Why Choose Proofreading Services over Editing Services?

Proofreading and editing services can be used together in the same document, but they are incredibly different in terms of what they focus on. Furthermore, the skills that a person needs in order to provide strong proofreading and editing services vary significantly, especially in terms of the subject-specific expertise that an editor needs (but that a proofreader does not necessarily need).

Proofreading services, as shown in Examples 1, 2, and 3 below, focus on the correction of grammar, spelling, and punctuation issues in a piece of writing. In Example 1, the text submitted for proofreading is low-quality and rich in mistakes, as well as opportunities for clarification. As shown in Example 2, the proofreader has identified and corrected several critical issues, including missing definite articles (e.g., “the inverse problem”), missing grammatical subjects (e.g., “allow researchers to map”), and the inappropriate use of the passive voice (e.g., “inverse problem can be physically constrained by”). At the same time, the proofreader has identified spelling mistakes (“e.g., “non-uniqueness”), and other general language issues that are considered fundamental for a sound and error-free piece of writing.

Image: An example of typical proofreading services

An illustration of typical editing services is given in Examples 4, 5, and 6. In this set of examples, the same text from the proofreading example given previously is used. As these examples indicate, the key difference between the job of a proofreader and editor relates to the level of comprehensiveness that is applied throughout the service. For example, as shown in Example 5, the editor has decided to rework the whole of the second sentence of the original document, in contrast to the proofreader, who stopped at the level of correcting the unsuitable use of the passive voice. This example is reflective of an important feature of editingservices, namely that they tend to go one level deeper than proofreading services, focusing on issues such as style and clarity to a much greater extent.

Image: Work completed by an editor

Another key difference relating to the work that proofreaders and editors apply to your document relates to the issues of concision, style, and structure. To give an example, if a proofreader encounters an excessive level of repetition in a document, along with a weak structure, they are not likely to correct this. Strong and reliable proofreaders will leave a comment and alert this to you, but it is beyond the scope of a proofreader’s task to intervene in your writing at the level of concision, style, and structure. By contrast, one of the key functions of an editor is to pay attention to issues such as style, structure, and concision. This is evident in Example 5, where the length of the edited version of the two sentences is 30 words, whereas the length of the original version is 37 words. Additionally, whereas the proofreader has adeptly corrected the passive voice misuse in the original sentence, they have not paid attention to document length and concision (resulting in a length of more than 40 words).

As will be clear to you if you have noted what the main differences between proofreading and editing are, these services can also be used in combination. For example, if you have areas of your document that are especially weak, you can have an editor check over them. Contradistinction, if you believe some paragraphs are strong and do not require intensive intervention, then proofreading may be the most suitable service in those cases.

Essential Tips on Book Proofreading and Proofreading Services

Book proofreading services UK are growing in popularity, and this trend is expected to continue in the coming years around the world. At the same time, with the rise of e-books, the self-publishing phenomenon, and the growth in widespread and cost-effective access to digital distribution channels for newly-written books, professional proofreading services and, in particular, proofreaders who specialise in book proofreading services UK are in strong demand.

It’s a fact that writers can write much more when they work with a good proofreader. You might be surprised to learn that all of the best and most well-known writers operating today, including Stephen King and J. K. Rowling, use proofreaders and editors, and they also make heavy use of professional proofreading services. When a proofreader corrects a piece of written work before it is used or published, it greatly improves the author’s peace of mind. This is because receiving a green-light from a proofreader is worth a lot, particularly for extended pieces of writing. For example, in long documents such as books, which can amount to 500,000 words (approximately 200,000 pages of Arial 12-point text), the proofreader plays a key role in the error-proofing process.

One way to account for the rising popularity of book proofreading services UK relates to the fact thatthese services are targeted towards authors who want to be as productive as possible. If a strong and reliable proofreading company or freelance editor is chosen at the outset of a project, this can have a dramatic impact on an author’s ability to operate productively, and to write as much high-quality and engaging content as possible. To give an example of how proofreading services can increase an author’s productivity, consider an author who, once they have finished their latest book, knows that it contains countless hard-to-spot grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors. Proofreading the document will take an extremely long time and, even if they save money by working themselves, the quality of the document will be much higher if a trained professional is brought onto the project.

Proofreading services are a valuable tool for e-book authors, particularly those who work part-time on their books, or who want to release content as rapidly as possible. As a case in point, if an e-book author can write new material without having to worry about catching all the subtle errors in their use of language as they go along; this can drastically speed up the process of completing the work. Once the final draft of the document has been produced, the book proofreader can look over the document, beginning the detailed and time-consuming process of revising the work. Understanding these issues highlights several of the key tips that relate to proofreading for book authors.

Professional Editing and Proofreading Offered by a Service Provider

There has always been a strong demand for editing and proofreading services, but online proofreading services in particular have grown massively in popularity over the last decade. With the proliferation of service providers available on the Internet, a key question that has emerged is whether you can ensure that your proofreader or editor is reliable and effective. As a matter of fact, is there anything you can do to increase the likelihood that you receive a satisfying service?

Well, there are quite a few things you can – and should! – be doing. The main thread that links together all the strategies you can adopt to increase your chances of receiving the strongest editing and proofreading services is the variable of “professionalism”. In short, your aim should be to find a professional proofreader or editor because, when you do, you are extremely likely to have a satisfying outcome, and the readability of your written work will improve dramatically.

But what exactly is a professional proofreader or editor? And how can you find one?

There is no universal or institutionalised definition for the terms “professional” or “professionalism”, and depending on the context, these may mean different things. For example, one might refer to their friend as a “professional gloom-monger”, which is – of course – not a flattering description. This contrasts, however, with the main usages of these terms, which commonly refer to individuals who have a high level of competence, skill, and assurance in a particular area (e.g., law, medicine, or document editing). Professionals are also people who engage in a particular activity (e.g., proofreading) as their main paid occupation (i.e., a professional as opposed to an amateur).

In editing and proofreading services, then, a professional proofreading services provider is an individual (i.e., freelancer) or group (i.e., proofreading agency) with specific and proven expertise in this area. Moreover, professional editing and proofreading services are provided by individuals or groups that do this for a living, and – as such – are likely to have received dedicated training in order to provide these services effectively. This is strikingly dissimilar to an individual or group that provides these services part-time, has not received any training or accreditation, and which potentially lacks competence and skill in this field.

Finding a professional person or group to provide proofreading services, therefore, relies on identifying someone who satisfies the above criteria. For example, if you ask your friend to check over your essay before you submit it, this would not be classed as professional work, and so the standard of the work completed is not likely to be high. By contrast, having your document checked out by an established freelancer with decades of experience would be classed as professional work, and although you would need to pay for this service, you can expect the standard to be high.

Ultimately, it is you who must decide whether or not a professional revision of your written work is required before you use it or publish it. If you decide against hiring a professional, please remember to have a final examination of your document before you submit it. And likewise, if you choose to go with a professional, whether a freelancer or a proofreading company, it is well worth vetting them first and accurately determining the value they can add to your important document.

Differences between Book Proofreading Services and Paraphrasing Services

It is common in today’s digitised world to go online looking for one thing, and then to end up becoming interested in something entirely different. This is especially common when customers visit the official website of a proofreading company, only to find that they are now interested in, for example, paraphrasing services in addition to the book proofreading services uk they initially started browsing for.

This article focuses on the differences between the two services mentioned above, namely paraphrasing services and book proofreading services. One reason for this is the already-discussed issue of many customers becoming interested in paraphrasing after initially looking for proofreading, and another reason is the curiously harmonious way that these two services, despite focusing on completely different things, complement each other.

In paraphrasing services (often referred to as rewriting services), the paraphraser rewrites a document using different language and a different structure without affecting the meaning. The applied cases for this service include avoiding plagiarism in academic essays, rapidly rolling out a content strategy, and facilitating more efficient learning. An important point to note about this type of service is that, in most companies, hiring a paraphraser, costs substantially more than hiring a proofreader or an editor (usually two-to-three times the price). This is because paraphrasing is definitely more time-consuming, but it is something you must consider when searching for services.

By contrast, book proofreading services focus on tailoring traditional proofreading services to books and other extended pieces of writing. In traditional proofreading, the proofreader will focus on the punctuation, grammar, and spelling of your document, and they may even leave helpful comments about how to improve your future writing, constructive feedback about where your document lacks clarity, and technical comments. The main difference between traditional and book proofreading services is that, in the latter, the relationship between authors and proofreaders tends to be much closer, with significantly more interaction.

Combining paraphrasing services with book-centred proofreading services, as previously noted, is becoming more and more popular in many of today’s most popular proofreading companies. The reason for this is because, when used together, one paraphraser can improve a document in a way that would not be possible if the services were used in isolation. For example, suppose that a student has an essay that contains both broken English text (original writing) and excellent English text (work copied from a peer-reviewed journal article). If the customer orders a combined proofreading and paraphrasing service, this enables the paraphraser to address both of the key problems at the same time, leading to a more cohesive piece of writing.

Altogether, the key point to note is that both paraphrasers and book proofreaders can work wonders for your written work. However, if you believe that you could benefit from both of these services, be sure to get in touch with your chosen proofreading service provider in order to ask whether combining the two is a possibility.