Fiction Proofreader

What is proofreading you ask?

Proofreading is the process of doing your final checks to make sure everything is in order before you publish your work.

This is normally done after Alpha and Beta readers had their turn. All you copy editors and typesetters has done what they could do, and then I get my chance to see that they did a good job.

When I proofread, I check for the following:

• Correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation are correct,

• Consistency of capitalization and hyphenation was utilized where needed,

• Correct word usage (e.g., homophones and homonyms) i.e. They're, There, Their,

• Repeated or missing words i.e. the the,

• Formatting issues with font size and style is maintained throughout your piece,

• Consistency of layout was observed,

• Cross-references errors,

• I look for broken links,

• American or British English standard maintained throughout the book.

If I’m proofreading an already typeset document, I check for the following:

• If necessary, I will compare the proof against the copyeditor’s copy to make sure all the copyeditor’s changes were made,

• I check that word breaks are appropriate,

• I ensure that the design specifications have been done,

• I will not make unnecessary changes. Changes cost money at this stage!

What File Format:

I prefer to work in Microsoft Word. But Google Docs is also acceptable.

While proofreading your document, I will be using the track changes and comments functions in Microsoft Word. Which will allow you to review the changes I see that are needed in the document. You are in control of the changes being made to your document or if it stays the same.

I was trained to use:

 The Chicago Manual of Style, and I learned from a young age to use The Oxford Dictionary but seeing that I will be working mostly in the English United States language selection I will be using the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary from now on.

If you have your own style guide that you would like me to use, I kindly ask that you provide that as well.

Delivering it to you:

When I am done checking through your work, you will get the following back from me.

*You will get the file that I worked on with the track changes and comments saved. You can look through it and decide if you want to keep the changes or not.

If you want it saved differently, please discuss it with me and we can make it work.

How much does it cost?