A little interruption to our Proofreading 101 series.
Just to let you know I’ve added a Proofreading Test page to the site.
Now, this is a proofreading test with a difference, in that it doesn’t require a red pen, a magnifying glass or a dictionary. In fact, you’ll be surprised to discover that it doesn’t require any reading at all.
Intrigued?
Well, why not take a look.
Click here: proofreading test.
Welcome back to Proofreading 101.
Okay, so we know what a proofreader is and what a proofreader does but before we can address the subject of how to become a proofreader (our next post), you probably want to know whether or not it’s worthwhile becoming a proofreader, at all. In other words, you’re asking yourself one of the following questions or a variation thereon:
How much do proofreaders charge?
How much do proofreaders earn?
Is it possible to earn a living as a proofreader?
Hopefully, the piece of information below from the Society for Editors and Proofreaders will help.
Recommended minimum charges per hour for freelance proofreaders:
Proofreading £20.25 ($32.85)*
Copy-editing £21.80 ($35.37)
On-screen copy-editing £23.65 ($38.37)
Substantial editing, rewriting, development editing £27.30 ($44.29)
Project management £29.40 ($47.70)
*All US Dollar amounts are based on the exchange rate on 11th June 2011.
I think that answers your question. Obviously, you can expect to earn less for full-time, permanent positions. This is one of the reasons The No-Nonsense Proofreading Course encourages its readers to pursue the freelance route. The other reason is that, in my experience, the freelance route is one of the best paths to permanent employment. When I was an Operations Manager working in the Publishing Department of one of the UK’s largest mail order and online retailers, every proofreader I interviewed and employed started off as a freelancer.
But we’re starting to get into the area of how to become a proofreader, and that’s the subject of our next Proofreading 101 blog post.
Until next time...
Welcome to the first of my Proofreading 101 blog posts.
So, what exactly does a proofreader do? What precisely is proofreading?
In the age of spell checkers and grammar-checking software, do we still need to proofread in the traditional sense? Surely proofreading has gone the way of hot-metal typesetting, book-binding and such. It’s unnecessary, obsolete. It’s (shudder) quaint.
Well, if it was a proofreader’s job simply to identify and correct literal spelling errors and obvious grammatical gaffes, then yes, proofreading would no longer be an activity in itself and there would be no need for proofreaders as a professional group.
However, proofreaders (the really good ones) don’t just seek out spelling and grammatical inaccuracies. The proofreader’s red pen homes-in on inconsistencies, departures from common sense, inappropriate phrasing (e.g. something very informal in an otherwise business-like document), misleading statements, imprecise use of language, typographical discrepancies, incorrectly captioned images, erroneous telephone numbers, email addresses and URLs.
When I worked at Shop Direct, proofreaders checking our mail order catalogues would frequently spot products that were accompanied by the wrong price. Had such errors gone to press, the profit margin of said products would have been significantly reduced.
A really great proofreader takes ownership of a document; they ensure that when it hits the press (or is published online) it is absolutely faultless.
As for those little spelling errors. Even really exceptional proofreading software, like Whitesmoke or Ginger, struggles when words are spelled correctly but used incorrectly. For example, spell-checking software would find nothing wrong with, ‘The tedious bucket quashed the gangly camcorder,’ even though it makes no sense whatsoever.
In short, there really is no substitute for a good pair of eyes and the relentless focus of the proofreader.
Maybe one day, there will be a piece of software whose algorithm is so complex and adaptable that we will no longer need proofreaders. But until then...
Apologies for the interruption to our Proofreading 101 series but I thought this was a little too important to postpone.
In The No-Nonsense Proofreading Course, there is a chapter entitled From Effective Proofreader to Indispensable Proofreader (It’s Really Not That Far). Okay, so it isn’t the pithiest of chapter headings but it does the job.
Anyway, in that particular chapter, you’ll find all kinds of tips that will help you demonstrate to your employer or client that you aren’t just a human grammar- and spell-checker, that you are able to bring to your work a degree of perceptiveness, common sense and rigor that they simply cannot expect from your run-of-the-mill proofreader.
I’m currently in the process of creating the third edition of the eBook and have added some information to the aforementioned chapter that I think is too important to keep from you until publication.
So, here it is.
When proofreading, you will often come across contact information of one sort or another: telephone numbers, email addresses, URLs. The quotidian (what a beautiful word for ‘ordinary’) proofreader will check these for literal errors and obvious deviations from common sense. The indispensable proofreader will call-up the numbers, test out the email addresses to make sure they don’t generate delivery errors and cut and paste URLs into their browser to make sure they actually lead somewhere and not to a 404 or ‘Not Found’ message.
It’s little things like this that will elevate you above the competition. So, while your quotidian peers are quibbling over split infinitives, dangling modifiers and hyphenation usage, you will actually be providing your employer or customer with an outstanding 360-degree service.
Proofreading 101 will resume shortly.
Over the last year or so, I’ve made the mistake that many people blogging about their own field make. I’ve blogged in a linear fashion, assuming the same readership and forgetting that not everyone is necessarily on the same page, so to speak. I’m guilty of leaving newer subscribers to dig about in the cobwebby Archive for the information they’re seeking. The Archive is not a nice place. It’s cold, damp and smells of old umbrellas. Plus, I’m pretty sure there’s something living down there, something with red ink on its fingertips, something that incessantly mutters about split infinitives and dangling modifiers.
So, over the next few posts, I’m going to go back to basics and address some of the fundamentals of proofreading:
Why is proofreading important?
What is a proofreader?
What are proofreader’s symbols (aka proofreader’s marks) and why do we use them?
How much do proofreaders get paid?
How do I become a proofreader?
That kind of thing.
Those of you who’ve been following me for some time may want to skip over these posts, but I’d recommend that you don’t. Why? Because sometimes it’s good to remind ourselves of the fundamentals. It’s very easy to suffer mission creep in any area of work, and it’s even easier to pick up a bad habit or two. A little bit of back-to-basics might do you a world of good. It's certainly been helpful for me.
Welcome to Proofreading 101.
The No-Nonsense Proofreading Course, advises on a whole host of avenues that the budding proofreader can explore with regard to securing gainful employment, both permanent and freelance. But there has never been a single place to go to find vacancies for proofreaders or freelance proofreading opportunities.
Until now, that is.
Get Proofreading Jobs offers a comprehensive and regularly updated listing of proofreading opportunities and I recommend you get yourself over there as soon as possible. When you get there, sign-up to receive email updates as and when new proofreading career opportunities become available.
I anticipate that Get Proofreading Jobs will rapidly become the go-to website for work-hungry proofreaders.
With a copy of The No-Nonsense Proofreading Course and membership of Get Proofreading Jobs, you could be turning your proofreading ambitions into a reality in no time at all.
What are you waiting for? Click here to take a look.
You have a good eye for detail. You’re thorough. You’re patient. You have what it takes to be a proofreader.
Except... your grammar is a little bit ropey.
Don’t worry. Those other traits – the eye for detail, the thoroughness, the patience – are innate. Those things are incredibly difficult to learn. Grammar? That’s something that can be learned.
Now, depending on whereabouts you are on the ropey-o-meter will decide what kind of assistance you’re going to need. If you just need to tighten up your understanding of dangling modifiers, split infinitives and the like, then you probably just need to study a copy of Fowlers Modern English Usage. If, however, you’re in need of a bit more of an overhaul, you’re probably going to need something a little more intensive.
English Grammar Revolution offers a pretty good place to start.
The course uses videos rather than books to explain the eight parts of speech and to teach you basic sentence diagramming. And then there are downloadable PDF worksheets for practicing and fine-tuning your understanding.
If you’ve got the eye, patience and determination to become a proofreader but you’re worried that your understanding of grammar might let you down, English Grammar Revolution is well worth a look, particularly as it comes with a 100% money-back guarantee. Click on the link below for more information. What have you got to lose?
My decidedly mixed feelings on the subject of spell checking software is well-documented, both here in this blog and in the No-Nonsense Proofreading Course itself.
In a nutshell, I think spell checkers are at once an essential part of any proofreader’s toolbox and a positive liability. Like I said, mixed feelings.
Let’s deal with the positive liability aspect first. It’s not the proofreading software itself that is the problem; it’s the user’s perspective. When the user thinks spell checking software can actually spot spelling errors, they’re in trouble. The fact is spell checkers don’t know how to spell. It’s true. Spell checkers only know that a particular word doesn’t exist in their vocabulary. This leaves you open to words that are in the proofreading software’s vocabulary but are being used in entirely in the wrong context. For example, all spell checkers would fail to highlight the following piece of gibberish:
The cloud pimpled the hug gauntlet.
Only the human brain can identify this perfectly grammatical and accurately spelled sentence as utter nonsense.
So, it’s crucial to recognise the limitations of proofreading software before using it.
But once you’ve informed yourself of those limitations, your spell checker becomes incredibly powerful as a labour-saving device. And if you’re looking to make your living from proofreading, then the more proofs you can red-pen your way through per day, the more money you can make.
An effective spell checker can reduce your workload by a considerable amount, sweeping away all those literal errors and obvious grammatical gaffes and enabling you to focus your efforts on the really tricky stuff.
If you use the more advanced types of proofreading software, for example Whitesmoke, you can get through even more work. Whitesmoke not only has a comprehensive, multilingual dictionary, it also employs a complex grammatical algorithm which can highlight grammatical errors that most spell checkers will miss. What’s more, it actively improves your grammar by telling you precisely why a particular piece of phrasing is grammatically unacceptable.
You can take a look at Whitesmoke here. They have some pretty cool free stuff, too, so feel free to skip their sales pitch and make the most of the freebies!
Spell checkers and proofreading software will never replace the keen eye and knowledge of the proofreader but they can provide much needed assistance if you’re fortunate enough to have a hefty workload.
By all means email me via the contact page if the relevance of this particular entry eludes you. Don't feel bad, it's a little obscure. Plus, I brazenly stole the idea from a friend of mine who's considerably brighter than me.
Long-time subscribers to this blog may have noticed that a little cosmetic tweaking has been taking place on this website over the last week or so. Namely, the gradual shift from ‘proof reader’ to ‘proofreader’. Before I explain why I’ve been making this change, let me first answer what is something of a frequently asked question:
Which is right, ‘proof reader’, ‘proof-reader’ or ‘proofreader’?
Well, unfortunately, the answer is all three. The hyphenated version is rarely used, however; though, strictly speaking, it isn’t wrong, simply uncommon. The single- and two-word versions are both correct but it would appear that ‘proofreader’ is in the ascendancy and ‘proof reader’ is slowly sliding out of favour.
My own preference is for ‘proof reader’. There’s no particular reason for that, I just like it. Two distinct words. Proof. Reader. I don't know, it just seems so much more satisfying.
So, why, if I prefer ‘proof reader’, have I been methodically eradicating all trace of that form and replacing it with ‘proofreader’?
The answer is simple: Google.
Google prefers ‘proofreader’ and as I want my website to perform well in Google searches, I’ve been forced to go with the flow. So, from now on, it’ll be ‘proofreader’ and not ‘proof reader’.
But I don’t have to like it.
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