Despite often being used interchangeably, “Copy editing” and “Proofreading” indicate two different editing processes that are both indispensable in writing production. Both processes can be done by the author or another individual with qualifications.

Proofreading is the process of reviewing and examining a piece of writing in order to make sure the content is free from mechanical mistakes, or errors in spelling, grammar, punctuation, format, terms and consistencies. Proofreading is a skill that is more about reading skill than writing, and is often the final step in the production cycle before the writing is delivered to the public. 

Copy editing is the process of adjusting and fixing a piece of writing for not only the mechanical correctness and suitable format, but also for making sure the content is delivering its meaning/story in the most concise, clear, and helpful way it is supposed to. Copy editing is a skill that requires excellence in both reading and writing skills and can be conducted anytime in the production cycle when needed.

While proofreading looks for minor errors and specific mistakes, copy editing reviews the entire section to make sure the whole meaning, context, type of writing, format, and direction of the content meet the requirement. If needed, copy editors will change the words used, or even the whole structure of the document.

Since the demand in the field is increasing in recent years, freelance proofreading & editing services are now widely available all over the world. And you can easily and quickly find for yourself a freelancer who is a professional in their field to have their consultancy services.

Proofreading and editing are all about improving the quality and accuracy of promotional writings and official documents. In particular, below are what proofreading will contribute to your business:

• Ensure customers’ understanding of your content: Proofreading helps your content be readable/legible by making them concise, clear and free of error. Besides, the process also enhances understanding and memory of your writing by removing words or phrases that can distract the audience from the reading flow.
• Ensure the effectiveness of your strategy : By helping the readers better understand what you are delivering, proofreading plays an important role in the success of your promotional strategy.
• Show that you care: Proofreading makes your writing friendlier with the target customers, with the locals, and with people who have any impairment issues. By delivering an understandable, concise, and useful message/story to the audience, your image in the eyes of the target customers will be a brand with reliability, quality, and trustworthiness.
• Build trust in your customers by being a professional: Even one misspelling word make you look silly to your audience

Since proofreading is an indispensable part in writing production, make sure you have someone who is qualified enough to sit in the position. If you find it hard to look for someone professional, freelance proofreading & editing services are available on various ecommerce platforms for you to start with. 

Proofreading is all about quality and accuracy. While examining the writing, you better look for mistakes and errors following a set of guideline consisting of these 4 matters:

• Basic spelling & Grammar: Spelling and basic grammar mistakes are the first and foremost things to look for when proofreading. With only one wrong punctuation mark, the whole writing can be considered as poor writing, and you will lose trust in the eyes of the audience eventually. For better checking up on spelling and grammar, you can use auto correction apps to check for these types of errors before actually getting to the task by yourself. Since the help of machine learning is never enough, don’t forget to review it with your own eyes one final time.

• Format & Structure: Format and structure are the most common and noticeable ones when the audience scans your writing. A well-written piece of content is one with consistent formatting on font type, spacing, captions, indentation, etc., and well structured with the uses of headings and subheadings, footnotes, subscript and superscript text, page numbering, column alignment, etc. A well-formatted content makes it easier for readers to understand what the writing is about, and where the audience should focus on.

• Style guide consistency: An inconsistent style of writing, in terms of format, terms, spelling, vocabulary, etc. often confuses readers on how to get the right meaning of the content. In this case, the content guidelines give you a fixed way of how to use a word or term throughout the entire website or the whole document. While proofreading, the content guidelines will give you a clear idea how to use specific terms, numbers, symbols, jargon, idioms, the brand’s mood & tone, etc in the writing of the brand.

• Target audience: Knowing who you are writing for, you will find the most suitable and appropriate way to deliver your message in words. Is your target audience male or female?, Are they a young generation who catch up with trends or not?, Are they high-tech enough to understand the mentioned terms?, and so on.

To answer the question of how much to charge for your freelance proofreading & editing service, we need to look at how the service is charged first. There are two main ways to estimate the price for proofreading, those are charging by hour, and by words. 

The price charged by the hour is between $10 - $100 per hour depending on your skills and experience in the job and in the area that the document covers. However, charging by hour may not be a good choice when you are an experienced one. It is hard to have a fixed rate by the hour since different types of documents require different lengths of time to finish. So, we have one more way to get payment, which is charging by words.

The price charged by words is between $10 - $15 per 1,000 words, depending on your skills and experience in the job and in the area the document covers. This type of pay rate is ideal when you already have experience in the job, and it also seems fairer than the previous one because you are paid for your actual results.

You need freelance proofreading & editing services for a well-written and professional piece of writing, especially for PR articles and official statements of a business, and the personal blogs and websites of an individual.

Proofreaders and copy editors help to free your content from any crucial errors and mistakes that most people often make, making your writing become more understandable, appealing, and interesting to your audience. Moreover, a professional proofreader or editor can give you advice and tips on how to make your message/stories up-to-date to reach out to even more audiences. 

Proofreading and editing are two editing processes that need to be done at least once in writing production. Having said that, you should not perform them too frequently in order not to interrupt or postpone your production process. 

While editing refers to fixing the whole meaning, overall structure, format, idea, mood, and tone of the document, proofreading is like a touch on the surface that look for minor mistakes such as spellings, grammatical errors, punctuation marks, jargons, idioms, special terms, etc. Therefore, which comes first between proofreading and editing is not as important as which will be the last process. 

And to answer that question, proofreading should be the final touch of a writing when everything about the core structure, main ideas, and mood & tone of the content are all done.