About once a week someone gets in touch asking for "a quick proofread" of something. About half the time, what they actually need is an edit. This isn't anyone's fault - the words get used interchangeably all the time - but it does mean people end up either paying for more than they need or, more often, expecting more than they've paid for.
So here's a plain-English guide to what the different services actually mean, at least the way I and most editors I know use them.
So here's a plain-English guide to what the different services actually mean, at least the way I and most editors I know use them.
Proofreading
Proofreading is the final check before something goes out into the world. The text is finished; the structure and the argument are settled. A proofreader is looking for the small things that slipped through: typos, missing words, inconsistent spelling ("organise" on page one, "organize" on page four), punctuation errors, wrong page references, a heading in the wrong style.
What a proofreader won't usually do is rewrite your sentences, move paragraphs around or tell you that your third section doesn't make sense. If they do, they've gone beyond the brief, and you should probably be paying for it.
What a proofreader won't usually do is rewrite your sentences, move paragraphs around or tell you that your third section doesn't make sense. If they do, they've gone beyond the brief, and you should probably be paying for it.
Copy-editing
Copy-editing is a step further in. A copy-editor works at the level of the sentence and the paragraph: fixing grammar, tightening clumsy phrasing, making sure terminology is consistent, checking that facts and figures look plausible and flagging anything that's ambiguous. They'll often apply a house style, too - how you write numbers, whether you use the Oxford comma, how you format dates.
For example, a proofreader would leave this sentence alone, because there's nothing technically wrong with it:
For example, a proofreader would leave this sentence alone, because there's nothing technically wrong with it:
"In terms of our approach, it is our belief that we should be focusing on the customer at all times going forward."
A copy-editor would probably suggest something more like "We believe in putting the customer first." Same meaning, half the words.
Editing (or structural editing)
This is the big one. A structural or developmental edit looks at the document as a whole. Does the argument hold together? Is it in the right order? Is it pitched at the right reader? Is there a section that should be cut entirely, or a gap where something important is missing? Structural editing often comes back as a long list of comments and suggestions rather than tracked changes, because the big decisions have to be the author's.
So which one do you need?
A rough rule of thumb:
- If you're happy with what you've said and how you've said it, and you just want to make sure there are no mistakes, you need a proofread.
- If you're happy with what you've said but suspect it could be said more clearly, you need a copy-edit.
- If you're not sure the thing works yet, you need an edit - and you should get it before you spend money on the other two.
How to get the most out of whoever you hire
Tell them who the document is for and what it's meant to do. Send any style guide you have, even an informal one. Say whether you want tracked changes or a clean copy. And give them the final version: nothing eats a proofreading budget faster than three rounds of "oh, I've changed a few bits".
On pricing, most people charge either per thousand words or per hour. The Society for Editors and Proofreaders publishes suggested minimum rates, which is a useful sanity check if you're getting quotes that seem suspiciously low. Very cheap proofreading is usually very fast proofreading, and fast proofreading misses things.
If you're not sure what you need, send me the document and tell me what it's for. I'd much rather spend five minutes working that out with you than sell you the wrong thing.
On pricing, most people charge either per thousand words or per hour. The Society for Editors and Proofreaders publishes suggested minimum rates, which is a useful sanity check if you're getting quotes that seem suspiciously low. Very cheap proofreading is usually very fast proofreading, and fast proofreading misses things.
If you're not sure what you need, send me the document and tell me what it's for. I'd much rather spend five minutes working that out with you than sell you the wrong thing.
