Simple but Effective Tools for Proofreading and Editing

There are tons of newfangled applications, tools, and other resources that we writers can use for proofreading and editing.

I know some writers swear by all the new hi-tech apps and I think it’s smart to give them a whirl and see if they offer you any benefits in your writing work.

I’m a lover of gadgets and technology. I’m still crazy about my iPhone, I’m loving my new Kindle, and there is definitely a tablet in my future. However, when it comes to writing, and more specifically, when it comes to proofreading and editing, I’ve found that I like to stick with the basics.

Good, Old-Fashioned Proofreading and Editing Tools

Like I said, I like gadgets and technology, so if any writers out there have discovered some great new tools for proofreading and editing, please tell us about them in the comments. Until then, here are the tried-and-true proofreading and editing tools that I like to use:

1. The Human Brain

It’s an amazing, complex piece of organic machinery (wait — is than an oxymoron?). We all love spell check (and it made this list too) but nothing beats the personal touch that the human mind brings to writing. Programs that write books are foreseeable and we’ve already got applications that claim to edit for spelling, punctuation, and grammar. As for me, I still rely first and foremost on what’s in my head. But you can’t use your brain unless you fill it up first, which is why you need . . .

2. A Dictionary, Thesaurus, Style and Grammar Guide

Dictionaries and thesauri are available for free, online, so there’s really no excuse for failing to use these handy resources. After all, words are the basic building blocks of everything that writers make. It would be a crime not to have these word-repositories on hand. I also have print copies on my bookshelf, although I rarely consult them these days.

I know a lot of writers don’t have style and grammar guides in their libraries. For shame! If you’re editing and run across some construction you’re not sure about, you have to be able to look it up. Sure, you can use Google but then you have to double-check the source to see if it’s credible. Several years ago, I invested in my own writing and splurged for The Chicago Manual of Style. It’s taught me a lot about style and grammar and has helped me become a better writer. I highly recommend it!

3. Spell Check

It’s amazing that I now think of spell check as an old-fashioned tool. It didn’t even exist when I first started writing. Keep in mind, electronic spelling and grammar programs are not 100% reliable. They adhere to a strict set of rules and cannot accommodate for colloquial expressions, slang, foreign-language words, and proper names. Because of this, I kept spell check turned off for many years. Then, once I entered the world of professional writing, I turned it back on and found that it worked well for catching annoying little typos that I might have missed. I always encourage people to use spell check, but with caution and not as a primary editor or proofreader.

4. Microsoft Word’s Track Changes and Markup features

The first time I was asked to use Track Changes, I protested. It was too complicated and the markup made the document too messy. Now, I use these features almost every day. Track Changes and Markup are especially useful when I’m editing, proofreading, and coaching. Two people can share one document and each make their own revisions. Each change made to the document can be accepted or rejected. These tools are also great if you’re revising your own work and would rather embed the changes in the document than save a million different copies of the same file.

5. A red pen

I avoid printing whenever possible. There was a time when I printed anything that needed to be proofread. I somehow convinced myself that was the only way to catch mistakes. But I discovered that I was wrong. I can’t imagine the amount of ink and paper I would have wasted if I’d printed out and edited several hundred blog posts.

But if I have to do any editing and proofreading for manuscript-length projects or complex materials destined for print publication, I do like to sit down and go over the text with a red pen.

What Do You Use for Proofreading and Editing?

What tools do you need by your side when you’re proofreading and editing? Do you keep it simple or have you embraced some new technologies? Share your recommendations by leaving a comment, and keep on writing!

 

Steps and Techniques for Sharper Proofreading and Editing

Proofreading and editing are essential steps in the writing process. After the brainstorms, outlines, drafts, and rewriting, proofreading and editing give a piece luster. It makes your work shine.

When your work is polished, agents, publishers, and readers will know that you take your writing seriously, and they’ll be more likely to take your writing seriously too. That doesn’t mean your stories can’t be packed with humor, but it does mean that your readers will laugh at your jokes and not the sorry state of your grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

Steps and Techniques for Proofreading and Editing

Over the years, I’ve developed a few different proofreading methods. The method I use for proofreading blog posts is not the same one that I use for proofreading business copy, and there’s yet another that I use for fiction. You might find that one method works for all of your writing, or you might be like me and discover that you have a core process, but you tweak it for each type of project.

The steps below are the most basic ones that I use for almost all of the proofreading and editing that I do. Try experimenting with these techniques the next time you are polishing one of your writing projects.

This is by no means an exhaustive list. Every writer has to develop his or her own process. If you have your own proofreading or editing techniques, tips, or tricks that aren’t listed here, feel free to add them by leaving a comment.

1. Gain a Fresh Perspective

When writers edit their own work, it’s not unusual for them to misread their own mistakes. Your mind knows how the text should read, and it will insert missing words, adjust misspellings, and gloss over punctuation errors. It’s a strange phenomenon that leads to a lot of typos if you don’t either separate yourself from your work or get someone else to review it for you.

Try setting your writing project aside for a few days before you proofread, and you will be able to read it with a fresh perspective. That means you’ll be able to catch more of those annoying little unprofessional mistakes and typos.

2. Spell Check

I usually keep spell check on as I’m writing, and I always run it when I finish a draft. However, many writers turn off spell check so their inner editors won’t be tempted into revising the project while drafting. If you do keep spell check off, make sure you run it manually before you start proofreading and editing.

3. Grammar, Spelling, and Punctuation

Spell check won’t catch all of your mistakes and typos. For example, it won’t call out misspelled homophones. The grammar check on word processing software (such as Microsoft Word) might falsely identify grammar mistakes. Read through your piece slowly, and fix all those mistakes. Don’t rely exclusively on your word processing software because it is not a grammar expert and it cannot differentiate between forms and styles. Instead, look up answers to any questions that arise in a reputable style or grammar guide.

4. Read it Aloud, Backwards, and Sideways

Reading a piece aloud is one of the best ways to catch the sneakiest typos and mechanical errors in a piece of writing. Years ago, I used to print everything out for proofreading and editing, but once I started blogging, that created too much waste. I found reading aloud to be an excellent alternative.

Reading aloud forces you to read slowly, which is a big help during proofreading and editing. Sometimes a sentence looks good on the screen (or the page) but when you read it aloud, you discover that it doesn’t sound quite right. Some writers proofread and edit backward, word by word (or sentence by sentence), which is particularly helpful for catching spelling mistakes.

5. Review Until It’s Error-Free

Once you think you’ve finished proofreading, read it again (preferably aloud). If you like to do a final polish with a printed copy, this is a good time for that. Chances are, you’ll catch one or two more mistakes, or you might find areas that you want to clean up or spots where you want to change the wording. Keep reviewing the piece in this manner until you get through it a couple of times without needing to make any changes.

That’s when you’ll know it’s done.

Proofreading and Editing

You might not be able to go through all of these steps for every single thing you write. In some cases, you might want a second pair of (well-trained) eyes to review your work. And if you’re working under deadline, you may be in a time crunch and unable to thoroughly proofread and edit a piece countless times.

You can always ask a friend to check your work for you. However, make sure you find someone who has strong grammar skills and good command over language. If possible, find someone who knows more about grammar than you do, and ask them to check your project for mistakes. You can also hire a professional editor or proofreader.

How you approach proofreading and editing will probably vary depending on what you’re writing. You might only go over your blog posts a couple of times but if you write a book, you’ll buff it until it’s as error-free as possible. Remember, once it’s in print, you can’t delete and fix those mistakes!

Got any proofreading and editing tips to add? Share your thoughts and ideas by leaving a comment.

Writing is Rewriting, Proofreading, and Editing

Writing is revising.

I’ve heard many authors make this statement in various ways: writing is rewriting, writing is polishing, writing is proofreading and editing.

The gist is that the bulk of work happens after the first draft. That is, once you’ve gotten your ideas down, the real craft of writing is making your work clear and presentable.

Discovery writing and rough drafting are popular techniques for writers. You turn off your inner editor and let the words flow, typos and all. Your focus is on getting your ideas out of your head and onto the page.

This allows you to stream your thoughts more freely. Instead of worrying about word choice, paragraph structure, and grammar, you just concentrate on what you want to say. Not all writers use this technique, but many writers find that any other technique actually spoils the fun of writing. For example, if you know how your story is going to end, why bother writing it at all? Even with nonfiction writing, you may not fully understand your own feelings on any given topic until you’ve written your way through it.

Once you get all those ideas out, revision becomes critical. You may find that you spend more time revising than you did drafting. Even writers who approach their first drafts with their inner editors turned on find that revision is essential.

Revisions: Rewriting, Proofreading, and Editing

Revision is all about change. More specifically, it’s about making changes that improve our work. Rewriting, proofreading, and editing are all revision methods. Each has a specific function.

Rewriting is the process of making deep, contextual changes to a piece of written work. When you’re rewriting a novel, you might turn a leading character into a sidekick. You might move the setting from one city to another. You may go through and change the tone of the narrative; in fact, you might even switch the point of view from first person to third person. Rewriting is done by the author, although in some cases, editors will do some rewriting.

Editing may deal loosely with context but its true focus is on readability. Are the best word choices made? Do the sentences make sense? Are the paragraphs well organized? Does the work read smoothly and effortlessly? The primary purpose of editing is the make the work ready for a readership.

With many publishing models, there is a step after editing and before proofreading in which the text is reviewed and adjusted for formatting. This is called copy editing.

Proofreading is limited to checking for correctness. Proofreading focuses on grammar, spelling, and punctuation (including typos and syntax).

Overlaps in the Revision Process

There are a lot of gray areas between these various steps in the revision process. An editor might do some light rewriting and a copy editor might fix some grammar mistakes. If you have an agent, he or she may get in on the fun and recommend some revisions before sending your book out to publishing houses. As you’re rewriting, you will likely fix typos and make adjustments to the syntax. In other words, agents edit, editors proofread, and you, as the author, will do all of these things.

It takes a village, right?

If you’ve written a book or are thinking about writing a book, it’s smart to think about how you’re going to handle your own revision process. You might think you can write a novel over the coarse of eight or nine months, but then how long is it going to take you to do your revisions? Will you hire an editor or a proofreader to help you clean up the text before you shop it around?

Where Do You Stand?

Self-published writers are under fire for poor editing. It’s not unusual to read reviews of self-published works that say the story’s good but there were typos on every page. Meanwhile, traditional publishers are reportedly pulling back on editing and proofreading. They are struggling with the poor economy and massive changes within their industry; their staffs are overworked.

In today’s technologically advanced world, books just don’t go through the same rigorous revision processes that they once did (and as a reader, I can report that I see far more typos in newly published works than in years past).

When all is said and done and a book becomes available for sale, it’s the writer’s name that appears on the cover. It is the writer who will bear the criticism, whether it addresses the quality of the content or the professionalism of the copy. As a writer, part of your job is to think about how revisions mold your work into a polished, published work that is ready for readers.

What’s your revision process? How do you feel about typos and other mistakes in published books that you’ve read? How much time do you spend proofreading and editing your own work? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment.

Tips for Getting Professional Proofreading and Editing Services

For some writers, revision is a difficult but necessary part of the writing process. Checking for grammar, spelling, and punctuation feels like a big hassle. Reviewing the text for context and readability is a nightmare. Just how many ways can you rearrange the words in an effort to say essentially the same thing, but in a more compelling way?

It has to be done. Ideally, as a writer, you’ll be able to find someone — a second pair of eyes — to go over your work and make sure it is both correct and readable. Are there typos or grammar mistakes? Do the ideas flow smoothly and make sense? What could be improved?

Unfortunately, not everyone has a well read friend or associate who can provide regular feedback. Hiring someone to provide professional proofreading and editing services may be the solution.

A professional editor will review your written material to check for correctness and will also provide alternate wording and suggestions for rearranging, cutting, or adding different sections of text to make the entire piece flow more smoothly. A proofreading pro will (more affordably) clean up your work, checking it solely for mechanical correctness.

Before You Hire a Professional

Proofreading and editing services are not recommended for writers who are looking for an easy way out. If you’ve sped through a first draft and don’t feel like cleaning it up, but want to publish or submit it for publication, then you should take the time to rework the piece yourself. At the very least, try to get through a few drafts before you hire a professional.

Why? Because proofreaders and editors can only mark up your piece of writing with so many corrections before it becomes illegible. The cleaner the copy you submit, the better and more thorough the edits and corrections will be, and the stronger your piece will become.

Give a proofreader or editor your first draft and you will get back a second draft. Give the editor your third, fourth, or fifth draft, and you’ll get back a polished copy, ready for publication.

Should You Hire a Proofreader or an Editor?

Proofreaders check for technical correctness, so if your writing is comprehensive (in other words, it sounds good when you read it aloud, but the text is peppered with mistakes) but you struggle with grammar, spelling, and punctuation, then you should work with a proofreader. Note that proofreading doesn’t include rearranging sentences and paragraphs for better readability, but editing does.

If you are in the early stages of your writing career or are just starting to learn the ropes of good writing or if you struggle with making the best word choices, structuring sentences, and organizing your paragraphs, then an editor can help you rearrange your work so that it flows smoothly. Editors will also handle proofreading and correct any mechanical errors.

Editors provide more expanded services, so they cost a little more. Proofreaders are perfect for experienced and skilled writers who need a second pair of eyes to double-check their work.

Have you ever hired someone to proofread or edit your work? Do you feel proofreading and editing are better done by the writer, a professional, or both? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment.

 

How Proofreading and Editing Affects Your Readership (or Lack Thereof)

As a writer, I make it my business to understand the rules of spelling, grammar, and punctuation. However, as a reader, I try not to be a stickler about those rules.

I know better than to equate intelligence with proper grammar, and I’ve read plenty of books, articles, and blog posts that presented smart points and valid rhetoric even though the writing appeared to be intermediate at best.

Lots of people don’t bother with proofreading and editing. They’re more concerned with getting their points across, sharing information, or telling a story. So, they hammer out their work and then publish it. Unfortunately, this is a recipe for bad grammar and typos. I can’t even imagine what it was like before spell check.

The Problem with Unpolished Work

One of my favorite blogs is witty and informative; the author’s voice is friendly, and the content is relevant. There’s no doubt the writer knows the material, but I’m constantly distracted by typos and other minor infractions in the language as I peruse the posts.

Let’s face it, nobody’s perfect. Even professional writers have days when the apostrophe lands behind the wrong letter. But the blog I’m talking about is peppered with such errors — in every single post. Clearly, there’s no proofreading or editing going on. I still find the content beneficial, but it’s hard to enjoy reading. Every time I come across one of those grammatical speed bumps, I do a double take and it breaks the flow of my reading.

You don’t have to be a grammar master to be a good writer. However, readers will have a hard time making it through your work if you don’t give it a once-over (better yet, give it a thrice-over). It pays to proofread and edit all your writing before publishing or submitting, so you can minimize errors.

Proofreading and Editing Make a Difference

Some writers consider proofreading and editing to be the most critical steps in the writing process. It’s a shame for an eloquent piece to be discredited because all the ares and ours are mixed up, because subjects and verbs disagree, or commas are used too liberally.

Like many writers, I am frequently haunted by my Inner Editor. When writing a novel, the Inner Editor is loathsome, but she comes in pretty handy during blog writing sessions. I usually proofread each sentence as it’s completed, then each paragraph, and finally, I give the entire piece two or three final proofs to check for any little mistake I might have missed.

Even with all that polishing, typos still slip through occasionally. So you can imagine what a piece of writing that hasn’t been proofread or edited looks like — a total mess.

Be Polished

It’s worthwhile for writers to remind themselves every so often that the value of proofreading and editing should not be underestimated. There are people who will literally click away from your website, close your book and toss it onto the donation pile, or choose not to read or buy a particular publication – just because basic writing rules aren’t being adhered to. A prospective employer or client may decide not to hire you if your writing is sloppy, especially if they’re interested in your writing skills. So, to all you writers and bloggers: edit, revise, polish, and proof, proof, proofread your work. That’s three times (because then it’s a charm).

What’s your stance? How important are proofreading and editing? Do you find yourself shunning work that contains too many grammar hiccups or do you overlook them, favoring the quality of the content over the mechanical errors in the writing? If your blog was fraught with such errors, would you want to know? How would you feel if another writer brought such mistakes to your attention?

How many times do you proofread and edit your work?

Are You Always Proofreading and Editing Other People’s Writing?

If you’re the token writer at your office, among your friends, or in your family, then you are probably asked on a regular basis to edit, review, or proofread written documents.

Academic essays, business letters, and resumes will land on your desk with the word “HELP!” scrawled across the top.

Or, maybe you’re like me, a professional who offers editing services to writers and business people who want their text to be squeaky clean and irresistible to readers.

Most of us are happy to help. After all, it feels good to help people, especially when it involves doing something you love, like writing or proofreading and editing other people’s writing projects. That doesn’t mean it’s easy. So, I thought I’d compile some of the most useful editing tips — the ones I use every day — and share them with you.

Editing Tips

1. Edit On-Screen and Track Changes

Many writers and editors swear by the printed page. But that’s a messy and inefficient way to edit. If you start editing on-screen, you’ll adjust to the new format and soon find it’s much easier than marking up print. Use Microsoft Word’s feature, Track Changes, which does just what you’d expect — it tracks all the changes you make as you edit. Then, you (or the writer for whom you’re proofreading and editing) can go through and review every edit and accept or reject those changes individually or collectively.

2. If You’re Not Sure, Look it Up (and Know What You Don’t Know)

Your greatest wisdom as an editor is knowing what you don’t know. Having resources in your arsenal is one thing. Using them is something else entirely. Don’t be lazy! Remember that every time you look something up, you learn something new and expand your own writing skills. Plus, the more you look things up, the less you’ll need to look them up in the future. Eventually, they become natural for you and part of your own writing process.

3. Keep a Grammar Manual and Style Guide Handy

When you’re proofreading and editing, you need to be meticulous. Don’t cut corners. If you’re not sure about grammar, spelling, punctuation, or context, you need to be able to open up a grammar manual or a style guide, so make sure you have the right resources handy. Be vigilant, be correct, and use good judgment, keeping in mind that sometimes it’s best to bend the rules (but only if you know what the rules are and why you’re breaking them).

4. Run Spell Check and Grammar Check First

Before you do anything, run spell check and use your word processing software’s grammar checking tool (if it has one). Automated checkers don’t catch everything, but they can catch a lot, and that means you’ll have more time and brain energy for manual editing. Also, use the find-and-replace feature, which allows you to quickly find or replace a single error multiple times. For example, many people are still in the habit of using a double space after a period. I always do a find-and-replace to replace all those double spaces with the modern standard — single spaces after every period or terminal punctuation mark.

5. Read Slowly, Backwards, and Out Loud

The most crucial aspect of proofreading and editing is reviewing every single word and examining the written work at the word, sentence, and paragraph levels. Plus, you should be able to assess every document or manuscript in its entirety to check for readability, organization, and flow. This means you’ll have to go over each piece numerous times. To separate yourself from the content so you can better evaluate the writing, read slowly and read out loud. To check spelling, read backwards. You’ll catch a lot of minor mistakes and typos this way.

Bonus Tip: Don’t forget to check titles and subtitles!

6. Listen for Wording and Rhythm

Editing involves more than checking for grammar, spelling, and punctuation (that’s proofreading, folks). When you read the piece out loud, pay attention to the rhythm. Does it flow smoothly? Do the sentences alternate in length or are there a series of really short (or really long) sentences that have a droning rhythm? Break up some of those longer sentences and join some of the smaller sentences together to give the writing better rhythm and more musicality.

7. Note Consistent, Repeated Errors

Do the writer a favor and make notes as you’re proofreading and editing; specifically, note mistakes that are repeated consistently throughout the writing. Repeated mistakes are often a signal that the writer doesn’t know better and it’s likely whomever you’re editing for will appreciate it if you correct them.

8. Readability Comes First, Writer’s Voice is Second

The whole point of editing is to make a piece of writing more readable. That’s why it’s essential you review the piece to make sure it’s easy reading. Additionally, it’s your job as editor to retain the integrity of the writer’s voice (which is a writer’s own unique style). It can be tempting to start rewriting. Avoid that! If you shift from editing into rewriting, the writer’s voice could get lost and replaced with your own or some weird hybrid voice.

9. Pay Attention to Formatting

Formatting is actually separate from editing. This involves things like font size, face, and other formatting options, such as bold or italics. I sometimes offer formatting as an additional service for clients who need proofreading and editing, but whether I’m on the clock for formatting or not, I always pay attention, so at the very least I can nudge the writer with a little feedback like “Check your formatting.” Chapter titles and subheadings, for example, should have the same font. Citations should be formatted the same (and preferably, adhering to a style guide). Just keep an eye out for inconsistencies in this area.

10. Review to Perfection

I like to follow a five-step process for editing:

1. Read the entire text
2. After running spell/grammar check, edit and proofread for blatant mistakes and awkward wording.
3. Second review focuses on wording and readability.
4. Third review focuses on proofreading (check for grammar, spelling, punctuation) — this is where I read out loud, slowly.
5. Final review and polishing.

I repeat step five until I can’t find anything to improve.

That’s in an ideal world, of course. It would be difficult to review an entire novel countless times (not to mention really, really expensive), and let’s face it, no matter how many times you review a piece of writing, you’re always going to find something that you could make better. Use good judgment and keep going over the piece until you feel it’s as close to perfect as possible.

Good Luck with Your Proofreading and Editing!

If you have any proofreading and editing tips of your own, please share by leaving a comment.

21 Do-it-Yourself Proofreading and Editing Tips

The human mind is a funny thing; it likes to play tricks on us.

For example, when we proofread and edit our own writing, we tend to read it as we think it should be, which means we misread our own typos and other spelling, grammar, and punctuation mistakes as well as problems with word choice and sentence structure, context, and overall readability.

If you have a friend or family member who has good grammar skills, maybe they can help you out by proofreading and editing your work before you send it out or publish it.

For special submissions and publications, hiring a professional proofreader or editor is the best way to make sure your writing is free of errors.

But for most of us, it’s not likely that anyone’s going to proofread and edit every single piece of writing that we create. That’s especially true for writers who put out a lot of material – like bloggers, copywriters, and freelancers. Proofreading and editing services can get expensive and friends and family probably don’t want to spend all their evenings checking your work.

Proofreading and Editing Tips for Do-It-Yourselfers

Sometimes, the only option available is to do it yourself. Here are 21 proofreading and editing tips that you can put into practice for proofreading your own work.

1. Proofread and edit every single piece of writing before it is seen by another set of eyes. No exceptions. Even if you do hire a professional editor or proofreader, check your work first.
2. Understand the difference between proofreading and editing. Edit first by making revisions. When the piece is done, proofread to check for proper grammar.
3. Use the “track changes” feature in Microsoft Word when you edit. This feature essentially saves your edits and marks up your document so you can go back and revert to different revisions.
4. Step away from a piece of writing before you proofread it. The longer the piece, the longer you should wait to proofread it. Let a novel sit for six weeks. Let a blog post sit overnight.
5. Before proofreading and editing, run spelling and grammar check. Then, run it again after you’re done polishing to check for any lingering typos.
6. Read your work aloud. Pronounce each word slowly and clearly as you read and check for mistakes.
7. Proofreading should never be a rush job. Do it s l o w l y.
8. Don’t just review your work once and then send it out into the world. I recommend editing until the piece reads smoothly and proofreading everything three times or more.
9. At the very least, proofread until you don’t catch any more errors.
10. Read the piece backward so you can see each word separately and out of context.
11. Look up the spelling of proper names, scientific, and technical terms that you’re not familiar with to make sure you’re spelling them correctly.
12. Don’t make any assumptions. If you’re not sure about something, then look it up so you can fix a mistake if there is one, and learn the correct way.
13. Don’t forget to proofread titles, headlines, and footnotes.
14. Pay attention to the mistakes you’ve made in your writing. You’ll find you tend to make the sames ones repeatedly. Keep track of these and work on avoiding them during the initial writing process in the future.
15. Choose one of the many style guides and stick with it. This will make your work more consistent, and you’ll have a great resource to use when you have questions about style and formatting.
16. Start building a collection of grammar books and writing resources so when you do run into questions (and you will), you have access to reliable and credible answers.
17. If you let grammatical mistakes slip through, do so by choice and have a good reason. It’s okay to break the rules if you know why you’re breaking them.
18. Pat attention to formatting. Use the same formatting on all paragraphs, headings, and other typographical stylings. Learn how to use these features in your word processing software.
19. Proofread when you’re fresh and wide awake. Proofreading doesn’t go over well when you’re tired or distracted.
20. Proofreading and editing can be tedious so break up your revision sessions by doing other tasks that help you clear your mind: exercise, play with the pets or kids, go for a short walk, or listen to some music. Try to avoid reading or writing on these breaks.
21. Make it your business to develop good grammar skills. Read up on grammar or subscribe to a blog that publishes grammar posts (like this one) to stay up to date on proper grammar.

Some people love the proofreading and editing process. Others despise it. If you’re into grammar, the mechanics of writing, and polishing your work, then proofreading and editing will be easier and more enjoyable for you. If not, just look at it as part of your job – something that goes along with being a writer.

And once you’re done proofreading and editing, make sure you get back to your writing.

Got any proofreading and editing tips to share? Leave a comment!

Why Proofreading and Editing are Essential Steps in the Writing Process

Some of the greatest writers in history have said that writing is revising. That’s where the work is polished and fine tuned so that it shines and strikes a chord with readers. A piece of writing enters the proofreading and editing phase as a lump of coal and it comes out a diamond.

I’m a firm believer in the idea that every individual should do things his or her own way. Each of us has to find the genre that fits, the notebook that’s most comfortable, and the writing process that clicks. But there’s no alternative to proofreading and editing. It’s something we all have to do.

A rough draft is just that – rough. And when you put a rough piece of writing out there for people to read, it will feel to them like a piece of wood that hasn’t been sanded. It’s jagged, edgy (not in a good way), misshapen, and unpleasant to the touch.

Yet many writers continue to share, publish, and distribute their work before they’ve even given it a once-over. I don’t know if they think they got it right on the first pass, can’t be bothered with cleaning up their own mess, or simply don’t care about their work or their readers.

Proofreading and editing are essential steps in the writing process. Whatever your process is, proofreading and editing must be included because nobody gets it right on the first try (okay, maybe one in a million). Even when material has been revised, edited, and proofread several times, a typo or two can slip through. Just the other day I was reading an encyclopedia and right there on the second page was a glaring typo. I’d guess that encyclopedia was reviewed by the writers plus a team of editors and proofreaders. So just imagine how many mistakes are in a piece of your writing that hasn’t been edited or that you’ve only given a cursory proof.

For the Love of Creation

Creativity is a strange and wonderful phenomenon. Some of us are born to make things, and we do it because we love our work. We are passionate about poetry and fired up over fiction. Don’t we love our work enough to make it shine as brightly as possible? When I read work that hasn’t been polished, I get the sense that the writer is not really working. It’s all fun and games, sitting around coming up with rhymes and making up stories. But the craftsmanship, the work, is in the detail. It’s in the proofreading and editing. If all you want to do is have fun, go to a bar or a ballgame.

Professionalism

Nothing says “I’m unprofessional” like a rough draft that has been turned in, submitted, or otherwise shared or published. If there’s one reason I’m relieved I never became an editor at a magazine or newspaper, it’s that I don’t have to suffer through page after page of lazy, unpolished writing. This is why editors rarely offer feedback on why they reject so many submissions. They figure if the writers can’t take the time to polish their work, the editors shouldn’t waste their time doing anything more than sending a polite, canned rejection slip.

Respecting Your Readers

Readers, however, are the most important reasons why every writer should proofread and edit. By readers, I don’t simply mean the folks who buy books and magazines. Readers are also your teachers, members of your workshop or writing group, and even your friends and family. It’s almost a matter of etiquette — it’s disrespectful to ask someone to read your sloppy rough draft or a project you’ve only reviewed once or twice. If you don’t take time to polish your writing, why should anyone make time to read it?

Better Feedback

Some young or new writers will wonder why they should belong to a writing group or participate in a workshop if they have to do all their own editing and find their own mistakes. When you clean up your work before getting feedback, the person who’s providing feedback will be able to provide you with a response that is more insightful. If you already know how to use quotation marks, contractions, and how to differentiate between passive and active voice, feedback that points these things out won’t make you a better writer. It’s just someone else telling you where to point your vacuum cleaner when you have a perfectly good set of eyes and can see the dirt for yourself. Your writing group and workshop should function more like a carpet cleaner. They go through and find the stuff you can’t see, the stuff you don’t know, not the stuff you were too lazy to look for.

Know Your Trade

Occasionally, I come across a writer who doesn’t like editing would prefer to pay someone else to do it. These writers usually have the greatest trouble with grammar and mechanics, and they don’t want to learn. They just want someone else to fix it. I’m happy to help, but I’m always left wondering why a writer wouldn’t want to know the tools of his or her trade. That’s kind of like a plumber who doesn’t know the difference between a wrench and screwdriver.

Proofreading and Editing Are Essential

For all of these reasons (and I’m sure, many more), proofreading and editing are essential to producing writing that is polished, professional, and publishable. When you proof and edit your own work, typos will still slip through. I’ve heard several authors talk about reading their own published work years later and finding all kinds of problems that they wish they’d caught before it went to print. And they had high-level, professional editors!

Most of us don’t have a team of experts. We’re all busy. We all make mistakes. But if we can’t make time to do our best, then why bother writing at all?

Can you think of any other reasons why proofreading and editing are so important? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment.

Proofreading and Editing for Polished, Professional Writing

Your writing leaves an impression. Readers will come away from your work feeling informed, entertained, inspired, even moved.

Or will they?

Proofreading and editing might not be the heart and soul of the writing process but they are essential steps in any writing project.

When I was in high school and even during my early college days, I wrote papers and turned them in without giving them so much as a second glance. No revisions or rewriting and no proofreading and editing. My papers often came back marked up, and the markings almost always pointed out grammar, spelling, and punctuation rules that I already knew – but because I hadn’t bothered proofreading and editing my work, I’d accidentally broken the rules and turned in an unpolished piece of writing that had a few typos.

The Value of Proofreading and Editing

In time, I learned the value of reviewing and revising, but it was a lesson that did not arrive in the form of essays hatched with red markups. I learned the value of proofreading and editing as a reader.

The first time I caught a typo in a novel, I felt smug. I thought myself quite smart to have found a mistake that the author had missed. Later, when I understood that each novel is reviewed by a copyeditor, I felt even more smug when I’d find errors in text of books or articles. Not only had the writer missed the mistake, the editors had too!

I also noticed that each error was a speed bump, which interrupted the flow of my reading. I’d be enjoying the story and all of a sudden, a blatant misspelling or poorly structured sentence would throw me off course, and I’d be yanked out of the tale.

That was enough for me to develop a careful practice of proofreading and editing everything I write. When people read my work, I don’t want them to pause to contemplate the rules of grammar. I want the reading to flow smoothly and totally uninterrupted.

The Lack of Proofreading and Editing

I’ve learned that in the world of blogging, proofreading and editing are sorely lacking – and it’s easy to tell when a blogger doesn’t understand the rules of proper English or is simply being careless. In some cases, the work contains information and ideas that can’t be gotten elsewhere, so the value of the content overrides the necessity of good grammar. In other cases, the material is so riveting and entertaining, minor mistakes are easily forgiven.

Some readers will ignore grammatical hiccups or confusing verbiage. Others won’t notice them at all. But there will always be those few who are so completely turned off by an error-riddled piece of work that they’ll simply stop reading whatever you publish. Is that a harsh reaction on the reader’s part? Maybe. But if your work is so peppered with mistakes that it’s actually difficult to read, then why should anyone waste their time?

As writers, and especially as bloggers who produce tons of written material on any given day, week, or month, it’s nearly impossible to hire a professional editor to check every single thing we publish, and no matter how carefully you proofread and edit, chances are that a few typos will slip through over time. But if you aren’t polishing your work at all, and your writing is weighted down with mistakes, you’re sending readers a message that you don’t care very much about your work or the impression that it leaves.

Your Proofreading and Editing Habits

I’ll leave off with a few questions that you can ask yourself about your own proofreading and editing habits. Feel free to share your responses in the comments section or simply share your feelings about proofreading and editing, grammar and typos (or lack thereof).

• Do you revise every piece of writing that you submit, share, or publish?
• How many times do you proofread a piece?
• How careful is your proofreading and editing process? Do you do a quick scan or a careful review?

Remember, proofreading and editing lead to better writing, so be sure to incorporate these critical steps your own writing process.

If you have any proofreading and editing tips to share, feel free to post them in the comments.

What’s the Difference Between Proofreading and Editing?

I get this question all the time.

Writers looking for proofreading and editing services want to understand the difference so they can also understand why there is a price gap. Editing involves more work and a broader range of skills, and it usually takes longer to edit a piece of written material than it does to proofread.

Both proofreading and editing are critical steps in the writing and publication processes. Writers should always proofread and edit their own work before submitting it to agents or editors and before self-publishing. However, when it comes to proofreading and editing, nothing beats a second set of eyes.

Proofreading

Proofreading is the task of correcting a piece of writing. Traditionally, proofreading involved checking for typos (typographical mistakes), but modern proofreading includes checking for grammar, spelling, and punctuation as well as typos.

In order to proofread, one must be objective, clear-minded, and focused. It takes practice and training to proofread effectively because when we read, our minds will add missing words and letters and it will correct typos, putting the proofreader at risk for missing some typos altogether. This is especially true for writers who proofread their own work. The mistakes are there, but our minds may not register them.

Proofreaders almost always use a style guide. Grammatical standards provide the rules, but many issues arise in writing that are not addressed by these rules (for example, the serial comma). A style guide ensures consistency and offers best practices (I use The Chicago Manual of Style). If you retain proofreading services, be sure to find out which style guide your proofreader uses and make sure it’s the same (or compatible) with your target publication’s style guidelines.

Editing

Editing is a pretty general term and editors in general possess a wide variety of responsibilities. For example, an editor of an anthology collects written works from a group of writers and puts them together in a book. Newspaper editors may be involved in laying out pages. For the purpose of our discussion on the differences between proofreading and editing, we’ll focus on editing as the act of revising, also called technical editing or copy editing.

First, it’s important to understand that editing includes proofreading, or the process of checking written work for correctness. The rules of grammar and style-guide protocol are included in editing.

But editing goes further. In editing, the work involves more than checking for mechanical errors. An editor checks for syntax and readability and may also provide fact-checking. Words and sentences are often added, cut, or rearranged. In some cases, editing involves a full revision – an overhaul of the original piece.

Whereas proofreading is technical, editing involves more creativity and a closer relationship with the original material. The editor often works closely with the writer and therefore must possess strong interpersonal skills. Some editors will include notes with edited copy; these editorial notes are designed to explain revisions that were made and help the writer produce a more polished piece next time.

Professional Proofreading and Editing

It’s not always feasible to hire someone to proofread or edit your work, particularly if you’re a struggling writer trying to get a piece published or looking for an agent. Some agents fulfill the role of editor and will work with a writer on revisions. Publishing houses and both print and online publications (magazines, journals, etc.) may have in-house editors who will review your work before it goes to press. But don’t count on it. Some literary magazines clearly state (in their submission guidelines) that work will be published as-is.

Any time you hire or work with a proofreader or editor, make sure that the artistic integrity of your written material is maintained. This is especially crucial for creative writers. A responsible proofreader or editor understands both the writer’s intent and the intended readership and then edits accordingly, even if it means bending (or breaking) the rules of grammar. Your work should also be marked up in a manner that allows you to accept or reject each correction or edit (Microsoft Word’s “track changes” feature is ideal for this, and all writers should learn how to use this feature).

Knowing the difference between proofreading and editing is important, but the lines are blurry. Often, you’ll sit down to proofread and end up editing. That’s fine. Both proofreading and editing are steps in the revision process, and they both ultimately lead to better writing, whether you do it yourself or hire someone to do your proofreading and editing for you.