Copy Editing Blog EntriesConsider Enlisting Editing Services for your BlogWeb Logs, a.k.a. BLOGs, have been experiencing a tremendous growth in popularity, and an increasing number of people are making a living with their blog writing. But have copyediting and proofreading standards in the blog world kept up? It’s long been a pet peeve of mine that a great many blog entries are written entirely off-the-cuff, posted, and then never checked for errors in spelling, grammar, punctuation, facts, links, or the general flow or "voice" of the article or blog site in general. I’ve heard the argument that blogs are intended only to be places to post quick, informal, entries in the form of personal logs or journals. That’s fine if your blogs are intended to be mostly personal sets of entries and you don’t expect (or want) them to reach much of an audience outside of your immediate friends or families (although I’d still be embarrassed to have my writing full of errors even in that case!). These days, however, successful blogs tend to be a far stretch from that. More successful blogs read more like mini-magazines, often with numerous articles or blog entries focussing on different, specific aspects of broader general subject matters. For example, a blog whose general area is on Judo may have entries on a wide array of Judo-related subject matter, such as judo techniques, training tips, sports nutrition, equipment, favourite competitors, or tournament results, etc. A blog of the type mentioned above is much more like a professional publication, and it would do well to hold the quality of its blog entries to a high standard. Having your blog professionally copyedited will make your writing appear much more polished and professional, improve clarity, and will make your readers much happier. I’m far from the only person who reads blog posts for the terrific information they contain while at the same time cringing at all the errors! Really egregious problems in the writing can drive some of your hard-earned readership away. And with the right copy editor, there’s no need to fear losing your “voice” in your posts. A good copy editor will remove the errors while keeping the meaning, style, and flow intact. Here’s an example of the sort of work I do. The paragraph below is taken from a blog of an acquaintance of mine – a graduate of a journalism program with several blogs, who does occasional reporting work, but who does not go to the extra effort to copy edit her own work. Below that is a copyedited version. You’ll see that the two still read as written by the same author with the same “voice”, but if it were your writing, which would you rather have published for the world to see? Original Unedited Blog Entry: “AND would you believe I watched this guy (who seems to think he’s a power house) crank this arm bar on this very timid kind of chubby girl who is in the class? I mean come on? Really? Did it make you feel great? I’m probably 50 pounds more lighter then this guy but do you know how bad I wanted to go in there and really set an example? And at the same time dig in this great choke and make him tear up some? He knew he cranked it… he tries to show off… its people like that who give the sport a bad name… your suppose to have respect for the people you train with… It really made me mad and I think next week I’m going to be on his ass about pushing during the work out… I don’t tolerate that, I use to be the timid girl that guys use to out muscle and now sometimes it’s not a walk in the park for these same meat heads…” Copy Edited Version: “Then would you believe I watched this guy, who seems to think he’s a powerhouse, crank an arm bar on a very timid, inexperienced girl who is in the class? I mean, come on! Really? Did it make you feel great? I’m probably 50 pounds lighter than the guy but wanted badly to go in there and really set an example and at the same time dig in a great choke and make him tear up some! He knew he cranked the arm bar. He tries to show off like that. It's people like that who give the sport a bad name. You're supposed to have respect for the people you train with. It really made me mad and I think next week I’m going to be on his case about pushing during the work out. I don’t tolerate that kind of behaviour: I used to be the timid girl that guys out-muscled and now sometimes it’s not a walk-in-the-park for these same meat heads.” If you want your blog or website to attract and keep a healthy readership, I highly recommend the services of a professional copy editor! Contact me if you have any questions or have ideas for other articles you'd like to see. Back to the Articles list page. |
