When you need to make sure you didn’t miss any typos or layout issues in page proofs.
Proofreading is the very last step in the publishing process: the manuscript has already been drafted, reviewed (if necessary), and copyedited. It’s likely also gone to a designer, who’s laid it out on a web page or into a PDF file. Basically, you’re ready to press print, and you want someone to go over the completed project to ensure consistency and that there are no embarrassing typos.
Authors often confuse proofreading with copyediting (read about the difference here). While you may feel that your text only needs a proofread, unless a designer has laid out the text into a publisher’s proof (usually a PDF), it likely is not yet ready for proofreading; instead, it may still need a copyedit to address issues like grammar and punctuation. At the proofreading stage, the proofreader should only find the occasional typo that the copyeditor did not catch; they should not be suggesting grammatical revisions throughout.
Proofreaders can help you with:
Minor typos
Minor typos that may have been missed by a copyeditor, such as homonyms or common misspellings
Incorrect punctuation
Incorrect punctuation (like a hyphen where an en dash should appear)
Spacing
Stray or missing spaces between words and lines between paragraphs
Layout
Layout issues like blank pages, chapter ordering, and ensuring correct recto/verso placement
Typesetting issues
Typesetting issues like line and word breaks, widows and orphans
Illustrations and captions
Illustration placement and caption consistency
Consistency between parts
Checking the chapter titles against the table of contents, running headers, and page numbering
Proofreading services
Typical projects
Dissertations that have already been copyedited and are ready for deposit, books that have been laid out by a designer, and journal article proofs.
Authors often confuse proofreading with copyediting (read about the difference here The Difference Between Academic Copyediting And Proofreading). While you may feel that your text only needs a proofread, unless a designer has laid out the text into a publisher’s proof (usually a PDF), it likely is not yet ready for proofreading; instead, it may still need a copyedit to address issues like grammar and punctuation. At the proofreading stage, the proofreader should only find the occasional typo that the copyeditor did not catch; they should not be suggesting grammatical revisions throughout.
Price
Per word
$0.03
Includes
One editorial pass to the proof using Adobe’s commenting features (including striking, inserting, and commenting) and one shorter response to any queries, within reason, which must be sent to the proofreader within 14 days of final delivery.
When
Proofreading is the very last step before your manuscript goes to print. By this point, the text needs to be laid out by a designer into a PDF proof or other design document.
Turnaround
A typical proofread of a book takes 1–2 weeks.
Sample
Sample Proofread
Proofreading is only completed on designed page proofs and typically is marked using Adobe’s commenting features, which are easily legible to a book designer.
The Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) at New York University School of Law needed assistance preparing an interdisciplinary publication derived from conference proceedings on the topic of “more-than-human” rights. Flatpage provided line and copy edits on the contributions, in addition to proofreading the final page proofs.
