Proofreading: What's it all about? (Part 1)

The Copy Collective's resident wordsmith Maureen Shelley begins her new blog series: "10 Simple Steps to becoming a successful published author."

Today she unpacks the curious concept of proof reading.

What is proof reading anyway?

Proof reading is when a manuscript or other written work is submitted for checking of semantics, grammar and typographical errors.

This can be done by a proof reader or editor or, if you can't afford a human, you can use online programs such as Grammarly . We use Grammarly to check for originality to ensure that work submitted for proofing or editing by us isn't plagiarised by the writer.

So what are you trying to say?

What programs such as Grammarly can't do for you is actually understand what you are trying to say when your subject and object aren't clear and then to suggest appropriate edits. 

If as a writer you can't even afford Grammarly, then you should at least use the spell checker in your word processing program.

Tips for top-class grammar when using Word:

• Set the language to your choice first - Australian English, UK English or US English - they will all give slightly different suggestions for spelling of words. Then do a "select all (Control A in Word on a PC) and then F7 for a spell check. Do this repeatedly - you will be amazed at how many errors you find.
• Turn on recommendations for grammar as well as spelling. It will come up with a few suggestions that you will need to ignore but should find most glaring errors.

June is Author's Month to celebrate the launch of Red Raven Books. Red Raven Books is the publishing and imprint arm of The Copy Collective. Find out how we can help you today.