Writing tips by a professional book proofreader, book copy editor and book writer
Perfectly Write is all about helping people with their writing. Passionate about the English language, I enjoy helping writers develop their skills. I offer advice and tips based on my experience as an author and ghostwriter, author mentor, book copy editor and book proofreader.
Following the book proofreader's process
To improve your proofreading skills, try working your way through the professional book proofreader's process. It may surprise you to know just how many times a professional book proofreader reads the same document. As a freelance book proofreader, I regularly proofread books, reports, articles and websites on-screen. And for each proofreading job, I follow the same process.
1. The book proofreader receives the file to be proofread and puts it into an easy-to-read format – using a simple font, large type size and double-spacing the document.
2. The book proofreader reads the document once, quickly, without focusing on mistakes. This helps the book proofreader get the gist of the document so that on subsequent readings the mind is free to focus on language.
3. The book proofreader goes back to the start of the document and proofreads it very carefully and slowly – looking at each word, each sentence, each paragraph in turn. As they work, the book proofreader makes notes of any issues to sort, such as inconsistent spellings or styles.
4. The book proofreader uses the 'Find and Replace' feature of MS Word to impose consistency on the document. For example, the book proofreader may look for all words spelt ‘proof-reader’ and replace them with ‘proofreader’ without the hyphen.
5. The book proofreader takes a well-earned break and rests their eyes.
6. The book proofreader comes back to the material and proofreads it slowly and carefully for a final time.
7. Satisfied with the document, the book proofreader returns it to the client.
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