense of editorial conventions and requirements.” Pan Macmillan delegate

“I have a clearer understanding of what is involved when it comes to copy-editing and proofreading pieces of work. Caroline was excellent at keeping us engaged and testing our knowledge. I would love to be on more courses led by her.” Penguin Random House delegate

“Caroline's teaching style was really engaging, practical and helpful. My copy-editing and proofreading skills have improved. I learnt a lot and really enjoyed her stories about her own experience working in publishing.” Penguin Random House delegate

“I really enjoyed how interactive the course was. This really helped me to cement the teaching and put everything in context. I’ve gained knowledge of copy-editing and proofreading practices that I will be using straight away.” Managing Editorial Coordinator, Cornerstone, PRH, UK

“Caroline was fun and engaging, and I loved her teaching style. Immediate benefits include foundational learning about editorial standards in publishing.” Commissioning Editor, Penguin Random House

“The course was excellent, a good mix of theory and practical work. I've gained an understanding of editing and how to approach content to edit/proofread.” Amiculum delegate

“Sarah was friendly and helpful and, as a fiction editor, it was useful to get a base knowledge through the lens of non-fiction. I’ve gained an understanding of the differences between the copyedit and proofread, and how to best handle both.” Head of Zeus delegate

“I thoroughly enjoyed the course! Sarah was engaging and the content cemented the knowledge I've been acquiring in my new role. I now have the ability to organise proofreading tasks efficiently, an understanding of the different requirements of proofreaders and copyeditors, and confidence in PDF mark-up.” Assistant Editor, Bloomsbury Publishing

“The course was led well and presented clearly. I’ve gained confidence in my knowledge.” Freelance copy-editor and proofreader

“Caro was a fantastic tutor. I wanted to learn more about the basics of copy-editing and proofreading, and whether this was a career I wanted to pursue. I learnt a great deal about the differences and jobs of each of those roles, and that I do want to pursue work in the field.” Aspiring editor/proofreader

“Caroline was an excellent tutor. I’ve gained clarification on many rules when copy-editing and proofreading and new ways of seeing both jobs.” Osprey Publishing delegate

“The course was great! It was taught in an engaging and easy to understand manner, but also was rigorous, thorough, and informative. I was able to improve my work straight away.” BRF delegate

About the tutor(s)

The tutors devised and fully updated the course in 2020. One tutor will deliver all three morning sessions of a course. 

In an in-house career that took her to Berlin, London, Oxford and Cambridge, Caroline Drake worked on a wide range of academic books, journals and illustrated trade titles. She was trained at Blackwell and Cambridge University Press, where, as senior subeditor then copy-editorial manager, she in turn trained copy-editors and proofreaders for fifteen years. She updated Butcher’s Copy-editing, with a colleague, for the fourth edition.

Now freelance, Caroline enjoys helping authors to get things right, first time. She has created and taught courses for a variety of clients, including publishers, educational organisations, the CIEP and the reporters of the Scottish Parliament.

Since 1999, Sarah Sodhi has proofed, tagged, bound, corrected, edited, managed, commissioned, subbed, scheduled, estimated and produced a great deal of content – from interactive, multi-media resources to marketing leaflets, from monthly magazines to 900-page medical tomes.

Starting her career at a small medical publisher in Oxford, Sarah produced medical textbooks, journals and a bi-monthly magazine. She then moved into the public sector to work for an adult education charity, introducing formal scheduling procedures, progress-chasing systems and detailed budgets. After this, she immersed herself in the education sector, editing and managing digital and print resources for primary, secondary and adult education publishers.

Caroline Knight began her career in publishing at Penguin Books in 1989, when she joined Editorial 2, the department dedicated to copy-editing. She has been a PTC tutor since 1996 and a freelancer since 2010.

Caroline became managing editor of Allen Lane The Penguin Press in 1995 before moving to Weidenfeld & Nicolson Illustrated in 1997. She lived in Greece, working freelance and tutoring at the PTC, from 2000 to 2003, when she became managing editorial director at William Heinemann, an imprint of the Random House group. Five years later, she moved to Atlantic Books, where she stayed until 2010 when she moved to rural Kent and rejoined the freelance community.

She has worked with Alastair Campbell, Vince Cable, David Willetts, Margaret Drabble and the late Herman Leonard, as well as a wide variety of others less famous. She enjoys editing both fiction and non-fiction, with a leaning towards history and politics. She lives on the edge of the North Downs with her husband, three children, a dog, six hens and tens of thousands of bees.

Related courses

The PTC offers virtual classroom courses, self-study distance-learning courses, and a range of e-learning modules. See below for those that complement or build on this course.  

Virtual classroom courses

• Editorial Project Management  
• Progress in Editorial Skills
• Proofreading PDFs

Distance-learning courses

• Essential Copy-editing  
• Essential Proofreading
• Essential Grammar

e-Learning modules

• A comprehensive guide to copy-editing
• A copy-editor’s guide to working with authors
• A copy-editor’s guide to working with typesetters
• An editor's guide to author queries
• An editor's guide to editing fiction
• An editor's guide to editing illustrations
• An editor's guide to editing references
• An editor's guide to editorial style
• An introduction to proofreading
• An introduction to publishing
• Essential copyright for publishers
• Essential editorial project management
• Proofreading PDFs: A complete guide for editors