Professional Proofreading Services
About the Red Pen Bandit
The Bandit is a Proofreader - equipped with an eagle eye and a red pen.
My bandit eyes will ferret out those typos, punctuation and grammar mistakes, the misuse of homophones like they're, their, and there, and all those minor little things it is so difficult to notice, potentially distracting from your message. Let's work together to do it in time to send the best document it can be to its destination.
Proofreading is that last step in a writing project where the polishing comes in, where any mistakes must be lassoed and corrected. I will refer you to an developmental editor if, in the course of reviewing a project, I believe it could benefit from more comprehensive editing.
Line Editing, like Proofreading, is about the details, such as consistency, more creative word choice, and tightening up your language by making 5 words pack a more powerful punch than the 7 to 10 you started with.
I'm a nonfiction writer myself, having written a how-to book and a history of my hometown, and I was an academic as well--a Ph.D. in Anthropology--with a dissertation, published academic papers, and many presentations under my belt. Currently, I volunteer with Project Gutenberg to turn books in the public domain into ebooks available to everybody.
I also wrote regularly for the Rutland and Champlain Business Journals as a stringer, both finding new scoops and writing the stories. From those contacts came clients asking me to write grant proposals, fundraising letters, brochure copy, and full, in-depth articles about their products and services to submit to larger newspapers, etc.
These are the kinds of projects I enjoy: nonfiction, including how-to and academic manuscripts, and small business copy. I work most frequently with APA, Chicago Manual of Style, and can quickly learn unique guidelines such as those of Project Gutenberg. Having lived in the UK for 3 years, I am familiar with British conventions and spelling; just specify if that is the kind of project you have.
Kerry Skiffington, your Red Pen Bandit
What IS Proofreading?
Proofreading: the process of carefully checking a text for errors in spelling, grammar, punctuation, and formatting before it is published or shared. It is the final step in the writing process, ensuring that the document is error-free and ready for its audience.
But proofreading is NOT fact-checking or re-writes: proofing is in the weeds.
Services
Academic Proofreading
Rigorous attention to the details of APA or the Chicago Manual of Style guidelines for scholarly articles, papers, and dissertations.
Native speaker of American English and spelling, having attended both Edinburgh University and Oxford, your bandit learned the British conventions and spellings the hard way, having personal academic experience in British usage.
The bandit also understands the research process and potential reasons why doctoral review committees approve or reject a PhD student's paper. Two key elements being that sources are cited properly, or where a source is needed but missing. It takes time and diligence that a professional proofreader supplies.
Academic writing in the Social Sciences and Liberal Arts.
Papers for Professional Journals, Dissertations, and Presentations
Psychology & Mental Health. (APA style)
Anthropology & Sociology. (APA style)
History (Chicago Manual of Style)
English (Chicago Manual of Style)
Besides spelling, grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and verb tense, the bandit edits for sentence structure, clarity, and style, and, where provided, will happily use your university's dissertation handbook or other style guide.
Business Editing
Your bandit was on the editorial team of Kids VT in the early 2000s and wrote hundreds of articles for the Rutland and Champlain Business Journals.
Newsletters, Blog posts, Internal and External communications,
Cover letters and Proposals, Flyers, Posters, Brochures
You need:
Professional presentation, rigorous standards in your writing to ensure an seamless brand message.
Correct, consistent, and error-free spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
Logical, natural, and smooth transitions between topics and paragraphs.
Keywords and key phrases are used appropriately, flowing naturally, and flowing naturally and consistently throughout.
Accurate and valid internal and external links.
Self-Publishing Support
Proofing is that last step before your baby goes off to press
When you are the publisher, you need:
A 3rd set of eyes and lots of distance from the project emotionally. As Faulker said, you have to "kill all your little darlings," which is not easy for an author - I know.
Correct and consistent spelling, and for grammar and punctuation errors.
Logical, natural, and smooth transitions between topics, chapters, and paragraphs.
The bandit published her own "You CAN Nurse Your Adopted Baby" in 2009 and remembers the challenges of getting it all right because it was MY baby.
Nonfiction Projects
Polishing manuscripts for nonfiction writers, editorial help for making nice, tight copy when the soul wants to flourish, but the word count is restricted.
As for all other proofreading projects, non-fiction writers need the grammar and spelling checks, the attention to punctuation, and the consistency of format through chapters and subheads.
Any fact-checking required must be done BEFORE proofreading; it is NOT the purview of this service.
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