“To write is human, to edit is divine.”

 

 

PROOFREADING OR EDITING?

People often ask me about the difference between proofreaders and copy editors.

In simple terms:

• A proofreader corrects
• A copy editor corrects and revises

As a proofreader, I only change errors. Not just because I believe they are wrong. I check the author’s style guide, dictionaries, grammar books, and reliable online sources of information.

Copy editing is more in-depth, much more than just proofreading. It may also include suggestions for changing text and formatting. It may include suggesting re-writes in places, changes to the writing style, and recommending improvements to develop the text’s voice to improve the reader’s experience.

Proofreading Service

• Identifying and correcting typesetting errors and mistakes in spelling, basic grammar, and punctuation
• Achieving consistency
• Ensuring your document follows your house style
• Checking for factual errors
• Ensuring illustrations and labels/captions correspond with each other and with the text
• Checking that page numbers, headings, etc, are consistent
• Ensuring that the fonts, font sizes and line spaces are correct and consistent
• Supplying a marked-up proof and a list of any queries

As a proofreader, I examine your text, discover what’s wrong, and fix it.

Copy Editing Service
Includes everything in the proofreading role, plus

• More detailed copy edits
• Restructuring or re-writing sentences/sections
• Identifying overused words and suggesting alternatives
• Ensuring consistency of voice, chronology, and fact
• Providing a detailed report

Costs
The costs shown here are only guidelines, as each project can differ. For some projects, I will calculate the price by word count; for others, the cost will be an hourly rate.

Usually, for proofreading a finished manuscript/project, the cost is per per word. I charge per hour when copy-editing, as this is much more detailed and usually involves more than one edit.