I’m often the one who friends and colleagues ask to proofread and edit their documents. As an English major, good grammar is important to me. I also have many many years of professional experience writing briefing notes, reports and various other documents.
Aside from that, I’m also a voracious reader. One thing that always surprises me is finding spelling errors, grammar faux pas, and typos on professionally published materials.
We’re all guilty of it. In my original (pre-edited) work, I consider myself the typo queen! It reinforces the importance of having a second set of eagle eyes to check your work. If you work on a document for any length of time, you start to become blind to the errors, because you know what you mean to say. That’s where a fresh look by someone new can help spot those nasty bloopers that try to slip through.
I’m now available for hire, through Reedsy, for proofreading and copyediting.
What’s the difference between proofreading and copyediting?
Proofreading is a final quality assurance step to catch any final spelling errors, typos, or style inconsistencies. Your Microsoft Word spell-checker may catch some of these, but it won’t catch them all.
Copyediting on the other hand will also take a look at the flow of language, rules of grammar, compliance with style guide, and thematic consistency.
Copyediting is usually the penultimate editing process, while proofreading is usually the last step.
Here’s a useful article from NY Book Editors explaining the difference between copyediting and proofreading.
Whichever you need, I’m here for you…..
