Copy-editing WordsWay: Proofreading, Copyediting

Copyediting (or copy-editing/copy editing), proofreading (or proof-reading/proofing), typesetting, editing services that we have been doing for individuals and organizations, and for publishers and editing services around the world which got work from clients, at a fraction of the cost they charged, have been bringing our customers back to us repeatedly.

We started providing these services directly, eliminating the middleman, so that clients could get even better services, at greatly reduced costs, in tight deadlines.

Thank you for joining us here. Do spend a few moments to scroll down and see what we can offer you as an individual or an organization, in a variety of fields in the world of editing.

We are copy editors, proofreaders, editors, copywriters, typesetters, book and book-cover designers, editorial consultants, and an editorial service with more than 20 years of experience, having worked on a variety of documents and formats. We work mostly in MS Word and Pagemaker, and also do formatting and conversion to PDF. More…

About Our Work

For many persons, English is a second language (ESL). They need the help of an expert.

However, a very large number of people, though English is their mother tongue, are immersed in the technicalities of their own subject, not going into the finer points of the language. So even persons whose knowledge of English is good prefer taking no chances on the minutiae of the language, and have an expert go through it with a pair of discerning eyes and hone their otherwise good language.

We use American or British English and style, as desired, and standard style manuals like the Chicago Manual, Hart’s Rules, Ritter’s Oxford Style Manual, Butcher’s Copy-editing, and the style sheets universities expect their students to follow, and are familiar with formats in use.

Editing, Copy-editing, Proofreading

Books We do editing, copy-editing (i.e. copyediting; content/substantive, and line/mechanical), rewriting, proofreading (i.e. proofing) of scholarly books on medicine specializations and super-specializations (like gastroenterology, psychiatry, cardiology, neural engineering, by subject-matter experts, where required), psychology, paramedicine, law, international affairs, sociology, political science, economics, finance, management, philosophy, terrorism and security subjects, NBC warfare, fiction, children’s books, general technical, autobiographies/memoirs, spiritualism, etc.

We are fastidious about the consistency in a book, and the styling of references (in-text, footnotes, endnotes, and biblios), as given to us by the author, or as required by the style sheet of the publisher for whom it is intended. More…

Journals As for books.

Theses, Dissertations As for books.

Newsletters, Brochures, Leaflets, Notices, Circulars, Programmes

Short Stories, Articles, Papers

CVs/Bios/Résumés Even an otherwise well-made CV, but one which lacks 'the professional touch' leaves, at the subconscious level, an indeterminate, intangible feeling of 'something being lacking'. A résumé needs to stand out from the crowd so that you are the one who’s selected. And it’s a war out there! Formatting, styling, and presentation here may matter even more (please see below) than copy-editing alone. Our Resume Design service by Dhriti Bahl Duggal provides professional services perfect for entry-level employees all the way to junior managers. and executive services are crafted for top-level execs, board members and directors.

Hardware/Software/User Manuals We do copy-editing of computer hardware, software, networking, and user manuals.

Letters We do copywriting/rewriting/copy-editing of official, personal, business, sales, cover letters, letters on sensitive or delicate subjects, where it is imperative—or at least desirable—that the recipient/s not be antagonized or offended, that they understand and become inclined to accepting the writer’s concerns, from an office circular, to a very personal letter breaking an engagement, etc.

We have written text and conceptualized software instructions for children’s books on history, English and math for the National Institute of Information Technology (NIIT), and for the Shell Group in India’s e-learning division for making CDs.

Some of the things we see, correct, and make consistent in books, journals, theses, dissertations, papers, articles, CVs/bios/resumes, letters, etc. are: headings (of different levels in decreasing order of importance); fonts, and font sizes; indents; tables; figures; and references.

We (formerly Lipika Editorial Services, Managing Editor Dhiren Bahl, topping with Distinction-levels in English, French and General Science and an advanced diploma part two in French; Consultant Pritty Bahl, PhD) have done work for some of the biggest names in publishing, like Oxford University Press, Sage, Prentice-Hall, Kluwer Academic/Plenum, Blackwell Science US, Tata McGraw-Hill, law publishers like Beard Books (Washington, d.c.), etc., and for institutions like the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies (Colombo), National Council for Applied Economic Research, the Planning Commission of India, Jawaharlal Nehru University (New Delhi), Forum for Strategic Studies, Centre for Policy Research, innumerable theses, dissertations, articles and papers on medical and scientific subjects for individuals, and done copy-editing for other editorial services worldwide. More…

Every document, job, or communication received from our clients remains absolutely confidential, and only the editor working on it is privy to them. We do not divulge contact details of our clients. We will not even publish an unsolicited testimonial without the express written permission of our clients.

We will make every effort to do your job according to your instructions and in continuous consultation with you. But if you are not satisfied, please tell us where we did not come up to your expectations, and we will refund your payment.

We do not believe in unilaterally imposing arbitrary, one-sided terms and/or conditions on our clients. We trust our clients will deal with us as any reasonable person would, just as they would expect us to deal with them, with politeness, tact, competence, and promptness. We do want our clients to keep coming back to us, and also recommending us to their colleagues and friends.

Charges for copy-editing, proofreading and other editing services vary worldwide between US$20 and US$50 per hour. We charge approximately US$8 per hour, all-inclusive, depending upon the effort and time we estimate we will need to put in on a particular job, and its urgency. Our charges are for all the work agreed upon, which may include copy-editing/proofing, and formatting, and any applicable taxes: there are no unpleasant surprises, hidden charges, or any fine print. You will pay us from 30 to 50 per cent less, for the same or a better and quicker job. If the whole job varies drastically from the sample, we may need to revise our estimate in consultation with you.

Send us your job requirement, preferably with a sample, and we’ll respond with a firm quote and a job number in a few hours. Do mention whether you need the output in a particular format, e.g. Word, PageMaker, PDF, etc., and whether you prefer to get only a corrected copy instead of two (another showing tracked changes as well). Please tell us the total word count , how urgent your job is, and any other information you think may help us in doing the work.

Or you can post/courier your text on a CD, DVD, or manuscript, scanned handwritten pages/notes or audiocassette to:

We have the latest anti-virus protection, updated daily so that we do not pass on viruses to our clients’ machines. We request you also to kindly scan your emails, attachments/CDs for viruses before you send them. It’s preferable to send Winzip files if the files are large, or our FTP site can be used.