The Expectations of a Proofreader (2024)

In the article, The Expectations of an Editor, I covered the many expectations an editor has when he/she receives a manuscript to edit.

While an editor looks after structural and grammatical issues, a proofreader is someone who looks at the manuscript with an objective eye to weed out mistakes an editor might have missed. Let's just simply say, proofreading is the final stage in the entire process and the outcome of this process is what goes to print or publication.

In many cases, however, the definition of proofreading and editing, and the difference between them, is not clear to the writers. I have personally had many authors coming in and tell me they want proofreading when it is actually editing that they want. I am pretty sure this would be true for many of the editors, especially in India where knowhow of this industry is limited.

This could be for a multitude of reasons:

1. They could be unaware of the entire process. This is because most who fit in this category do not understand how it all works. They are utterly clueless about editing and proofreading, and what it all entails. And hence they put in such a request.
2. They might be aware of the process, but there's always the case where these authors think they are high and mighty. They think that proofreading is all they need. Yes, there are a few authors like that. I don't blame them. A book is a writer's pride. And some take it too personal when their baby is criticized.
3. They might be aware of the process, but they might not have the budget for the whole shabang. Perfectly understandable.

There could be other reasons, many reasons specific to the person, but these are the most popular ones I can think of at this moment. For the first kind, only learning and improving the knowhow of this industry can correct it. For the second, there's no solution unless they let go of their ago and accept that they need the whole shabang rather than just proofreading. Only a few writers are so good that their books would fare better with simply proofreading. And, as for the third, the situation is not in either of our control, unless we as vendors are willing to be a little philanthropic or are willing to work at the client's budget.

Proofreading is something that happens at the final stage, after the editing process. A proofreader is someone who functions at this level and has certain expectations where a manuscript coming to them is concerned. Let's go through them one by one, shall we?

1. A Proofreader Expects an Edited Manuscript

A proofreader expects from a client an edited manuscript. He/she is not going to do the editing from you. He/she will only apply some final touches to the manuscript and work through the grammar mistakes an editor might have overlooked. A client shouldn't expect a proofreader to edit the manuscript for them. That's not a proofreader's job.

2. A Proofreader Expects the Content to have Clarity, Coherence and Structure

A proofreader will not do any structural edits. If they find errors that are related to consistency, flow, transitions, structure, clarity of content, they will ignore it or simply report it to the editor in question (if in a mainstream establishment).

3. A Proofreader Expects the Content to have the right Annotations

This is of course more typical in a publishing company than in the freelance verse. A proofreader here will expect that an editor has worked on the manuscript and used the industry standard marks to indicate what changes a proofreader would have to make.

4. A Proofreader Expects a Formatted Document

Even though a proofreader will work on the visual aspect of the book, they are going to expect a manuscript to come to them in a standard format. They will of course play a valuable role in the final product outcome.

5. A Proofreader Expects the Content to be Factually Accurate

A proofreader is not going to content edit the manuscript. That's the job of a content editor. While they may occasionally cross-check the content's factual content with the appropriate sources, the content has to be verified by the appropriate editor. And that editor has to mark the content they have verified, so the proofreader can check and verify again so as to avoid any problems later on after the book's publication.

Remember to send in a draft that's well-edited to a proofreader. As a client, we should not expect the proofreader to edit the document for us. Instead, we should simply expect them to weed out any remaining issues, cross-check already verified content, and make the manuscript formatted as per our requirements.

Once a proofreader works on your content, your book will truly be ready for publishing.

Wish to know what happens once your book is published? Or what other things happen during the publishing process? Stay tuned... I will be posting many such articles here with such information.

For now, wishing you great success ahead, and a hearty goodbye.

Until next time...