This is a question we get all the time especially from our copyediting clients.
A copyeditor does 95% of the cleanup work to your manuscript. They do handle grammar and spelling details, but they also work to make sure your story is consistent, your wording is clear, and your characters sound like themselves. You’ll also get questions and suggestions for changes to make.
A proofreader is a specialist in grammar and spelling. They clean up details missed during bigger changes during copyediting and anywhere you may have made changes. Once your proofreading is complete, your manuscript is considered ready for publishing and largely untouchable with very few exceptions.
But I’m Like Really Good at Grammar
Honestly, I don’t doubt it! Many of the authors I work with were English nerds growing up. They loved reading and writing since a young age, and that means they are often better at grammar than their family and friends.
Even I have a proofreader for my published works, and I have more than 8 years of experience proofreading professionally. All of us have writing crutches we don’t realize. And even if you didn’t, as an author you’re too close to the words to have a clear idea of what needs changing. You’re more likely to understand yourself and fill in gaps because you’re so familiar with your own expression.
Spellcheck Has Got My Back
I don’t know what I would do without those squiggly red lines, but there are misspellings they can’t catch. For example, I’d like to call myself out and say I just made a typo on the word “can’t” in my last sentence. I missed the apostrophe. No spell check error line.
The most common misspellings I correct while proofreading are near-misses that are still words like fell, tell, dell, and cell. The system has improved dramatically at catching these kinds of slip ups, but the tech still isn’t quite there. Until then, relying upon spellcheck means relying upon a flawed AI.
I Have My Own Style Guide
I love to hear that my authors have a glossary or a style guide of their own! This is important when copyediting a novel. A manuscript style guide will inform the editor of proper spellings, punctuation preferences, capitalization of proper nouns, and much more. If you’re self-editing your novel, that list will help you, but it definitely does not replace the need for a proofreader.
Style guides are highly necessary for grammar choices unique to your story, but a proofreader has the unique knowledge to apply industry standards to things your personalized style guide doesn’t cover. They’re specialists in AP Style, Chicago Style, APA Style and MLA Style to make sure your manuscript meets your publishing goals.
Though it may seem that copyediting and proofreading are the same service, the reality is that they bring very different strengths to the table. Both cover grammar and spelling, but only proofreading will get your manuscript to publisher-level quality. Give your story its best chance.
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