Freelance copyeditor, proofreader and content writer in Bristol
I’m Lucy, a pro at powering up boring copy so it talks to your customers naturally. No faff, no waste, no yawning. Just 100% readable words – in your voice.
Freelancecopywriter
I’ve been a freelance wordsmith for well over a decade. Clients I can talk about are Red Bull, Clarks shoes, Engadget, Expedia and the National Association of Jewellers … and others. I can’t talk about the well-known car companies, hotel chains and global airlines, though. Shh!
I adapt my writing voice to sound like you – in my time, I’ve jumped from writing as a 60-year-old Palestinian man, a dizzy hen-party organiser, a tech and gadget aficionado and an R&D whizz.
What’s your voice?
Lucy Cripps
My core services
Copyediting, proofreading and content writing for multinationals and small local businesses.
Copyediting and subediting
You know what you want to say on your website or in your emails, social media posts or blogs – but HOW to say it trips you up. That’s where I come in. What I hear most often from my clients is ‘THAT’s exactly what I meant to say’. The job of the copyeditor – me – is to understand your message, know your voice, identify what you want to say and say it in a way that feels authentic to you. Send over your words in whatever form they’re in – notes, dictation, almost-finished – and I’ll work my magic.
Proofreading
Careless miskates jump out at you and really do make you question the writer’s credibility – don’t they!? I know you saw it, and, yes, it was intentional. Proofreading isn’t about rewriting or making lots of structural changes; proofreading happens when you are 99% happy that what you’ve written is accurate and ready to go. In a proofread, I check grammar, spelling and punctuation are spot on and I remove typos and accidental white space. It takes me very little time to proofread (about 15 minutes for 1,000 words) and I’m far too accurate for my own good.
Content creation
Boring, blah blah blah, not-reading copy is not going to get you readers. Whether you need writing for web, print, advertising, long-reads, short-reads, social posts or cereal packets, there’s no point relying on your GCSE English. Crafting readable copy is a skill. Your writing needs to breathe, to flow, to take your reader by the hand and take them where you want them to go. In my content creation, I’m happy to work your way – I can take the whole thing on: plan the content, do the research, write the words. Or I can jump through the hoops you hold out for me.
Clientreviews
Some kind words from my lovely customers!
Copyediting services
- Website content and blog creation, editing and proofreading
- Product description creation
- Email and newsletter writing or editing
- CMS organisation and upkeep
- Tone of voice and style guide creation
- Website-writing workshops
Copywriting, copyediting and proofreadingFAQs
Feel free to contact me should you have any further questions.
Do you work online or offline?
Both. I can work with traditional proofreading and editing mark up on printed copy, or I can use track changes in Word documents or comments to edit/proofread pdfs. The majority of my work is done digitally, though. I have Google Docs, DropBox, OneDrive, Box.
How do you communicate with clients?
I’m happy to have a chat on the phone, Zoom or Skype at the beginning of a project, but I find email, Slack and WhatsApp are useful for quick comms when we’re deep in a project and need to clear up little details quickly.
What is your workflow?
I work mostly in Word. With writing projects, I share the first version by email or Google Docs, depending on what works best for my client. I save subsequent versions as separate files rather than working over a previous versions (minds change!).
To make sure edits and proofreading tweaks are clear, I use track changes, but I always share a tracked version and a clean version, so clients can see what I’ve done and read it easily.
Do you use American or British English?
I can switch easily between the two. I’m a native Brit but spent a couple of years in North America and taught American and British English, grammar and punctuation at university in Salzburg, Austria.
Which style guide do you use?
MLA, APA, Hart’s Rules, OUP, Blue Book, Chicago, Reuters, The Guardian – whatever you work with, I work with. Each house and publisher has its own style, so I can follow one chosen by the client, or create a unique style guide.
Copyeditor vs proofreader
I am often asked this question – are you a copyeditor or proofreader?
Well, I’m happy to say I’m both as the services compliment each other and are interchangeable. My services include – but are not limited to
- Website content and blog creation, editing and proofreading
We’ll work together to craft a website that talks to your customers – I can write it from scratch, work with your words or just give your creation the once over before you push it live. - Product description creation
You have so little time to grab your readers’ attention. I’ll help you find the right words to make every product sound as amazing as it is. - Email and newsletter writing or editing
Leave your email campaign and newsletter writing to me or send them over for a last look before you send them to your customers. - CMS organisation and upkeep
Content management systems (CMS) can be scary places when you first step in, so I can get your content in place to give you the time you need to learn the ropes while the customers start flooding in. I’ve worked in WordPress, Joomla, Athena and many, many more. When you can work with one, the rest are much the same. - Tone of voice and style guide creation
We’ll create a tone of voice guide and a style sheet together so you can be confident in staying on message and being consistent in all your business writing. - Website-writing workshops
I taught English at secondary school and grammar and writing at university for nearly a decade. Now, I use my love of teaching and my wordsmith expertise to help you understand how to write your own website, online (in four weeks) or offline (in two days and a weekend).
What is copyediting?
Copyediting is all about pulling out the relevant parts of your writing and making them important. I’ll remove, unnecessary words and phrases to make your writing easier to read, adapt phrasing to create a strong, authentic voice and make sure you have a smooth, natural read.
It may be obvious, but I’ll also perfect grammar, spelling and punctuation and remove typos and accidental white space.
Copyediting takes about 30 minutes for 1,000 words, if the original writing is in a reasonable state.
What is subediting?
Subediting is working with copy from several writers to make sure they sound like they were all written by the same person. It means following (and sometimes creating) a style guide and applying it to everyone’s writing.
If you have one company or brand but several people writing as that company or brand, a subeditor is vital to present a consistent voice to the world.
Let'stalk
Words, grammar and punctuation are my passion. They’ve been part of my life since I graduated from my BA English, through my MA professional writing years, out into my English, writing and grammar teaching and now, at my freelance desk, in the world of wordsmithery.
I work in Bristol Harbourside, but I love to escape for a day trip to anywhere in the UK. Zoom, Skype, WhatsApp, they’re all handy alternatives if you’d rather not travel.
Lucy Cripps