The Church Music Association of America (CMAA) seeks an experienced copy editor for its twice-yearly scholarly journal, Sacred Music.

Responsibilities:
• Perform a thorough copy edit of each issue, which includes:
• Correcting errors in spelling, grammar, punctuation, and capitalization
• Fixing typos, repeated words, and obvious factual inconsistencies
• Enforcing consistency (e.g., serial comma usage, abbreviation formats)
• Checking headings, tables, figures, and other elements for consistency
• Bring the entire issue into full conformity with the journal’s style sheet (based on Chicago/Turabian with CMAA-specific adaptations)
• Verify accuracy and proper formatting of all citations in the footnotes
• Prepare clean, final manuscripts for the editor’s review

The copy editor does not perform developmental editing, content editing, or stylistic rewriting beyond adherence to the journal’s style sheet. Each of the issues is approximately 45 single-spaced pages in Microsoft Word when it is sent to the copy editor.

Reports to: Editor of Sacred Music, Dr. Charles Weaver

Required Qualifications:
• Demonstrated mastery of the Chicago Manual of Style
• Familiarity with scholarly footnote apparatus in the humanities, especially musicology and liturgy
• Exceptional attention to detail and consistency
• Ability to work independently and meet firm deadlines
• Prior copy-editing experience with academic journals strongly preferred

Compensation
$0.05 per word, usually about $1,000 to $1,250 per issue (two issues per year)

This is a remote, freelance position. Interested candidates should submit a résumé, cover letter, and two samples of copy-edited academic work (preferably with visible tracked changes or before/after examples) to submissions@musicasacra.com. Please include “Sacred Music Copy Editor” in the subject line.