Proof reading is a healthy business whether you run a private company which provides digital services or you have some well-established profiles on various freelancing platforms. If you have none of these and you are just thinking to begin proof reading services, it’s not a problem, as I would elaborate everything including tips, tricks, and guidelines.
So, if you want to learn how to proofread anywhere for bloggers, online entrepreneurs and make money as a freelance proofreader then this post is meant for you.
For understanding how does freelance proofreading services work, consider this, What’s the first thing you do when you read a sign post, advertisement or a commercial? Well, I personally look for the typos and point them out to the person in charge. Not everyone is crazy and a grammar freak like me, most people are normal, they mind their own business. But you should know that I was not always crazy about spelling and grammatical mistakes, over the years I have been providing proofreading services to my clients internationally, and my work has made me very critical about spelling, grammar, and contextual mistakes and It has made me a fortune worth flaunting for.
Just like me, if you are trying to start professional proof-reading services then you need to take care of a few things that are extensively described in this post.
HOW TO MAKE MONEY WITH YOUR SERVICES
Before you even think about making money with your services, it is important that you make sure that you have sharpened your skills to an extent where you can say that you can do it professionally. Every service-driven business flourishes on your reputation as well as testimonials by your old clients. If you start working despite the fact that you aren’t prepared you might end up ruining your clientele by giving bad services just to 1 one of the clients and he/she will obviously bad mouth you.
Lets now begin with discussing two types of proofreading jobs.
- General Proofreading
Things like emails, landing pages, eBooks, sales pages, books and more they all come in the domain of general proofreading
- Transcript Proofreading
It deals with court transcripts and corrects the spoken word, which is completely different. It also transcribes spoken words of people who record their audio books or daily diaries and get it transcribed on a daily or monthly basis.
Now that we have understood two kinds of proofreading services lets discuss in detail what proofreading actually is.
What is Proofreading?
Proofreading is the very last thing to happen in the creation process, but it’s one of the most important ones. This is a simplified version of the process.
- Research & Analysis
- Writing
- Copyediting
- Proofreading
- Publishing
This is the process for general proofreading, transcripts follow a whole other kind of process, but the concept is quite the same, to make sure that before it goes to publication, everything is on point.
A General Confusion
Some people out there confuse proofreading with copyediting services. You should know the difference between the two. Copyeditors rewrite and restructure content which requires more effort as compared to proofreading and since copyediting requires more work, it pays off more. As far as proofreading is concerned, it’s more like a cosmetic fixture or the final touchups.
To make things easier, I have created a check list of objectives or things to remember, that your proofreading services have to accomplish in order to satisfy your client.
- Sentence Structure
- Grammar
- Parallelism
- Formatting
- Numbers
- Capitalization
- Spelling
You can have a tough time while trying to spot some of these things, so it is better to take your time and sit with a sound and peaceful mind when you are getting the job done. In this profession always remember, ACCURACY IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN SPEED.
Some people have an inferiority complex and they think that since English is not their primary language so proofreading in English maybe challenging or very difficult. Keeping this absurd and degrading thought in their mind they never even try to do it, if they do, they will find out that it’s not as hard as it seems, with proper focus and discipline, nothing is impossible. If you are educated enough to know the grammatical rules and sentence structure of the English language then go for proofreading.
Author’s Bio
Jonathan Michael Dean has been in the professional proofreading services industry for a long time now, he has a huge number of satisfied clients on dozens of freelancing platforms. He is also the owner of JMDCS (Jonathan Michael Dean Content Services) which is a private company that acquires local clients in the United States of America. Other than being a proofreader he is also a motivational speaker.
