Plain English Business Editing Services
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Since 2000, our plain English business editing services have helped numerous government and corporate clients across Australia and Asia.
By assisting our clients to talk more directly, clearly and appropriately to stakeholders and the public, we make sure they are more effective communicators.
- Before: I have read and I understand the information as it appears above which covers off the terms and conditions of this survey and I consent and agree to participating in this survey as per those terms and conditions.
- After: I accept the T&Cs of this survey.
- Before: Without fail, you must always follow the rules as listed below at all times and without exception.
- After: Please follow these rules.
- Before: No payment will be made to any one who makes an application for costs incurred in the preparation and submission of an application in response to this Request for Proposals. Costs associated with preparing and submitting an application in response to this Request for Proposal, as well as any other costs incurred by the applicant associated with the evaluation of this Request for Proposals, are the sole responsibility of the applicant making the application.
- After: You pay preparation, submission and all other related costs.
- Before: Responding to questions about your experience as part of the event can be distressing. For this reason, all the survey questions are regarded as optional questions hence allowing you the ability to decide which questions you want respond to and which you don’t want to respond to.
- After: You can skip any distressing questions.
- Before: The product releases we released on a monthly basis per project in terms of a percentage by the end of the year as a key metric grew by 37% over the previous year. This growth in progress aligns itself very well with our previously stated aim for the year i.e. to enhance and improve productivity for the company. Our strategic focus involves optimising the maximum use of relevant resources so that the company is always improving.
- After: Our focus on productivity and strategic use of resources improved our monthly product releases by 37% YOY.
- Before: Yesterday, all members received an email from the Club advising of arrangements for the ballot process ahead of this year’s Annual General Meeting (AGM). Included in this was a link to the notice of the AGM. Due to an administrative error, the version of the Notice of the AGM accessed through the link provided yesterday contained an error. This error has been corrected in an updated and re-issued Notice of the AGM, which can be found here. This document replaces the previous version of the Notice of the AGM which was not accessible through the link provided yesterday. This document replaces the previous version of the Notice of the AGM which was not accessible through the link provided yesterday.
- After: Hello, the link in yesterday’s email to the notice of our upcoming AGM was faulty. Here’s the right link. We apologise for any inconvenience.
What Is Plain English Business Editing/Writing?
Plain English business writing gives anyone a good chance of understanding your message on the first reading, and in the way you want them to.
It’s clear, direct writing that uses as few words as you need – avoiding ambiguity, verbiage and complex sentences. It does not, however, mean always using simple words at the expense of the most accurate, or writing like a pre-schooler.
Poor Business Copywriting Can Be Costly And Potentially Disastrous
If your audience doesn’t understand your business’s professional writing due to bad grammar, unclear wording or inappropriate style and tone, you can lose business as well as credibility.
So, whether you’re working in a government department; as a government proposal writer; or writing an annual report, corporate website, blog, business report or any other business collateral; our professional business writing will help you establish your objectives, audience, tone and style for the best possible business copy solution.
What’s The Difference Between An Editing Service And A Proofreading Service?
Many of our prospective clients aren’t sure if they need an editing service or a proofreading service.
Here’s the difference. Our editing service simplifies and improves the language, expression and overall quality of the writing, word choice and sentence structure. As part of all this, we’ll also ‘proofread’ the document, i.e., eliminate grammar, punctuation and spelling mistakes.
Professional proofreading services on the other hand are provided at the final stage of the editing process — after you’ve created your final draft — and focus on surface errors like misspellings and grammar, and of course punctuation.
Whether you’ve just completed a multi-million dollar tender, prepared your annual report, finalised a new government policy or revamped a newsletter, our leading team of professional proofreading experts and professional editors will eliminate all surface errors like misspellings, grammar and punctuation, and correct verb tense and sentence structure.
Using tracked changes, they will make the corrections to your copy leaving you with the option to accept or reject. They can also apply your house style guide or create one for you. Our proofreading service is less ‘hands on’ than our editing service. But professional proofreading performs the essential role of ensuring your document is error-free and consistent with house style.
Why Get Professional Proofreading Services?
Sure content is important but, like it or not, the way your document looks is directly related to how it’s judged.
You’ve worked hard to develop your copy so the last thing you want is careless errors that blight all your good work. Taking care of the details creates a good impression for your audience, stakeholders, voters, shareholders and other interested parties.
The Global Status of CCS Report
APM was the plain English editor of the Global Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) report for three consecutive years.
CCS is an emissions reduction technology critical to meeting global climate targets. This annual report documents important milestones for CCS over the year, its status across the world and the key opportunities and challenges it faces.
Taking an initial draft of supplied content, APM’s substantive editing assessed and shaped the copy to:
- Improve its structure, organization and content
- Clarify meaning
- Improve flow
- Smooth out the language
We ensured it was audience appropriate and in a single tone – not in the different voices and styles of its different authors. We also identified any duplication or inconsistencies across the document, checked that footnotes were correct, and identified any gaps in references.
The final product was presented with great success at the United Nations. The excellent design was done by the very talented team at Fluid, an APM strategic partner.
Medibank annual report
Australian private health insurance provider Medibank, is Australia’s second largest health insurance provider.
APM proofread the final PDF of Medibank’s annual report before it was printed to ensure it was complete and free of errors.
- Here had been no words obviously misplaced by the designer
- Pagination, contents and numbering of tables and graphs were correct
- Pictures were correctly placed and labelled
- Grammar, spelling, punctuation was 100% correct
- Editorial style had been maintained in the design
- There were no widows and orphans
- Tables were not split unnecessarily
- All sections of the report appeared as per the original plan
- The table of contents aligned with the document
- All web links went where intended and worked
- Styles (such as italics, bold) had been correctly translated from the Word version
We also took a cursory glance at all charts and infographics to confirm they accurately represented the statistics being highlighted.