When engaging a copywriter, one of the first questions you’ll probably ask is: “How much will it cost?”

In order to answer that however, your copywriter will need to ask you a question: “What do you want help with? Copywriting, editing or proofreading?”

You see, to most people, writing and editing are kind of the same thing.

To a copywriter, they’re not. Each task involves a different set of skills — and are often charged at different rates.

To most people, writing and editing are kind of the same thing. To a copywriter, they’re very different tasks involving different sets of skills. Click To Tweet

What is proofreading?

Proofreading is simply a close reading of the text to detect any errors in spelling, punctuation and grammar. It may also involve checking for consistencies within a document (e.g. font sizes for headings and subheadings; or whether you are using an American or Australian version of spelling, etc.).

Proofreading DOES NOT include checking factual information, re-wording paragraphs, moving text to ensure better flow, or clarifying prose.

It may seem like a simple task, but proofreading is one of the most important. It should be done after you have finished all your writing and revisions. To ensure you do a good job proofreading, read our 7 top tips for proofreading.

Proofreading is often charged at a lower rate than editing or content writing.

What is editing?

Editing is more complex than proofreading. While you’ll obviously pick up spelling and grammatical errors during the editing process, the main aim of editing is to ensure the content makes sense. Editing can involve re-arranging and revising text, re-structuring content, checking to ensure accuracy, re-writing text to ensure clearer meaning, ensuring that all required information (e.g. key words or phrases) has been included, and checking the text is suitable and targeted for the end-audience.

All of the above takes a great amount of skill and more time than the proofreading stage, and so will usually be charged at a higher rate than proofreading.

Copywriting requires a higher level of skill than editing and proofreading, and so will be charged at a higher rate. Click To Tweet

What is copywriting?

Copywriting is just that — writing copy. However, this is the most time-consuming part of the process. Copywriting isn’t just putting pen to paper. It involves understanding what the client wants — which is best delivered via a client brief. This includes who the target audience is, what ‘voice’ the client wishes to use, what the ‘call to action’ is going to be, and what information is crucial to include, or omit.

Determining the brief is a very important step in the creative process. The clearer the brief, the more effective the communication will be in the end. This can take some time, particularly for larger projects, and is something you need to understand and factor in, when engaging a copywriter for your business.

The copywriting process also involves research — whether it be researching facts and figures, collating information, or simply scouring the digital landscape to see what’s hot and what’s not. Only after a brief has been finalised, and any necessary research has been completed can the actual writing process begin.

Good copywriters not only write copy, but provide headline suggestions, media snippets, and references. Click To Tweet

Good copywriters will not only deliver excellent content, but they may also provide:

  • Headline suggestions
  • References for added credibility
  • Image suggestions
  • Social media snippets
  • A couple of rounds of amends and proofreading.

As you can see, copywriting involves a higher skill-set than editing and proofreading, and is justifiably more expensive than the other two services.

If you’re curious about how much a copywriter charges, then make sure you look for our next blog post — “What does a copywriter cost?

Until then, if you’d like to engage me for any content writing, editing or proofreading, please send me an email. I’d love to hear from you.



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