Working With a Freelance Proofreader
By michal leah
proofreader, beta reader, and writing teacher.
Hiring a freelance proofreader can help you with the final polishing steps of a long and arduous—not to mention solitary—writing process. In fact, this is one crucial step you’ll want to take before you show your project off to anyone, submit it to literary agents, or self-publish. A freelance proofreader can really make all of the difference between a drawer manuscript and one that achieves your goals, no matter what those might be. Read on to find out why.
What Does a Freelance Proofreader Do?
It’s not enough to just have an idea and put words on the page to make it come alive. Writers need to polish their work into something that is presentable and ready for publication or self-publishing. One way to make sure your work is up to snuff is by hiring a freelance proofreader.
A freelance proofreader is someone who reads through your manuscript line by line, word by word, and provides feedback on grammar, spelling, typos, sentence structure, flow, mechanics, and other elements. You won’t get a lot of creative or developmental feedback from a freelance proofreader—unless you arrange for this additional layer of editorial work ahead of time. (Check out an article on the different types of editing here.)
But a freelance proofreader will shine in other ways. They can help you fix accidental repetitions or awkward phrasing in order to ensure that your writing is polished and professional. While some writers may think they can do proofreading themselves—and it’s a great idea to attempt at least one round of proofreading on your own—it's always better to have another set of eyes looking at your work. A stranger, and a professional one at that, can come to your work with new eyes. A freelance proofreader is more likely to catch mistakes that may have slipped through the cracks during revision or self-editing. When we read our own work, our brains can easily become numb to it. A freelance proofreader doesn’t have this problem.
The Benefits of Working With a Freelance Proofreader
Hiring a freelance proofreader comes with several benefits. First of all, you will save time and energy, since you don't have to engage in the tedious task of combing through your own work for errors yourself. Secondly, it helps ensure accuracy before you show your work to anyone. When you’re working with a freelance proofreader, you know there will be no typos or embarrassing grammatical mistakes in your final product.
Finally, having another person look over your work can help bring fresh perspective and ideas about how you might improve certain sections of the manuscript. Some of these ideas may not have occurred to you before. Writers are famous for going easy on themselves when it comes to the revision process, and you want to make sure that you do your due diligence to get rid of any potential blind spots.
When Should You Hire a Freelance Proofreader?
Before you hire a freelance proofreader, it's important to keep in mind that they are best used as the absolute last step before submission or publication. This means that if you're still making major changes or rewriting entire sections of your manuscript, hold off on bringing in a proofreader. They will do their work and then you might reintroduce errors as you revise further. This will generate an additional expense because you’ll want to have your final version proofread as well.
That said, if you feel like your manuscript is ready for prime time (or close enough) then it's definitely worth considering hiring a freelance proofreader. But fair warning: it’s important to note that working with an outside editor or proofreader requires maturity in both craftsmanship and attitude on the part of the writer. If you aren't willing or able to accept rigorous feedback from a professional freelance editor, then working with someone at this high level might not be right for you yet.
A good freelance proofreader can give valuable insight into potential problem areas in your writing, while also helping you make sure everything looks clean, crisp, and polished before submission or publication. Anything less would do your writing a disservice.
find your writing voice
If you're looking for a supportive editor to help you share your story and feel heard, look no further. Michal Leah offers proofreading, beta reading, and sensitivity reading to make sure your story is told authentically and intentionally. Michal brings attention to detail to everything she does, and that means your story will be in the best hands possible.
