Proofreading training: why you need it and where to find it.
Proofreading is like any other skill: it needs developing and once it’s developed it needs to be maintained. Think of your proofreading skills as a muscle. Like any muscle, it can turn to flab or waste away entirely if it isn’t subjected to regular training. In this case, instead of treadmills, exercise bikes and ab-crunchers, we’re talking about proofreading training.
If you’re a professional proofreader, this isn’t a problem; your proofreading training comes in the form of your day job or your freelance proofreading assignments. But if you’re just starting out and proofreading activity is sporadic or you’re proofreading part-time to earn some extra revenue, you’ll need to put in some regular proofreading training.
Start with the proofreading exercises on this site. For one thing they’re free. For another, they’re pretty tricky, not like the overstuffed and transparent proofreading exercises most proofreading courses will actually expect you to hand over your hard-earned cash for. Once you’ve worked your way through those, you can take your proofreading training up to the next level with the internet’s first and only novel-length proofreading exercise. And it's available for the cost of a tweet!
After that, why not try offering your skills to the kind of independent publishers who simply can’t afford to hire a professional proofreader. It’s great proofreading training, plus it looks good on your resume. You might even be able to get a few testimonials for your website or promotional literature.
If you haven’t already bought The No-Nonsense Proofreading Course, you might want to give it a try; it will point you right to an almost infinite source of free proofreading exercises that can also give your resume a serious credibility boost.
However you go about accessing effective proofreading training, just make sure you don’t pay a premium for it. You can get all the proofreading training you need for free or for relatively little cost.
Best of luck!