What is proofreading?

I often find that proofreading and copy editing are mixed up, which is understandable. The word ‘proofreading’ is used in everyday situations to mean checking a communication for errors — often spelling or grammatical errors, or typos. For example, you may consider that checking your email before you press send is proofreading, and you probably wouldn’t have it edited by another person midway through the drafting or writing process. In this situation and many others, using ‘proofreading’ as a general term for checking work is absolutely fine. Confusion arises in the editorial world because the stages of editing are more nuanced, so a mix up of ‘proofreading’ and ‘copy editing’ can cause misunderstandings and changes to the budget or the schedule (I’ve been there and learnt my lesson!)

What is the difference between copy editing and proofreading?

Proofreading really is the final stage of editing before publication. At this point in the process changes to the style, tone, word usage, chapter titles, how special features are laid out and more would be really costly and cause a big delay. All of those things will have been landed on during the copy editing phase, where the editor takes a really detailed look at many technical elements of a publication from spelling through to copyright issues (read more about copy editing here). Proofreading, therefore, isn’t about the content so much as spotting any final errors that were missed, introduced during typesetting (such as awkward word-breaks or missing running heads) and making double, triple sure that everything is consistent.

What’s involved in proofreading?

• Correcting errors that may be missed, introduced in revisions or in production — we’re all only human!
• Making sure that the format of numbers, abbreviations and more is standardised and matches the style guide or copy editor’s style sheet.
• Checking that all chapter titles and subheadings in the text are consistent and match the table of contents.
• Inspecting all pagination, running heads, captions, references and more to ensure they are present and correct.
• Spotting any stylistic or formatting inconsistencies (for example, mismatched alignment in tables).

Proofreading will usually be done with the page-proofs in a PDF format, that is to say they have already been laid out by the typesetter. The proofreader doesn’t edit the text directly but leaves instructions for the typesetter either using proofreading marks, stamps or commenting tools.

How does proofreading make books successful?

Proofreading really is the last stage before publication and happens after the manuscript is laid out for printing. This type of editing makes sure every detail is perfect, or at the very least highly consistent, to give the best possible reader experience. A text appears more credible, authoritative and professional when it is produced with as few errors as possible. Some errors are minor and if they slip through into the final publication, they will likely be forgiven by the reader. Whereas major errors distract readers from the message in the text and increase the effort needed to read and understand the work.

Contact me for more information about proofreading and to discuss whether your manuscript is ready for this final stage of editing.