What Service do I Need?

Proofreading, developmental editing, line editing, or copyediting?

Proofreading

The type of service I provide is proofreading.

Proofreading is not editing but is instead done after editing to clean up a document. It includes grammatical errors, punctuation, spelling, and formatting.

Find out more about proofreading below:

*or visit the proofreading webpage.

I proofreading various materials such as manuscripts, social media/blog posts/online content, business marketing materials, etc.

Please note that proofreading is not editing and should take place after a book has been developmental edited, line edited, and/or copy edited— either one, two, or all three. Learn more about these three types of editing below. Don’t worry if you’re not sure, if I think your document needs more than proofreading, I’ll let you know.

Although I may change my services to include more than proofreading in the future, right now I focus exclusively on proofreading.

What is proofreading?

*Although I include examples to show the different aspects of proofreading, there’s no need to panic if it causes confusion. I want to let you know, in greater detail, what I’m focusing on when I proofread. I’m willing to bet, proofreading entails more than you imagined!

  1. grammatical errors
    • subject/verb agreement
      • ex. Either dogs or cats is (are) my favorite.
    • pronouns and their antecedents
      • ex. Billy totaled its (his) car.
    • comma splices
      • ex. I ran fast to the store, (and) I got the groceries.
    • run-ons (the above example is technically a run-on sentence called a comma splice)
      • ex. I go to that place(,) and I find that they are not there(,) which I then begin to wonder.
    • sentence fragments
      • ex. (I worked from) From dusk till dawn.
    • misplaced modifiers (this one can be tricky because it depends on the context of a modifier)
      • ex. I only ate (only) peas. I did not even touch the corn or carrots and would not eat them.
        • Since the content shows that the corn or carrots were not eaten, the modifier “only” should modify peas.
  2. punctuation
    • hyphenations
      • ex. He works a full time (full-time) job.
    • semicolons
      • ex. I went to the store, (;) he went with me too.
        • Note: this is an example of a comma splice
        • This example could also be corrected by getting rid of the comma, adding a period, and capitalizing the h of “he”.
    • missing or wrong end of sentence punctuation mark
      • How fast can dogs run. (?)
  3. spelling (Don’t get me wrong, spell check can be useful, but it cannot find certain issues.)
    • homophones
      • This is when the word is spelled correctly, but it’s the wrong wrong use .
        • ex. Why did you go their (there)?
        • ex. The butler gave Miss Marple a written confession, hoping to lesson (lessen) his guilty conscious (conscience).
  4. formatting
    • check if chunks of text are paragraphed properly
    • make sure lines are indented consistently
    • check page numbers

*To check out a proofreading example, go to my services webpage.

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You may ask, “what service do I need if I’m looking for editing?” Here are the three kinds of editing:

Developmental editing

Developmental editing is sometimes called structural or substantive editing. This is the first type of editing which should be done and focuses on the big picture of the story.

A developmental editor focuses on:

  • story structure
  • character development
  • setting
  • beginning and ending of the story
  • coherency of story
  • plot

Line editing

Also called stylistic or content editing, a line editor focuses on the paragraphs and each line level of text. They look at:

  • dialogue (including dialogue tags)
  • filler words
  • consistency
  • word choice and phrasing
  • beginning and ending of each chapter

Copyediting

Copyediting is often confused for proofreading, but a copy editor changes words around while a proofreader does not.

*Side note: if I do go into editing, copyediting would likely be where I would begin.

A copy editor will look for:

  • overused words or phrases
  • grammar
  • punctuation
  • spelling
  • double-checking table of contents, footnotes, bibliography (where applicable)
  • checking if page numbers and chapters are correctly labeled
  • accurate timeline
  • consistency with actions