Frequently Asked Questions
You may feel that your manuscript is ready for publishing. Perhaps you’ve already had it back from an editor and gone through to accept and/or reject their suggestions. Maybe you have a friend who was good enough to go through the manuscript for you and thinks that everything is fine. It’s also possible that you edited your own manuscript, and are confident enough in your own abilities to assume that you’ve done everything that needs doing.
Your manuscript is not ready yet, believe me.
Consider a car factory, with its myriad precision robots costing millions, able to slide a human hair into a hole that neither you nor I could ever hope to see. Regardless of how incredibly meticulous these robots are, cars do not simply roll off the assembly line and straight on to a trailer to be taken to a dealership. Every aspect of the build, whether mechanical or electrical, will be checked and re-checked before it is signed off as being ready to ship.
The same can be said for your manuscript. It is important to ensure that it is given another final check, or even two passes, by a proofreader with a keen eye. These FAQs will hopefully help to answer any queries you may still have before taking your book to the masses.
Can I send you my manuscript as soon as I've finished writing it?
I would prefer to work with a clean manuscript, which has already been through the full edit process with a professional editor, so that I am checking over their work to ensure that nothing has slipped through the cracks. That said, if you are confident in your own writing and believe that you don’t require a professional edit, then by all means get in touch and we can discuss a deeper proofread.
Why do I need a proofreader?
Proofreaders are there to give your manuscript a final polish – to check for errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation, and to correct typos – before publication. Even with the best editor in the world, some things will always slip through the cracks, so it’s best to catch any remaining issues before you begin the process of publishing your book. It will ensure that you are putting out the best possible product for your readers and are reducing the chance of garnering bad reviews for having a poorly edited book (which does happen).
I already got it copy-edited, is a proofread necessary?
Yes. No edit is 100% perfect, and errors and typos can slip through the net. Not only that, but errors and issues can be introduced into your work after the edit when you go through and re-write or tweak things as per your editor’s suggestions. With a proofread, you are adding an extra layer of security to catch anything before your book goes to print.
My mum / husband / wife / best friend is a stickler for grammar and they read it over… surely that’s good enough?
No, unless they are a professional proofreader. Being pedantic about grammar and being able to professionally proofread a manuscript are two different things. A professional proofreader will use their extensive experience of grammar, syntax, punctuation, etc to correct and bring clarity to your manuscript, in addition to their knowledge of the ever-changing landscape of proofing. What was considered the norm in the classroom thirty years ago may not be today, and a proofreader will be aware of modern grammar rules.
How much will it cost?
Every manuscript is different, as is every author’s style and ability. Rather than pricing a job based on time, as some people do, I prefer to assess a sample of your manuscript in order to properly determine how much work will be involved. From there, I will be able to give you an accurate, tailored quote based on a per-thousand-words rate. This ensures that you have a flat rate going in, and can’t be charged more if the job ends up taking longer.
How long will it take?
The length of time that your proofread will take depends on a number of things, mainly your word count and how much work will be involved in proofing your manuscript. As with cost, I would assess a sample of your work in order to determine how much work is involved, and from there how long your project would likely take. If you have a particular timeframe in mind, however, I can strive to accommodate that depending on how much work your manuscript needs. If, for whatever reason, you require an express service, please let me know and we can discuss rates and timescale.
Do you charge for a sample edit?
Absolutely not. You need to know whether you’re comfortable with my editing style, just as I need to know that I’m comfortable with your manuscript, so we are essentially assessing each other. I will take your sample, and treat it as though it were a fully commissioned project, so you know exactly what to expect, but there will be no charge.
Why do you ask for a sample from the middle of the book?
In my experience, the beginning of the book is the most polished part of the author’s work. It’s the place that gets re-worked and re-started the most (especially when procrastination strikes!) and, as such, typically contains fewer errors. Therefore, a sample from the start of the book would not be a true representation of the author’s work and it could lead to an inaccurate quotation as far as both cost and time go.
What do I have to do now?
Simply fill in my contact form and include a sample Word doc of around ten pages from the middle of your book. Remember to let me know if you require a sample edit, or whether you would prefer me to simply assess your work and get back to you with a quotation and timeframe. I’ll then look over your sample and get back to you as soon as I can.
What do I need to do after you’ve finished?
Once you have received your edit and are happy, you will be invoiced for the balance of the work. I then recommend that you go through your manuscript, accepting or rejecting the changes and acting upon the comments and suggestions that have been made. Once you are finished, you are then ready to continue on your journey to publication, which usually means formatting your book, arranging a cover design, and preparing to upload your book to the usual online retailers/print-on-demand companies. If you require cover design and formatting, I will be happy to make recommendations.
Do you do the formatting for publication? Can I just upload the file once you are finished?
No, a proofread is not the same as formatting a book for publication. Formatting is different and involves turning your final, proofed manuscript into a proper book interior for print/eBook. You can’t just upload a proofread manuscript to a print-on-demand site like CreateSpace, for example, and expect it to work. I can, however, recommend cover design and formatting services for authors.
Will I be able to see the changes you've made to my document? How messy will it be?
Absolutely. I always work with Word’s ‘Track Changes’ function, meaning that you will be able to see every change/deletion/insertion that I make, along with any comments or suggestions. How messy it looks will depend on how many errors/issues I find, but you will always receive two copies of your manuscript – one with all changes and comments visible, and one clean with no markup. As you go through the proofread document, accepting and/or rejecting changes and suggestions, the visible changes will disappear, leaving you with a clean manuscript.
I'm not based in the UK, and use American English, does that mean you won't be able to edit my work?
Even though I am based in the UK, I have experience working with writers from around the world. The style guides I use allow me to work with manuscripts from US writers without any issue, and I will refer to whichever manual of style you prefer. Please note, however, that I do only work in English.
If you see anything that the editor has overlooked, such as repetition or inconsistencies, will you let me know even though it's not technically proofreading?
Definitely. While a proofread exists to catch specific things such as grammar, spelling, punctuation, and syntaxical issues, I can’t escape the fact that I am also a reader. If I come across something that jars, or if you’ve called a character ‘Steve’ for the majority of the book and suddenly call them ‘Steven’, I will question this. Similarly, if I see that a sentence may require a conjunction to make it flow, then I’ll suggest that you add it in. At no point would I make a suggestion without explaining in detail why, though, and I will always provide examples of what the changes could be. If you’d prefer that I go ahead and make these changes, rather than just provide you with notes, then I will be happy to do so.
I'm concerned that my work will be distributed. Will you sign an NDA?
The privacy of my clients is of paramount importance to me and I strive at all times to both respect and protect the privacy of the authors with whom I work. I will never distribute your work, in whole or in part, but if you would prefer that I sign an NDA, then I would be very happy to do so.