What is a Proofreader and What exactly does a Proofreader do?

A proofreader is a person who checks your writing to make sure that it is correct in its spelling, grammar, punctuation and sentence structure.

When you have written something, be it a book, an article, a website or a leaflet, you can ask a proofreader to cast a second eye over what has been written to make sure that it is as error free as possible.

A proofreader is a person who is a natural perfectionist which means that when you give your written work to them, you can be sure that they will take the greatest of care to make sure that when you get the work back, it will have been thoroughly checked for all grammatical errors. A proofreader will also make sure that the sentence structure and spelling is correct.

If a proofreader is working on something that has a style guide, then they must keep to that style, e.g., a magazine that might start all its articles with headings.

If a proofreader is part of a bigger team, they must communicate at all times so that the end product is of the highest quality.

Whether a proofreader is part of a team or is self employed, it is vital that they communicate with the person who is in charge of the project that they are working on to check that everything is to their satisfaction and that what the proofreader has done is correct.

Here are the expertise and characteristics that you will get when you hire a proofreader:

Proofreaders show great attention to detail, they are very careful to make sure that they carry out their work efficiently, correcting all spelling, grammar and punctuation mistakes there might be.

Proofreaders will have the incentive to work alone and will have the work that is required ready on time.

Proofreaders will be able to carry out the job to the end, even if the job is long and technical.

Proofreaders will be good at asking the right questions as and when required.

Some proofreaders may be required to work with a piece of work that has been sent over the internet, so it is a good idea to have some I.T. skills to enable them to work on the piece on-line.

Proofreaders will have the skills to know whether a piece of writing needs to be worked on or not, because changes made to the text at the last minute can be very expensive.

If you would like to hire a proofreader, then please take a look at my website and contact me either on my mobile, via email or on my contact page.