Copyediting & Technical Documentation
Thoughtful, comprehensive copyediting meets accessible, intuitive document design.
Experience
10 years editing novels, web content, and technical documents
MA, Book Publishing — Portland State University
Professional Certificate, Technical Writing — Oregon State University
Editor/Writer, IRIS Center at Vanderbilt University
Technical skills
Adobe InDesign & Acrobat Pro
Basecamp
Flowchart tools (Draw.io and Lucidchart)
Google Workspace
Microsoft 365
MyEmma
Trello
WordPress
Standards & style
WCAG standards
Section 508 standards
Chicago style
APA style
MLA style
AP style
I don’t use AI. I believe it inherently compromises your work.
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Copyediting
For writers and publishers. Refining voice, story, and mechanics across fiction and nonfiction—lighter or heavier, always collaborative.
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Technical Documentation
For teams and organizations. Manuals, SOPs, flowcharts, and handouts made clear, consistent, and built for a barrier-free read.
Copyediting
Copyediting is a collaboration to refine your voice and storytelling. There is no one-size-fits-all approach. While my role is to implement grammar conventions and consistency, together we’ll decide where style departures add value to your work.
Light copyedit
Ensures consistency in all mechanical matters (spelling, capitalization, formatting) and narrative matters (characterization, setting, timeline).
Corrects all indisputable errors in grammar and diction.
Highlights verbose phrases or passages that might cause confusion.
Queries factual inconsistencies and statements that need correction or verification.
Heavier copyedit
Everything in a light edit, plus deeper work on the page:
Suggests revisions to address wordiness or ambiguity.
Enacts line-level rewrites consistent with your voice—improving tone, precision, and flow between sentences and paragraphs.
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2.0¢–4.0¢
Per word. Light copyediting starts at 2.0¢; heavier copyediting runs up to 4.0¢. Rates vary with the demands of the project.
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4 weeks
Minimum turnaround for novels of 80,000–100,000 words, which allows for two full passes.
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Request a sample
It’s a significant investment, so I’m happy to edit a writing sample to ensure we’re a good fit.
Select books
Select white papers
Technical Documentation
A newer service held to the same editorial standard. I turn dense or scattered source material into manuals, SOPs, flowcharts, and handouts—clear, consistent, and formatted for accessibility.
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[SOP & flowchart] Baking tutorial, made repeatable
Converted a YouTube baking tutorial into an accessible, easy-to-follow standard operating procedure with a supporting flowchart.
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[Product manual] Stand mixer manual from scratch
Built a complete KitchenAid stand mixer manual from the ground up—structure, safety labeling, and layout.
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[Consolidated manual] PowerPanel manual, unified
Consolidated separate, unformatted manual parts into a single document, then copyedited and formatted for consistency, clarity, and accessibility.
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[InDesign handout] IRIS Center Brochure, designed and revised
Designed a user-friendly handout in InDesign and lightly copyedited the content to improve grammar and clarity while keeping the organization’s signature voice.
About
My name is Nicholas Shea, and I’ve been copyediting novels, web content, and technical documents for nearly a decade. As a lifelong reader, I naturally started my literary career as a bookseller at a well-known retail chain where the beguiling smell of coffee, pastries, and paper hoodwinks even the stingiest of shoppers into opening their wallets.
While doing so, I completed an MA in book publishing with a copyediting emphasis at Portland State University, and I recently received a professional certificate in technical writing from Oregon State University. I currently work as a writer/editor for the IRIS Center at Vanderbilt University, distilling academic research into engaging online resources that help teachers support students with disabilities.
Editorial philosophy
Writing is a labor of love that demands countless hours of work and an unyielding determination to question every word and punctuation choice. My responsibility is not only to strengthen narratives through judicious revisions that enhance clarity and consistency but to optimize formatting for a barrier-free experience. Whether your project is for subject-matter experts or general audiences, fiction or nonfiction, I would love to bring your vision to life.
Articles
