Editing is much more comprehensive than proofreading. It includes all aspects of proofreading plus substantive corrections to your document. We may rewrite or revise sentences or entire paragraphs; we may suggest areas where more content is needed; we may suggest structural changes or that your document be organized differently. Proofreading is primarily a grammatical exercise; editing is a readability exercise and takes much more time and effort. Please note, however, that editing does not include fact checking. We cannot confirm the accuracy of your factual statements, only that they are well stated.

What do you check for when proofreading?

The short answer is everything grammatical. Here's a basic list.

• Word repetition
• Awkward verbiage and run-on sentences
• Spelling
• Grammatical mistakes
• Capitalization
• Subject-verb agreement
• Homonym errors (e.g., your and you're; their, there, and they're; to and too)
• Quotation marks
• Audience appropriateness
• Proper word usage (e.g., compliment vs. complement, perspective vs. prospective)
• Sentence fragments
• Comma placement
• Possessives and apostrophes
• Spelling of names and places
• Tenses

Here are some examples.

• English is not your native tongue and you are uncomfortable submitting a written product in this language. We have many English as a Second Language (ESL) clients. (See our ESL Section.)
• I am a business person and I need to have my documents edited or proofread before final submission.
• I have a personal document (a cover letter or resume, for example) that I have to get right.
• I have written an article or short story for school or for a publication, and I want to present it in the best possible light.
• I have to submit a proposal, technical report, analysis, appeal, or other formal document to an outside organization and need to make sure it is as professional and polished as possible.

Proofreading: As a guideline, our base rate for proofreading is $.012 per word. A standard, double spaced page is roughly 300 words, so you can figure about $3.50 per page. Single spaced pages are much harder to review and generally have twice the verbiage. Hence, twice the cost.

Editing: This is (or at least can be) much more comprehensive and time consuming than proofreading. Pricing depends on the quality of the product we receive. If you submit a document that is already print ready or nearly so, the pricing will be in the same area as our proofreading services. If your document requires substantial rework or revision to include rewriting sentences and paragraphs, you should figure about $7.00 to $10 per page. We strive to give more than the client expects and tend to price our editing work at the lower range. We will not surprise you with the cost and would like to discuss this with you beforehand.

Please note that as with our speech and letter writing services, fees up to $400 are paid in advance. Fees in excess of $400 require the greater of $400 or 60% of the total estimated cost. Please refer to our questionnaire in the "Special Services" section to request a quote.