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A Writer’s Glossary: What is Proofreading?
In my last couple of articles, I talked about developmental editing, followed by copy editing. I covered what they are, when they’re needed (and not needed), as well as what to expect when you get these levels of editing from either your publisher or a hired editor.
Today, I’ll round out this “A Writer’s Glossary” series by talking about the third and final step in editing…proofreading. If you need an overview of the levels of editing, you can find that in “A Writer’s Glossary: What is Developmental Editing?” And if you missed the previous articles, I encourage you to read that one, followed by “A Writer’s Glossary: What is Copy Editing?” so you get the full picture of all the levels of editing and how they work with each other.
What is Proofreading?
The term “proofread” comes from the traditional (paper) publishing world, where the final step prior to publishing is to read the “page proofs” to confirm they are free of errors. Page proofs are the formatted, “typeset” copies of the book as it will look when printed.
Page proofs still exist, though they may be in the form of digital files that have been formatted for print or publication, but the idea is the same. Proofreading is the final step, prior to publication, that checks for any remaining errors that may have been missed or introduced during earlier levels of editing.
While developmental editing is the “macro” or big-picture editing, and copy editing is the “micro” or nitty-gritty editing, proofreading is a bit like squinting into a magnifying glass, looking for the tiny errors that were missed earlier.
In the proofreading stage, I check for:
Spelling and grammar (including punctuation, tense consistency, missing or extra words, typos, etc.)
Consistency and overall readability
Chapter sequence verification
Obvious spacing issues
The point of a proofread is to end up with the cleanest manuscript possible.
What Proofreading is Not
As with other levels of editing, make sure you’re going into a proofread with the proper expectations. Proofreading doesn’t cover:
Developmental editing
Fact checking
Word choice or line editing
Characterization, timeline, or plotting review
Ghostwriting
While, on the surface, copy editing and proofreading seem very similar, the idea behind them is different. Proofreading is about catching last-minute typos, or things that were missed earlier. It’s not about diving deep into the wording, sentence structure, etc., which might be included in a copy edit.
At the point you hire a proofreader, your story, characters, plot, etc., should all be exactly as you want them in the final version of your manuscript. You shouldn’t be planning on making any additional changes after this editing level. At this point, you’re just trying to ensure you don’t have any errors slipping through the cracks.
What is Included in a Proofread?
As with a copy edit, you can expect your main deliverable in a proofread to be your marked-up manuscript. Most editors use the standard of Microsoft Word, using Track Changes to mark up the manuscript. A few may use paper copies of the manuscript, but that is likely becoming more and more rare.
Be sure to check with a potential editor about what they provide with their proofreading service. It may also depend on what’s actually needed. For example, I don’t always provide an editorial letter, but sometimes I do, if something needs more explanation, though, at this point, there shouldn’t be any glaring errors that need discussion.
If you’re working with a publisher, the likelihood is that the proofread will take place after the manuscript has been formatted, so you may see included in the file what the finished product will look like, either in printed form or as an eBook.
Again, confirm with any potential editor what will be included in the proofread, as this may vary. For instance, I typically do a style sheet with my proofreading, but I’m not likely to include information about the timeline, character details, and setting/location notes, though sometimes I do if I feel it will help me with the proofread.
Why is Proofreading Important?
While it may seem like proofreading isn’t needed, since you already had a copy edit (you did, didn’t you?), the fact is, editors are human, and so are writers. Both the editor and writer can be supremely careful with their edits, but it’s always possible that an error got missed…or that a new error was introduced during previous rounds of editing. Processing copy edits, in particular, can be really tedious, and it’s easy to get overzealous and accidentally accept or reject an error you didn’t mean to.
That leads to why proofreading is important: as mentioned in my article on copy editing, errors distract readers. The ultimate goal of a proofread is to have the cleanest possible manuscript at the time of publication.
I do want you to notice, I didn’t say that the ultimate goal of a proofread is a “perfect” book. Because, I’ll say it again, editors and authors are human. We occasionally miss things, and so do writers working on their end. Even traditionally published books will be printed with errors in them on occasion.
The point is to just make it as clean as possible. There’s a huge difference in reader perception when they run across one or two errors in a whole book than if they run across one or two errors on every page of a book.
When Should Proofreading Be Done?
When a proofread should be done, along with what it is and how it differs from copy editing, is the biggest question I get.
A proofread should be done after you have had a developmental edit and copy edit, and after you have gone over those edits and made all final changes. The book should be done. You will not be making any further changes to the story, the characters, the timeline or setting, or the wording. This will likely be just before publication.
Keep in mind that an editor will assume the above has all been done, if you’re hiring them to proofread your book. While they may notice bigger errors, such as point of view inconsistencies, if they are doing a proofread, they are going to assume those issues have been covered by previous editors and that you made the decision to keep them as is.
You can see how that may cause issues if you tried to skip any of the previous editing steps and have gone straight to hiring a proofreader. Issues may be missed or ignored, because pointing them out is outside the realm of a proofreader’s job.
If you are self-publishing, you may choose to hire an eBook formatter or format the book yourself. So you may hire a proofreader prior to the formatting being done, simply because whatever the final file type is may not be accessible by your proofreader. However, as long as you don’t plan on making any big edits, a proofread prior to actual formatting is likely to be fine.
When is Proofreading Unnecessary?
As mentioned above, proofreading is the final step in the editing process, so if you still have any editing to do, or you expect to make any further changes to the book, proofreading is unnecessary. You should look at developmental editing, followed by copy editing, before paying to have someone to proofread what is essentially an unfinished book.
If you plan to submit to agents or editors for traditional publication, they will ignore light typos in favor of paying attention to the story, which may change after acceptance by a publisher anyway. Once an editor accepts your book for publication, they will provide their own proofreader (or have you do your own proofreading), after all the other levels of editing have been done and the book is formatted.
I have had clients seeking traditional publication hire me to do proofreading, because they wanted their manuscripts to be as clean as possible for submission, but this is a choice they made, knowing that it wasn’t strictly necessary to do so.
What Happens After a Proofread?
As noted in the previous article on copy editing, once this proofreading level is done, it’s back in the writer’s court. You’ll take the main deliverable, your proofread manuscript, and use Track Changes (or equivalent) to review each change the editor suggests, accepting or rejecting each correction.
Just like with the copy-edit level, I recommend reading the editorial letter (if one was included), followed by any comments on the manuscript, prior to getting started. If you need to clarify anything with your proofreader, now is the time to do it, because this is your last shot at making this manuscript the cleanest version it can be.
Keep in mind, again, that you should not be deciding at this point that you don’t like the way something is worded or that you need to change someone’s name. The more editing you do at this point, the greater chance you have of introducing errors back into the manuscript, negating all the work the editor put into it, not to mention the money you put into it!
Rest assured, this round will likely go much faster if you’ve followed the guidelines of getting a copy edit done previously. There should be far fewer errors in this version of the manuscript!
To summarize:
Proofreading is the final step prior to publication of a book, either in print or eBook format.
Proofreading should be done after the book is 100% complete, with no further changes being made to the story, characterization, plot, or wording, after the proofread is done.
You’ll receive the manuscript back with changes noted and be responsible for accepting or rejecting each change individually.
Following a proofread done at the right time, you’ll be ready for formatting or to hit publish, if you’ve had formatting done previously.
Now that you know what proofreading entails, please feel free to reach out if you would like to talk about scheduling a proofread with me!
Work with me!
Whether preparing to self-publish or to start the submission process, I’m here to help! You can Request a Quote today. If I think we might be a good fit, I’ll provide a 3- to 5-page sample edit of your manuscript to show you what I can do for you!