According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the verb edit--first used in the late eighteenth century--originally meant "to put forth," as in to prepare and publish a text of a written work previously only available in manuscript. This preparation often involved deleting portions of a manuscript--which is how editing acquired its often pejorative sense.

Deleting is only one of the four main actions of editing; the other three are adding, replacing, and rearranging. When editing a manuscript, one reads both with attention to the various aspects of the manuscript, and with full consideration of the manuscript as a whole. Editing seeks to build on the strengths of the writing and to revise the weaker portions.

Editing services are available for hard (paper manuscript) copy or online via electronic transmission (document files on disk). Please contact us about editing your work--our address and numbers are at the bottom of the homepage; or, click here to send us an e-mail message.