Proofread ready...or not?

​Your deadline is looming, and you’ve decided perhaps you do need someone to proofread your work after all.  Great decision.

But wait…have you checked if your copy is ready for your proofreader’s beady eye?

Proofreading should be the final step taken before submitting work for marking or publishing.

That means when you get your clean copy back, the only thing that should be left for you to do is hit the send button. 

No adding bits, re-arranging bits, removing bits, changing bits, re-numbering bits, or last-minute tinkering of any sort. Definitely, no deciding to change the last paragraph, add a new one or delete an entire chapter.  Heaven forbid.

I charge according to the word count of the document initially sent to me.  So, if you decide to remove anything afterwards, you'll have wasted your money.

Check you have all the written elements you need for the completed work: Introduction, index, table of contents, bibliography, references, appendices, headings and sub-headings, footnotes, endnotes, cover blurb, graphs, tables, labels, etc.

Are you following a specific style guide, or creating your own?  The proofreader will need to know what ‘normal’ is, to spot any errors. 

Does your book or manual have colour-coded sections that you refer your reader to? You can’t then publish it in black and white!  So if you’re still umming and ahhing about whether you want to print in colour or black and white that decision and any necessary alterations need to be made before having your manuscript proofread.

Please don’t send different versions of a paragraph and expect your proofreader to meld them into one. That would constitute editing, which is a separate skill set, charged at a different rate.

Ask yourself if your writing is appropriate for your audience. Have you got the tone and choice of words right? You wouldn’t want to be too informal and chatty in an academic paper, or too formal and stuffy when writing a travel blog for teenagers.

Check for consistency. If you’re using contractions, make sure you’ve done so throughout the document.  Have you written dates and times the same way?

Check your formatting. Do you want one or two spaces after a full stop, how many line spacings between paragraphs?  Are your headings and sub-headings all in the same font and size?  Are you using numbered or bullet point lists?

If there's anything you aren't sure about or have not quite completed, you need to work on it yourself or ask for a draft of your work to be edited first.  My copy editing rates include a final proofread.

Only send your work for proofreading when you're completely happy with it. Sending unfinished work is pointless because anything you subsequently change won’t have been proofread. If you send a document back for further editing or proofreading, it will constitute a new assignment – and you'll receive a new invoice. Ouch!

So, before you engage a proofreader, ask yourself – Proofread ready…or not?