Hello! Welcome to my "How To Become A Proofreader From Home" guide!
Let me guess, you want to know how to become a proofreader?
(I mean, duh, of course. Why else would you be reading this?)
Anyways...
Today, there are a lot of ways to earn money online, and even from your home!
You probably did not know this, but proofreading is one of them!
In this guide, I will tell you EVERYTHING about proofreading, from top to bottom and how you can even earn money from it!
Without any further ado, let's get started!
What is Proofreading?
To start this guide, let's get to know "proofreading" first.
In this way, you will know what you have to do.
Proofreading is the process of checking documents for misspellings, typos, grammatical errors, punctuation, formatting and inconsistencies.
Basically, a proofreader is given the final draft of a document, (novels, books, articles, blogs, theses, newspapers, etc.).
He/she should give it a final check up before publication happens.
In other words, proofreaders ensure that these written works are error-free when publication is about to happen.
Personally, I believe that proofreaders are very important and that they should take their job seriously.
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Editing vs. Copy-editing vs. Proofreading
This is a common question when it comes to the "editing" part of written works.
Most people think that editing, copy-editing and proofreading are just one and the same.
(I was guilty of that before.)
With that, I have provided a picture below.
The picture above uses the analogy of building a house to differentiate editing from proofreading.
Based on it, proofreading is more of like polishing before publication happens.
It is the last stage of writing, before publication. It is the finalization of the work.
Proofreaders cannot suggest or add anything to the work but can only check the spelling, typos and other errors.
While editing happens before proofreading.
It takes care of solidifying and improving the content, making it a lot better.
Skills of Proofreaders
How to become a proofreader at home?
Well first, proofreaders should have a specific set of skills to exercise their responsibilities and jobs properly.
These are very important because remember, proofreaders are the last line of quality assurance of written works.
So you better make sure that these are error-free.
Proofreaders should have the following:
- Great attention to detail
- Skilled and fluent in English
- Can easily detect misspelled words
- Hardworking
- Precision
Responsibilities of Proofreaders
To become a proofreader, you need to understand properly what you need to do.
As a proofreader, you should be able to do the following:
- Correct the errors
- Make sure that images and figures are correctly captioned
- Check the punctuation marks of every single sentence
- Ensure that the spellings, grammar and syntax are correct
- Check if the format is the right one
These are some of the responsibilities of proofreaders.
You can always enhance your vocabulary and grammar by reading books.
To enhance your other skills, you can watch online videos about proofreading.
Furthermore, there are various proofreading online training.
However, this one is optional.
How To Earn Money With It?
Since we are done with the technical stuff about "How to become a proofreader at home", now, let's talk business, shall we?
In the real world, there are people who work as proofreaders for publications or even in courthouses.
However, this guide aims to help you become a proofreader and work as a proofreader AT HOME!
In this modern and digital age, people can already work online.
Some even make more money than people who work in offices.
There are several websites that offer proofreading jobs and even pay well.
However, most of them require the proofreaders to have a degree.
Upwork
Upwork (used to be Elance-oDesk) is an online global freelancing website.
It is a platform wherein organizations, companies and businesses around the world, can find the best freelancers who can help them.
This website offers various jobs, and guess what? Proofreading is one of them.
It also pays a great amount of money!
EditFast
Edit Fast is a website where editors, proofreaders and writers can benefit from.
Proofreaders must have some prior experience to the job.
They must also have a bachelor's degree.
This website offers an editing test for its applicants. This will be reviewed and once you get a positive one, you are good to go.
Proofreaders get paid 40% of the total price of the project.
Payments are done through Paypal on the last day of the month.
WordVice
Wordvice is a company that offers proofreading and editing services.
It offers job opportunities for writers, editors and proofreaders.
Furthermore, they always have open positions for proofreaders. So you may not have any problem looking for clients here.
To be part of Wordvice, you must have a graduate degree and at least 2 years of experience in proofreading.
Your income will depend on the word count of the written works and the turnaround time of your clients.
If you wish to look for part-time proofreading jobs, Wordvice is for you.
Proofreading Services
Proofreadingservices.com offers both full-time and part-time proofreading jobs.
What makes this website one of the best is the fact that it offers a good amount of income and flexible working hours.
Before you can join, you have to take a 20-minute test first.
And another thing, you will get to meet the best of the best proofreaders around the world here!
This is the time for you to take notes from them.
Scribendi
Scribendi is one of those fast growing companies.
It started in 1997 and in just a short span of time, its number of freelance editors have multiplied quickly.
Here, you work as a freelance editor or proofreader but before that, there are requirements for you to meet.
- Graduate degree
- Native English speaker
- Average proofreading/editing speed of 1000 - 1500 words per hour
Your payment will be done through Paypal and you will get paid in U.S. dollars.
Freelancer
Freelancer is pretty much the same with Upwork.
It is a website wherein employers and job freelancers work together to finish projects.
It started in 2009 and since then, has been helping employers and freelancers in their fields.
There are various proofreading jobs in Freelancer, both full-time and part-time.
Also, the amount of money you earn will depend on your contract with your employer.
Proofreading Pros
#1 You have freedom
Becoming a proofreader means you can work freely.
There won't be anyone out there who will boss you around and tell you what to do.
Besides, the only thing you have to do is to make sure the written works are error-free.
#2 Flexible
In addition to your freedom, you can work anytime and anywhere!
Your schedule won't be a problem since you can decide when you will fit your working time.
However, you still have to make sure to meet the given deadline of the project.
Proofreading Cons
#1 Difficult to find retaining clients
First things things, it will be a difficult thing to find clients that will prefer you.
That is why you need to meet the requirements.
Next is that after a project is done, your contract is done.
The client might not hire you again for another project.
However, there are still other clients who would do it.
If you are very satisfied with your job, then you would be lucky enough to be hired for another project again by the same client.
#2 Qualifications
Most proofreading jobs online require qualifications such as experience and the degrees.
This is to ensure that they can trust you to work on it.
Some of the things you will proofread will be official documents, web pages, books, novels and many more.
That is why, having all the qualifications and skills is a must.
#3 Income may not be that enough
The income you make will vary depending on the projects, contract or clients.
The average proofreader earns $15 - $30 dollars per hour.
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Bottom Line
Thank you for reading my "How to Become a Proofreader at Home" guide.
I hope that you were able to learn more about it. If ever you have questions, feel free to ask in the comment section!
Proofreading is one of the best ways to earn money online.
Some pay for for doing certain tasks in reward sites such as:
And another one is of course, my top recommended program, which is affiliate marketing.
But the only thing is that you need specific set of skills.
Furthermore, most of the websites require degrees.
With that, it might be difficult for you to land a job if you don't meet those requirements.
If you ask me, the best one out of these is affiliate marketing.
This is How I Make Money from Home!
Like I said above, how I make money from home is through affiliate marketing.
What you do basically is to just apply for affiliate programs online, and you generate links that lead to your merchant website.
Afterwards, you put those links on your website.
Every time someone clicks those links, you earn commission.
For me, I earn commissions like this.
My November affiliate commissions thanks to Wealthy Affiliate!
So, I’ve just had a rollercoaster ride of a read, thank you, I think. Always on the lookout for alternative ways to earn some much needed cash from home, proofreading is one of those ‘job titles’ that I keep hearing about. It is true that my initial understanding of what the job entailed was very simplistic. Read whatever needs reading and rectify any mistakes, simple. Then I read you article and I realised that I had done a disservice to an entire profession. The video opened my eyes and made my jaw drop. There is so much more to it than I had previously understood there to be. Maybe my initial concept wasn’t to far off the mark but the understanding level of how the process happens, was far greater than I gave credit for. All that being said, it would not be an issue to practice the methods, using the free tools that are available. I have picked up some valuable tips though, especially when it comes to reading from a hard copy and having to have a gap before proofreading your own work. Plus I haven’t got a degree, which does seem to limit opportunities somewhat.
Hi! Thank you so much for reading my article. I agree with you! All of my life, I thought that proofreading is a piece-of-cake. But when I learned more about it, it really takes a lot of skill! I guess that is why companies require degrees because this job is very important.
Very nice article. Compliments to the author. I also think, as Italian proofreading, it is good to create a physical copy of the document you are proofreading. Professional proofreaders will always create a physical document for proofreading purposes and will often commence the editing process by making notes on this document. If the people are going to proofread a piece of text their self they shouldn’t try and do it from a computer screen.
Hello Fabio! Thank you for reading my article. That’s what I thought too. Before, I was able to gain some experience in manual proofreading wherein I have a physical document. I had to use symbols which indicate what kind of error it was and what kind of action must be done.
Thank you for taking your time to explain the differences between an editor, copy editor and a proofreader. This work seems to be very important to have had done before publishing anything. I did not know that you could do this from home but from reading your article on “how to become a proofreader from home” I now know what steps to take and also what would be required from me.Thank you for writing this article.
Hello Alexandra! I am so glad that my article helped you! Proofreading may sound easy, but it takes skill. And like you, I never even thought that one can do this from home. Through research, I learned that you can, and can even earn a good amount of money.