You’ve spent countless hours working on your book. And now you’re ready for the finishing touches. That’s when you need “a fresh pair of eyes” to proofread your book.
Proofreading is a task that involves doing a careful readthrough of a document and flagging any errors and inconsistencies in spelling, grammar, punctuation, and capitalization. When you’re on a tight deadline, it’s tempting to skip the proofreading stage because you don’t want to bog down the process with yet more changes. But the integrity of your work will suffer (and readers may give up on reading your work after only a few pages!) if you fail to allow adequate time and resources for proofreading your book.
Here are some examples of the “fusspot” details that receive attention from a proofreader:
- Serial comma or no serial comma? Once you decide, be consistent.
- Quotation marks: Make it a double unless it’s a quote within a quote (for American English)
- When to use a hyphen, an en dash, or an em dash
- An ellipsis has three dots, with no space before and after
- Add a comma when joining two independent clauses with “and” for clarity and reader ease
Why bother to have your book proofread? You want your readers to focus on the substance of your writing, which you’ve worked on so hard, without any unnecessary distractions caused by errors and inconsistencies in spelling, grammar, punctuation, and capitalization.
Balefire Communications can provide proofreading services as part of its package of services. The services of an experienced proofreader with meticulous attention to detail can make a big difference and provide tender loving care in crafting your book.