Services

What is Proofreading and what do I check for?

Proofreading is the last level writing goes through before it is released to the public. This service is appropriate if your writing has gone through other levels of editing. If your writing has not been edited at all or looked at by anyone, then Proofreading would not be the right choice for you— yet.

As a writer, you need a Proofreader when your writing is nearly perfect. By hiring a Proofreader, you get a different set of eyes looking for errors in your writing. Errors that your eyes have trouble finding because you’re too close to the project. All of this is normal, so don’t lose heart if errors are found.

Proofreading checks for grammar, capitalization, punctuation, spelling, homophones, missing or repeated words, and formatting errors like hyphens and other dashes. It does not change sentences nor does it fix sentence structure.

What is Copyediting and what do I check for?

Copyediting goes a level deeper than Proofreading and is done first. This service is appropriate if your storyline is perfect and you have a concise, clear story but just need help with things like sentence structure. Copyediting makes changes at a sentence level and does not edit large chunks of writing. It also does not fix plot holes or character development.

Copyediting also checks for consistency of characters, places, and time in the writing, to make sure that Jimmy walking in the sunlit park on one page doesn’t change into Johnny walking in the park at night on the next page. Other things to be checked are: basic fact-checking, fixing or flagging confusing or wordy phrases, and everything checked for in Proofreading.

Combo Services

In traditional publishing, Copyediting and Proofreading are done by separate people, but it is very common among freelancers to do both of these together. It does add a bit more time to the editing, since your writing is getting extra rounds of reading, but it can be an economical way to go through the last two levels of editing in the publishing process.