“The fallibility of  human brains is in nothing more obvious than in proofreading.“

GEORGE ELIOT

The final edit before any document is published is proofreading. This is done after all other edits have been completed and addressed. It is easy to miss small things in your own writing, after all, you know what it’s supposed to say. That’s why proofreading is such an important step and should not be skipped.

Proofreading should be done in the medium in which your work will be published so any issues with layout, typography, quality, and readability can be caught before publishing and production. Proofreading is not about fixing grammar, spelling, and punctuation; it is about ensuring that previous edits have been implemented, there is proper formatting and layout, and nothing has been missed.

When you hire me to proofread your work, I will look at your work as a completed document and focus on identifying any final issues that need to be addressed. My goal is to help you create a final product that is ready for distribution.

My process involves:

• reading your work line by line, often out loud, to ensure it is correct and readable
• checking any images for proper placement, resolution, and accuracy
• ensuring that page numbers and chapter numbers are in the correct order and properly placed
• checking typefaces, fonts, weight, width, posture, and size
• confirming all heads and subheads are consistent
• highlighting kerning and tracking issues
• ensuring line spacing (leading) is uniform
• checking end-of-line breaks for “bad breaks”
• ensuring styles and alignments are consistent
• confirming that margins are consistent
• looking for ladders, rivers and lakes, widows and orphans
• confirming that appendixes, bibliographies, glossaries, references, source citations, and table of contents are accurate and follow standards
• checking for blank pages, errors with recto and verso pages, and covers
• editing marketing pieces, dedication, acknowledgements, copyright page, preface, forewords, and all other front matter
• flagging typos and any other errors that have made it past copyediting

Typically, proofreading is done in at least two rounds. Once the final edits have been implemented, we can celebrate the completion of our work, and our successful partnership!

FEES: $0.012 per word, $100 minimum