Mercy Langille
Proofreader
Welcome
You did the hard part – wrote your story, made changes, wrote some more. It’s been through several rounds of editing, and it looks good, but it needs that final polish. That’s where I come in.
I will take my time and read your manuscript carefully, giving it the attention it deserves, looking for errors that have slipped through the previous editing rounds. I don’t promise perfection, but I will give it my best shot.
Your writing is important to you, so it is important to me. Let’s work together to make it shine.
What is Proofreading?
Proofreading is the final step in the editing process, the last chance to fix small errors that were missed in previous editorial passes. Proofreading checks grammar, punctuation, spelling, consistency, formatting issues, and obvious fact errors.
Here is a rundown of what happens during proofreading.
- Grammar – I look for and fix grammatical errors, such as “I is coming home”.
- Punctuation – Comma or semicolon? Period or exclamation mark? I verify that the correct punctuation is used in each sentence.
- Spelling and Typos – I will find and fix any misspellings and typos, including correctly spelled but wrong words. (Two, too, and to are just one example.)
- Detail Consistency – Your character is Kat on one page and Kate on the next. Which name is correct? Checking specific details like this ensures overall consistency in your story.
- Formatting Issues – Indents, line spacing, titles, page numbers. Sometimes things get moved during previous edit stages, so I do a final check.
- Fact-checking – While a copyeditor does the bulk of fact checking, I will look for any obvious facts that are misstated and correct them. For example, in the statement “Trees lose their leaves in summer”, I would change summer to fall to make the statement accurate.
Example of a Proofread Paragraph
Original:
ON a brick, Fall day, the sun was shining bright the leaves were changing colours, and the wind was blowing? I decided to ware a sweater, gloves and botts.
Proofread copy:
On a brisk fall day, the sun was shining bright, the leaves were changing colours, and the wind was blowing. I decided to wear a sweater, gloves and boots.
Mercy Langille 