Proofreading Services | Proofreader Services | Fact-Checking Services
As an author and content marketing and copywriter professional for almost 10 years in firms and in-house environments, AF.FORD MEDIA’s proofreading and editing experience has been with Capital One, sports gear provider Curated, and Dotdash Meredith verticals through staffing agencies, fact-checking, and editing across finance, lifestyle, wellness, family, and DIY content. In so many words, AF.FORD MEDIA likes to develop content, whether a story or a blog post or a longer social media post. Your words also matter, and that’s why improving them with proofreading is important to maximize your target audience, whether readers of your stories or customers on your landing pages.
What all does proofreading entail, you may ask? We’ll describe it…yes, in words.
What Is Proofreading?
Before hopping on Google to type something like, “proofreading services near me,’ learn more about what to expect. Proofreading is the process of checking a piece of content for grammatical, spelling, punctuation, typographical, formatting, and in the case of some nonfiction, style guide, errors. It is also usually the final step in the editorial cycle before publication.
Looking deeper into the “proof” aspect of proofreading gives even more clues into another huge element of a proofreading service that most of the general public don’t know about: comparing the proofs of content. This process entails the proofreader looking over the printed versions of the manuscript or content (a.k.a. the proof) that have all of the formatting, page numbers, headers, etc. that will be included in the final, published form. They then compare it with, or spot the last, undetected or uncorrected errors in comparison to the last-edited copy to make sure that no new errors have popped up in the formatting or printing or hadn’t yet been resolved.
Think of proofreading services as the final aesthetic touches like the perfect haircut or set of shoes to complete a look; in this case, the look is your content. (Because remember: Unfortunately, in the world of content, sometimes a book is judged by its cover…and the words inside of it.)
What my proofreading service covers
With my proofreading, I look at content from many lenses, the most important being:
- Grammar, punctuation, and spelling
- Readability
At a deeper level, if you so desire, I also incorporate some deeper editing into your content, which covers:
- Sentence structure, including some light rewriting and ordering sentences and paragraphs for better narration
- Consistency (a bit more technically along the lines of a copy-edit)
- Redundancy
- Fact-checking
Fact-checking and SEO optimization are additional editing enhancements that can be done to make your content as reputable and discoverable as possible.
My proofreading areas of expertise
From my years of content marketing experience, I have worked for a wide gamut of companies with different clientele or focuses, so I naturally have the most experience in some core areas:
- Marketing content (shocker, I know): Blogs, video scripts, brochures, catalogs, app & landing page/web copy, buying and product guides, etc.
- Lifestyle: This would entail any forms of content around everyday living, such as home, gardening, health and wellness, leisure, cosmetics/beauty, family, crafts and DIY, etc.
- Animals & Pets
- Retail & E-Commerce
- Food & Beverage
- Consumer and wholesale packaging goods
- Kids
- Non-Profit
- Sports
But as a writer of books and screenplays (some of which received quarterfinalist positions in competitions), I also include the following in my proofreading services:
- Ebook and novel manuscripts (fiction or non-fiction)
- Screenplays
Some other areas that I look at, although not as common, are resumes and cover letters, e-mails, memos, and other professional documents.
Edits are delivered back to you with track changes (MS Word) or suggested changes (Google Docs), depending on which you prefer.
Please Note: This service does not include academic text (dissertations, thesis, etc.) or rewriting other people’s work. And if your content is something else not mentioned above, feel free to message me to discuss!
Which leads me to…
THINK YOUR WORK IS FINALLY READY FOR THE NEXT PHASE?
Talk about it.