Services

I provide a pair of careful eyes on your text to spot and remove final unseen errors and streamline internal consistency. This includes errors and inconsistencies in spelling, punctuation, capitalization, word usage, and grammar.

Got comma splices? Dangling participles? Weird grammar stuff that loves to complicate your life?

More often than not it’s something as simple as an extra or missing letter, a mixed-up hyphen, or a misplaced apostrophe. Homophones, too: words that sound the same but aren’t, such as the sly “there, their, they’re” trio. They’re not spelled wrong as words (and thus, spell-check won’t necessarily pick up on them), but they’re often mistakenly used, and easy to miss.

Consistency issues feature as well. Maybe you wrote “toward” on the last page, but here it’s “towards”; or that fellow had a blue shirt earlier in the scene, but now he has a brown shirt.

Complex errors, simple errors, obscure errors. I’m here to find them, eliminate them, and strengthen the internal consistency of your text.

I don’t provide editorial revisions of style or prose, critique of content, or deep reorganization of words and paragraphs. That’s for the editors to do before it reaches the proofreading stage!

Proofreading is the last step in the editorial process and happens right before publishing. Developmental editing, line editing, and the like come before proofreading, and deal with different things. My job is the last line of defense!

If you have something that’s not mentioned here, feel free to ask about it! I’m open to a variety of categories.

What Do I Proofread?

books
poetry
articles
blog posts
web pages

Fiction and nonfiction are equally welcome here! Anything that’s thought-provoking and intelligent is bound to get me excited. This includes things historical, practical, fictional, analytical, spiritual, and more.

Quality and thoughtfulness matter more to me than genre. If your writing is in this vein, whether it’s character-driven fiction meant to touch and inspire or informative articles on something worthwhile, I’d love to take a look.

Why Me?

I have several years of experience in proofreading and giving book feedback in a volunteer capacity. When that became more serious I took specific training for proofreading. I’m now a graduate of Caitlin Pyle’s course General Proofreading: Theory and Practice, I’m a volunteer proofreader at a couple different places, and I research meticulously when I need to know more.

I love the intricacies of words and language, especially the written word, and excellence in it all the way down to the nitty-gritty. Few things come more naturally to me than scrutinizing details and inconsistencies, and I find proofreading a great fit.

My philosophy is that rules and standard practice exist for a reason and are usually right, but that language is made for people, not people for language. Language changes and grows, and allowance for personal style is a thing. My job is to make sure you know it if you’re breaking a rule and to give you the solution, but to consider your style preferences as well.

Combine this with training, experience, and natural ability, and there’s your proofreader. Excellence is crucial to me, as are communication and kindness. Your writing will receive precise, thorough scrutiny and care, and I’ll treat you like I care not only for your writing but for you. (Because I do, and that’s a fact.)

But you don’t have to take my say-so alone, or even the say-so of my clients (which is here anyway). We can try it out now and see if my services are right for you. Contact me for a free sample proofread on any piece of your writing up to one thousand words.

So what’s the process?

1. After our initial discussion of specifics, signing of the contract, and paying of the deposit, you’ll send me your document. I generally work in Word or Google Docs, but if you have some other preference, let me know and we’ll work it out!

2. I’ll mark errors and make suggestions for corrections, and you can accept or reject them once I’m done.

3. Once I’ve returned your proofread document, I’ll send a final invoice (more details about payment to be found on the Rates page). If time allows and you want me to, I’ll do a brief second pass over it after you’ve gone through and implemented the suggestions. I find it’s marvelous for peace of mind to check that everything went through without introducing more errors.

Et voilà! Your text is ready for its audience.

You have peace of mind and your readers have words to be captivated, touched, and influenced by.

Let’s do this, people.

Terms of Service

It would, unfortunately, be inaccurate for proofreaders to promise we’ll catch every single error (particularly in longer projects). It’s a possibility, but unrealistic to guarantee! I can and do, however, promise my utmost, and that your text will be remarkably cleaner than it was. Thoroughness is my jam, and if by my life or death I can banish typos, I will.

I reserve the right to reject any project on the basis of content, conflicting schedules, or personal unspecified objections. I don’t accept anything containing sexually explicit material, gratuitous or unnecessarily graphic depictions of violence, or extensive profanity. Feel free to contact me if you’re not sure about where your content falls, and thank you for understanding.