Proofreading frequently asked questions

There are two types of copy editing: light editing and substantive editing. In both cases, a copy editor works to enhance the existing content.

Light editing is a blend of suggestions and tweaks to the original copy. Substantive editing frequently requires structural changes such as moving sentences and paragraphs around for a better narrative flow or a more logical order. Sometimes, it involves a complete rewrite of sections of text.

Proofreading is the very thorough process of checking a document for typos, punctuation errors, grammatical mistakes and formatting inconsistencies. Proofreading is undertaken at the very end of the editing process before the document is published or distributed.

“Copy editing” and “proofreading” are both important steps in the content production process. Both terms are often used interchangeably although there are important differences between the two.

Once content has been drafted by a copywriter, a copy editor steps in. Copy editing transforms a draft document into something closer to its final version. The content may have all of the core ideas in place, but it may need additional polish or reworking to get it into a more coherent and readable shape.

There are two types of copy editing: light editing and substantive editing. In both, a copy editor works to enhance the existing content.

Light editing is a blend of suggestions and tweaks to the copy. Substantive editing often requires structural changes such as moving sentences and paragraphs around and sometimes outright rewriting.

By contrast, proofreading is done at the very end of the editing process, before the document is sent off for graphic design, publication or distribution.

A proofreader is primarily focused on accuracy, legibility and consistency — this means reading the content very carefully to ensure that all punctuation, spelling and grammar are correct and consistent. Proofreaders sometimes also check all the facts in a document for accuracy.

As the content is generally considered complete, proofreading results in only minor edits. However, there can be a significant number of mark-ups, due to missing words, doubled words, extra spaces, inconsistent bullet pointing, and different spellings of the same names and programs.

People often choose to invest in proofreading services as a way to ensure that their documents are professional and free of potentially embarrassing typos or grammar issues.

Even if it’s been reviewed multiple times in-house and run through the relevant spell-checking programs, proofreading is a worthwhile investment. Having a professional, dedicated proofreading company to check over your document again can assist in catching last-minute mistakes.

Any business in the public eye will benefit from Proof Communications’ editing and proofreading services to ensure their important documents and business communications read well and are error-free.

Knowing that your annual report, financial statements, white paper or other key business document has been thoroughly reviewed gives you confidence that your public-facing materials are accurate.

Research shows that customers will rate a business poorly and often choose to go elsewhere if they spot typos and other errors on a company’s website, marketing or other business communications. A professional proofreader will ensure your business wording is the best it can be.

What’s more, mistakes can be costly to fix. And, whilst a document can be reissued, the damage to your reputation can last longer and be far harder to rectify.

At Proof Communications, we understand that it’s critical to ensure your professional appearance shines through in all of your corporate communications.

Our proofreading and editing services are geared towards ensuring that your business always looks its best.

Our proofreaders and editors work with us in-house. We don’t outsource to untested proofreaders or editors.

Each one has to go through our exacting onboarding process when they join us. This includes testing their skills.

Importantly too, we only work with business and government. This keeps our skills in top shape for corporate and compliance documents.

We have been proofreading for more than 20 years and know what to look for. As well as knowing the typical mistakes in documents, we pay attention to the smallest details to ensure that nothing goes unchecked.

Any public-facing document should be thoroughly proofread to catch any typos, spelling errors, and grammatical mistakes before it is published.

Internal reports, annual reports and financial statements, board papers, marketing materials, strategy documents, new website copy, blogs and a whole host of other written communications also deserve to be proofread for clarity and correctness.

Similarly, it’s essential to proofread any award or tender submissions if you want to impress the judges or assessment panel. They expect to see clearly worded, top quality, error-free entries and bids.

You’d be amazed how many mistakes we pick up with our eagle eyes! Frequently, the documents and business communications we review have already been ‘proofread’ by someone within the organisation. Yet, typically, we make 10-mark ups a page. For a 50-page document, that’s around 500 mark-ups that otherwise would have sneaked through.

Interestingly, most of the errors we find are not typos but grammatical mistakes, inconsistencies in language style, and formatting issues.

We will provide you with a fee quote and as a guide Proof Communications’ typical fee range is:

• Proofreading PDF or Word format = S$0.04 – S$0.06 per word OR  S$25 – S$27 per page
• Copy editing (includes proofreading) in Word format = S$0.07 – S$0.10 per word OR  S$30 – S$33 per page

For other formats, just ask and we’ll be happy to give you a fee proposal.

Investing in proofreading is an effective way to ensure that your important documents are professional, typo-free and use correct grammar. Although internal reviews and spell-checking programs can tackle the obvious issues, it’s worth investing in an outside proofreading service to take care of issues that often otherwise go unnoticed.

We handle a wide range of corporate and government proofreading projects, including simple end-of-year annual reports documents to complex and lengthy product disclosure statements that are filled with highly technical details.

Using Proof Communications for your proofreading is easy. Just <> with us today, and we can discuss the scope of work that’s required for your project. We’ll be able to get working on your project right away, so that you can have your document ready as soon as possible.

Here at Proof Communications, we work across hundreds of clients from a huge range of different industries.

Our clients span multinational corporations and government to solo entrepreneurs. We’ve worked on an enormous range of documents, so we’re equipped to proofread or copy edit just about any topic.

From complex finance-based reports to straightforward state-of-the-nation whitepapers, we’re able to work with you to present the exact documents you require.

To find out more about some of our prior proofreading success stories, why not explore our client case studies?

We work with a range of recognised style guides, including Chicago Manual of Style, the New Oxford Style Manual and the Australian Government Style Manual. We are always happy to work with our clients’ in-house style guides.

Our team will proofread using British, Australian and American English – whichever is your preference.

Whilst it might be tempting to work this way in the interests of time, we do not recommend it. The best proofreading results come from our review of a complete document. Working this way, we can:

• Form an accurate picture of the language and tone used in the document and ensure it is replicated throughout
• Conduct global searches of words and phrases to ensure consistency in spelling and usage throughout the document as a whole
• Maintain effective version control.

Either PDF (A4, 1-up) or Word documents are best. Both formats allow us to use copy editing and proofreading tools such as Track Changes and PDF Comments to insert easy-to-understand comments and mark-ups for your review.