Blackbird Books, an independent publisher that focuses on young African authors, approached us to proofread the manuscript of A Man, A Fire, A Corpse, a narrative nonfiction tale on the career of Captain Amos Maneta, 'South Africa's Top Cop’. Blending narrative journalism with crime noir, author Rofhiwa Maneta — Captain Maneta's son — upends the nonfiction genre. He takes readers on a journey through the country's landscape of gendered violence and crime in a stylish contemplation of duty, family and truth.

Proofreading is the last line of defence against error. The goal of this editorial function is to flag not only misspelled words but all typographic and layout defects and inconsistencies. It requires an eye for detail, and thorough knowledge of definitions, grammar and syntax. Often incorrectly seen as requiring less skill than other forms of editing, proofreading done well can instil confidence in readers that authors know and care about the subject matter.

Moya is a new magazine produced by the Atlantic Fellows for Racial Equity — a transnational, multiracial leadership development programme based at Columbia University in New York City and the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg. Our team worked closely with the organisation's team, led by their editor-in-chief, to bring the editorial vision to life.

The scope of our work included managing the editorial production process, liaising with contributors, and preparing contributions for publication across all stages of the process, as well as developing the house style. We also provided advice on interpreting the editorial vision and linking it to the editorial production process.

Commissioned by publisher Tafelberg Books, we edited the manuscript for researcher Ziyanda Stuurman's nonfiction debut, Can We Be Safe: The Future of Policing in South Africa. In the book, Ziyanda argues that reforms, and the billions in resources poured so far in to policing and the wider criminal justice system in post-apartheid South Africa, have yet to delink it from its colonial, apartheid-capitalist origins. Situating her analysis in the global context, she invites readers to imagine what, then, it would take to make the country safer.

The extent of our editor's intervention was three-fold: conceptual (thinking with Ziyanda on her ideas), structural (devising with her a structure for the book), and narrative (editing the text for coherence and clarity). Few things are as satisfying as working and reworking a manuscript with an author to give it substance, shape and flow.

The New York Times had commissioned a photographic series by Kyle Weeks on queer culture in Cape Town and was looking for an author to write an accompanying essay to give context for a global audience. Through our extensive network, we found the right voice in writer and DJ Zane Lelo Meslani.

We worked as the bridge between the publication and the author, and worked with the author to develop the essay and prepare it for submission. Our writer development team also supported the author through the revision process to meet the publication's exacting editorial standards.

In these times of limited capacity in newsrooms, publications are always looking for ways to produce more high-quality editorial content. We pitched our outsourced newsroom concept to South Africa's Mail & Guardian, who decided to bring us on board.

Working on retainer as an extension of this esteemed weekly publication's newsroom, we contributed to the production of Friday, the newspaper's arts and culture pages. We sourced contributors, developed and submitted pitches, and worked with contributors — following the house style and to a mutually agreed-upon production schedule — to submit proofed, layout-ready pieces. In this way, leaning on our strengths as an experienced editorial collective, we were able to support both the publication and contributors, including many new and emerging writers, in ways that might not have been possible before.