This is what I do
I offer editing and proofreading of both simple and complex documents: anything from a short article to an 80,000-word (or longer) book. I’m a native speaker of British English, but I also have extensive experience in the use of American English, so I’m happy to work with either variant.
My speciality (or specialty) is business publishing. However, with around 28 years of professional experience, and an interest in a broad range of topics, I can happily turn my hand to a variety of non-fiction texts.
This is what I do
I offer editing and proofreading of both simple and complex documents: anything from a short article to an 80,000-word (or longer) book. I’m a native speaker of British English, but I also have extensive experience in the use of American English, so I’m happy to work with either variant.
My speciality (or specialty) is business publishing. However, with around 28 years of professional experience, and an interest in a broad range of topics, I can happily turn my hand to a variety of non-fiction texts.
Fees
I charge a flat fee of £35 (UK), €40 (Europe) or $50 (US) per hour for either editing or proofreading.
I charge by the hour, rather than per 1000 words, because I think that’s fairest for both parties: if your text doesn’t need as much work, I’ll complete it more quickly and it will cost you less.
On average, I edit 1000–1500 words per hour and proofread 2000–3000 words per hour. That means proofreading is roughly half the price of editing, even though the hourly rate is the same.
Editing or proofreading?
Confused about the difference between editing and proofreading? Don’t be.
Editing
Editing is what I do when you’ve finished writing your text, you’re (reasonably) happy with it, and you now need someone to
- fix any issues with grammar, spelling and punctuation
- check and, where necessary, improve sentence flow
- ensure consistency of structure, style and content
- check that any external links or internal cross-references are accurate.
I’ll also give the content a critical read and note anything that
- is ambiguous or hard to understand
- might not be correct
- has been repeated unnecessarily
- seems to be missing.
That being said, I won’t be expecting to co-author the text or carry out extensive research to verify the content. You’re the author and subject-matter expert.
Editing is typically carried out on a Microsoft Word document, using the ‘track changes’ and comments features.
Proofreading
Proofreading, on the other hand, is the final stage of the publication process. The document will already have been edited and typeset, ready for release.
My job here is to catch any errors that have slipped through the net. These might be, for example, typos or words that have gone missing or run together during typesetting.
I’ll also give the text a thorough read to ensure it makes sense, I’ll check consistency in the use of headings and abbreviations, etc. and I’ll make sure that any cross-references to other sections or pages are correct. I might suggest the occasional improvement to phrasing where appropriate.
This is not, however, the time to make anything more than minor amendments. If your document hasn’t already been professionally edited, you’ll need to have that done first.
Proofreading is typically carried out on a PDF, which I mark up using standard tools.
Style guides
I can work to your preferred style guide or simply ensure the document is consistent within itself.
If you already have a company style guide, please let me have a copy before I start work. Alternatively, you might tell me your preferences in terms of things like -ise or -ize spellings. (You’d be surprised how frequently I find that a document contains a mixture of these, and then I need to decide which variant to use.)
If you don’t have any particular preferences, I’ll just stick to a generic UK or US style, as appropriate.
Ready to get started?
Please contact me to discuss your project.