Proofreading is the final check before you get your work printed, published, submitted – wherever it needs to go. By asking me to proofread, you’re telling me that you’re happy with the content and you’re not looking to have anything major edited. With proofreading, you just need me to check that you’ve not misspelled a word, all your facts and dates line up, and you’ve remembered your full stops and capital letters.
Your professional image is so important. It tells your audience who you are and what you can do for them. It's a way of building trust with them so that they "buy into" your brand (whatever that looks like for you). To do that, you need to make sure that what you're offering them is accurate. Any errors or inconsistencies can be costly. My job is all about ensuring accuracy, detail, and quality in your writing so that you can be confident in your professional image and make that flawless first impression.
Three words: "copy and paste". It's so easy to leave behind a chunk of text in its original position or mix up parts of different sentences as you move things around, but if this gets published, it causes confusion for the reader and looks untidy.
As the author of your work, you will have spent a lot of time on it and you’ll know what you want it to say. This brings with it a type of ‘blindness’ – you can’t always see any errors because your brain overlooks them or fills in the gaps. Even friends, family, and colleagues can miss things because they know what you do and what you're writing about. You need someone who is independent to bring an "outsider's" perspective - they are trained to notice the smallest details.
Whilst AI can certainly be useful and pick up on some things, it's not perfect and can't be relied upon. It doesn't understand the nuances of the English language and how writing can be played about with to create a particular effect or feeling.
Maybe you've used a translator tool to translate from your native language into English. That's a great start, but it might not be 100% accurate in terms of how English is read and written. Translator tools will often do a direct, literal translation; they can't translate any unique turns of phrase and expressions that might better convey what you're trying to say.
You will always need a real person to check your work - a professional pair of eyes will make sure that it does indeed say exactly what you want it to, and avoids potential embarrassment for you and your professional image.
Make that solid first impression by having your work proofread for any errors first.
There are a few really important points that go into determining how much I charge for my services. You can read a little more about that here.
Do you have multiple projects you'd like me to work on? Perhaps you want both copy editing and proofreading? Get in touch to discuss cost-effective package options!
