Why Proofreading or Copy editing?

“Why do I need proofreading?” I hear you ask.

Well, it’s simple.

A third party will be able to pick up small errors, omissions or slight typos in your content that you as the author are likely to not be able to.
As a budding author myself, I speak from experience that when trying to proof your own work you will always miss small mistakes – be it a comma in the wrong place, a slightly misspelled name along the way, or a kink in the timeline of your story.

As a third-party reader to your work, I am able to be completely unbiased, plus also be looking at it through completely fresh eyes. I have no emotional connection to the work either and can therefore pick up these small errors or omissions along the way.

What is the difference between proofreading and copy editing?

Proofreading is the lightest form of editing, but still a vital part in the writing process. As your proofreader, I will look for all the syntactic, grammatical and spelling mistakes that might crop up in your work. Proofreading looks at the ‘shell’ of the text and content.

Copy editing is a deeper look at the document. I offer suggestions based on your writing style, use of language, or just provide overall thoughts and opinions on the work as a whole, plus assistance with formatting, while also providing a full proofread of the content. This takes a closer look at the content of each sentence and not just the document as a whole.

Both proofreading and copy editing services are provided with a double-read – I read through the full document twice regardless of how big or small it is. Therefore, you need to take this into consideration when planning your timeline so that there is no need to rush, or even leave out the second read.

I offer both services on any documents, be it formal report writing, academic papers, business books, memoirs, white papers, poetry, creative writing or anything in between!

I offer tailor-made packages to suit a client’s needs – be it a once-off project or monthly retainer packages that can be put together for as many (or few) hours per month as you need. It just takes one discussion and we can put together a package that works for YOU!

Below are some examples of how I will provide feedback – all work is proofread in Word format, with track changes turned on.