Getting a document edited
What the services are, which one a document needs, what editing costs, how fast it can be done, and where plain language is required by law. Each page below gathers the questions a person would ask in the same sitting, and each answer says what is known, what is disputed, and what nobody can tell you in advance. Where a claim can be checked, the source is cited and linked.
What kind of help you need
- Which service do I need What the four levels of editing actually are, how to tell which one a document needs, and where editing stops and writing starts.
- Plain language, and who requires it Two United States rules make plain language a legal requirement, and both name checkable properties an editor can measure a document against.
- Editing text a machine helped write What an editor can and cannot detect, what has to be disclosed and to whom, and what the Copyright Office has actually decided.
Working with an editor
- What it costs and how fast Published rates for business and technical work, why the units differ, what makes a quote move, and what a quote does not include.
Confidentiality, rights, and risk
- Confidentiality and your file What an undertaking should cover, whether a nondisclosure agreement helps, who else sees the file, and what happens to it afterward.
- Who owns the edited text Work made for hire and its two narrow routes, why a contractor's writing may not be yours, and whether an editor gains any rights at all.