These services are for books of any length that are either fiction or nonfiction, my preference being sweet romances and middle-grade adventures.

I will not work on manuscripts containing any profanity, crude words or humor, explicit sex, graphic violence, or sacrilegious, blasphemous text about Deity.

I also proofread nonfiction documents such as training manuals, presentations, marketing brochures, essays, and online website content.

The professionalism of your book, document, or website is judged by your customers on content and accuracy.  Let me ensure that your work is the most accurate it can be.

PROOFREADING

A few of these tasks are:

• Correct errors in spelling, grammar, punctuation, word usage, and any other errors noted.
• Make style consistent for hyphenation, capitalization, numbers, and abbreviations.
• Are the quotation marks consistent  (curly or straight) and placed correctly?
• Check for other inconsistencies such as the spelling of names, omission of words, or inserting repeated or unnecessary words.
• Make the author aware of paragraphs or sentences that need to be reworded or revised.
• Flag overused or redundant words or phrases and inappropriate words or figures of speech.
• Check page numbers and page headings.
• Check the table of contents against correct titles and page numbers for chapter titles and other sections of the book.
• Check all reference numbers in the manuscript to ensure they are listed in the Reference section.
• Liaise with the author to resolve queries.

 

LINE EDITING / COPY EDITING

Line editors address some issues related to content; but not as comprehensive as a content or developmental editor would. A few of the line editing tasks are:

• Check narrative voice; does it suddenly change from first person to third person?
• Does it switch from present tense to past tense or vice versa in the same scene?
• Check that the language is appropriate for the chosen audience.
• Check dialogue: Does it make sense?
• Flag confusing passages and very long sentences that need tightening or restructuring.
• Resolve issues regarding character consistency: Does John have brown eyes in one place, but emerald green eyes later on? Or is his name James later on?
• Check for small words missing from a sentence (e.g., I’m going the store.)
• Check for small words repeated in a sentence (e.g., I’m going to the the store.)
• Check for proper word usage (Did the author write ‘shuttered’ instead of ‘shuddered’? ‘thorough’ instead of ‘through’? ‘fowl’ instead of ‘foul’? and many other examples.)

When you send me your Word document, I will use Track Changes while making changes to the text so you can see exactly what was changed; then you have the option of either accepting or rejecting those changes.  I will also insert Comments, explaining my reasons for changes or suggestions and give overall Feedback at the completion of the project, if requested.