Proofreading & Copy Editing
“59% of Britons say they would not use a company that had obvious grammatical or spelling errors on its website or in its written material.”
— GLOBAL LINGO POLL of 1,029 UK adults.
Sloppy copy suggests a lack of competence and a lack of care. Is that the first impression you want to be making on prospective clients?
Proofreading is about peace of mind.
What have other clients said about my work?
“Tracy helped us out with an extensive market research project which we passed to her for proofreading. We were very happy not only with the corrections she made but also with the comments and questions she raised which highlighted things in the text that the rest of us had missed. We also gave Tracy free rein to improve on the text where needed and we approved every one of her suggested re-writes. It was very useful having Tracy on board and we are already using her again!”
Alex Piggott, Development Coordinator at Regenta Development.
Want to know how I can help you? Send me a message via my CONTACT page.
Click on the link to read TESTIMONIALS from previous clients.
What and how do I charge?
My standard rates are £35.00 per hour for proofreading and £40.00 per hour for copy editing or copy writing, but it will vary depending on the nature and scale of the job, the level of intervention required and the timeline involved.
What can I offer you?
I am a professional proofreader and copy editor, certified by Chapterhouse Publishing. I have always had high standards for my work and enjoy bringing this eagle-eye for quality and detail to my clients’ copy. My core skills and strengths lie in writing, editing, communication and constructive feedback. While the bulk of my work is focused on editing, I often include rewriting, where the content needs it, and have also created brand new content for my clients.
What is the difference between proofreading, copy editing and copy writing?
Proofreading is a fairly light and quick check-through of your document or digital content, just prior to it being printed or published. The main purpose of this final check is to ensure your work is not going out into the public domain with any errors or typos in it. This can be hugely embarrassing to your business and often very off-putting to clients or readers of your work. Proofreading generally involves correcting things like spelling, grammar, punctuation and capitalisation.
Copy editing is a more in-depth look at your written content. It should ideally be done much further in advance of any deadline as it can be a very time-consuming process involving a back-and-forth dialogue with the author or team producing the content. Copy editing is about making sure your copy is not only 100% correct (as per proofreading) but also clear, coherent, consistent (in its formatting, wording, tone and style) and – perhaps most important of all – clearly communicating exactly what you intended!
Copy writing involves creating new copy from scratch, generally based on a brief and/or bullet points provided by the client. Please note that just because a professional copy writer has produced your written content, it doesn’t eliminate the need for a final check-through by a proofreader. Be warned: those ‘pesky’ typos often creep in during the many different stages of preparing copy for print or publication!
What kind of written content can I help you with?
- JOB-RELATED: CVs, application forms, LinkedIn profiles.
- BUSINESS: website copy, PowerPoint presentations, tenders, AGM minutes, market research reports, newsletters, blog posts, online courses, mobile apps, client worksheets.
- MARKETING: advertising copy, email campaigns, press releases, posters, social media posts, leaflets, brochures and catalogues.
- CREATIVE: blog posts, e-books, poetry, short stories, monologues, plays, novels, non-fiction, scripts, online courses, YouTube video captions and descriptions.
- JOURNALISTIC: newspaper or magazine articles, letters or pitches to editors.
- ACADEMIC: dissertations, assignments, theses, research papers.