What is a copy editor?

What is a copy editor?

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The copy editor is the next stage on from the editor, the commissioning editor, in a publishing company. The commissioning editor does what we call structural editing, which is the big picture, and the copy editor is the fine crafts person. They are the person who goes through the manuscript in fantastic detail, looking at every comma, correcting spellings and correcting grammar, but also looking for inconsistencies like date problems and anything which strikes them as being odd. Copy editors also check up when there is a foreign language used, or technical terms, or any of those things. They literally mark the manuscript and raise any queries that they then go through with the author. It's their job to make the manuscript ready to go to the typesetter, who then sets it.