Proofreading for Businesses and Ad Agencies

By Sharon McInnis, CEO (Chief Error Officer) at ProofingQueen® Editing

I’ve been a freelance proofreader for corporations and advertising agencies for 20+ years. My clients rely heavily on effective communication to promote their products and services (or those of their clients) and they need to know that their materials are error-free.

Now, I’m aware that I’m talking to editors and proofreaders, so I know that your clients and employers have the same needs. And, of course, no matter whose material you’re proofreading, it’s always about finding and fixing typos, spelling errors, missing punctuation, grammar mistakes, etc.

However, in my experience, many businesses and ad agencies don’t use editors, so a proofreader is often the last line of defence. A corporate proofreader brings a fresh set of eyes to find typos and inconsistencies. It’s a lucrative field, so in late March, I’ll be teaching an online course titled Proofreading for Businesses and Ad Agencies for the U.S.-based Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA).

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Niche Editing: An interview with Merel Elsinga about editing cookbooks

Interview by Marta Orellana; copy edited by Lola Opatayo

Merel Elsinga

Ever been interested in exploring a particular niche?

This month, Merel Elsinga will be joining us at our monthly member meeting to talk about her experience proofreading cookbooks and how she got started.

Let’s meet Merel!

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March 16, 2022: Cookbook Editing from a Proofreader’s Perspective

What: Editors BC monthly meeting
When: Wednesday, March 16, 2022, 7:30–8:30 pm PDT
Where: Online through Zoom
Cost: Free for Editors Canada members, $10 for non-members, and $5 for student non-members

Join us for a conversation about proofreading cookbooks led by Merel Elsinga.  

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A wooden chair with a cushion on it sits next to a wooden table that has a cup of coffee, marked up papers, and a red pen on its surface.
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Event Review: Ruth Wilson’s Seminar, “Advanced Proofreading”

Written by Nancy Tinari; copy edited by Katie Beaton

Ruth Wilson’s “Advanced Proofreading” seminar provided us with a wealth of information, tips, and exercises derived from Wilson’s decades of experience. The hours flew by as we learned, worked, and occasionally became sidetracked by those minute issues that editors love to debate.

Though the other participants and I had wildly divergent proofreading experiences, I’m confident that all of us found Wilson’s seminar to be valuable. Her material was extensive and broad enough to help near-beginners as well as those more experienced in hard copy markup, online markup, or both.

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Meet the Instructor: Ruth Wilson

Written by Carl Rosenberg; copy edited by Malvika Kathpal

Photo of Ruth Wilson smiling while dressed in a dark blue jacket and light blue top and wearing a necklace.Are you ready to extend your proofreading skills beyond finding typos and knowing how to mark up copy? On Saturday, March 30, Editors BC presents a six-hour seminar by Ruth Wilson on advanced proofreading.

This exercise-based seminar focuses on beyond-the-basics proofreading skills. It offers participants the opportunity to examine excerpts from complex documents and learn how to fine-tune their proofreading eye to catch every error. With documents ranging from recipes to journal articles, participants will be challenged to use their judgment to weigh the pros and cons of making changes, querying authors, or making no changes at all.

This seminar will help anyone wishing to advance their proofreading skills, prepare for job advancement, or study for future offerings of the proofreading certification test given by Editors Canada. Participants should have some proofreading experience and be familiar with conventional markup. See the registration page for more details.

Ruth has more than 30 years’ experience editing and proofreading trade books, professional journals, association publications, and corporate materials. She worked for many years with Vancouver book publisher Self-Counsel Press, several as managing editor. Since 1998, she has been a partner with West Coast Editorial Associates.

Ruth leads training workshops in all aspects of editing, and for many years, was an instructor in the Writing and Communications program and the summer publishing workshops at SFU. She has also served on several national committees of Editors Canada. In 2011, she was honoured by Editors Canada as a recipient of the President’s Award for Volunteer Service. In 2014, she was recognized as a Certified Professional Editor (Hon.) for her work in developing and launching Editors Canada’s world-class certification program.

Carl Rosenberg, a volunteer on Editors BC’s communications and social media committee, spoke to Ruth about her work on advanced proofreading.

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Rows of desks face a projection screen in a classroom-like environment.
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March 30, 2019: Advanced Proofreading

What: Editors BC professional development seminar
When: Saturday, March 30, 2019, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
Where: Room 476, 4th floor, BCIT Downtown Campus, 555 Seymour Street, Vancouver | map
Cost: $165 for Editors Canada members ($135 early bird), $230 for non-members ($200 early bird), and $100 for student affiliates. Advance registration required. Registration closes March 26; early-bird rates are in effect through March 12.

Are you ready to extend your proofreading skills beyond finding typos and knowing how to mark up copy? This exercise-based workshop focuses on beyond-the-basics proofreading skills. It offers participants the opportunity to examine excerpts from complex documents and learn how to fine-tune their proofreading eye to catch every error. With documents ranging from recipes to journal articles, participants will be challenged to use their judgment to weigh the pros and cons of making changes, querying authors, or making no changes at all.

At the end of this six-hour workshop, participants will

  • know what to correct, what to query, and what to leave alone;
  • understand how to adapt to and work within different types of production teams;
  • learn how to look at a document in different ways to catch all the errors;
  • understand the basic procedures and options for PDF markup; and
  • exercise sound judgment based on the process, policies—and even politics!

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Meet the Instructor: Ruth Wilson

Interview by Erin Parker; copy edited by Meagan Kus

 

RWilson_2016-06On Saturday, September 17, Editors BC will present Ruth Wilson and her full-day workshop, “Advanced Proofreading,” which teaches participants how to take their proofreading skills to the next level, navigating the “process, policies, and even politics” of a manuscript with ease.

Erin Parker, co-chair of Editors BC’s professional development committee, recently picked Ruth’s brain about the wonderful world of proofreading, the work she’s done on Editors Canada’s certification committee, and the books she took on vacation this summer.

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Book Review: Marketing Your Editing & Proofreading Business

Written by Amy Haagsma; copy edited by Meagan Kus

Review of “Marketing Your Editing & Proofreading Business” by Louise Harnby, in association with The Publishing Training Centre.

Louise Harnby Marketing

Last week we reviewed Louise Harnby’s book Business Planning for Editorial Freelancers, a how-to guide for preparing a business plan. Harnby included a lot of great information on marketing, but she has also covered the topic in more detail in her more recent book, Marketing Your Editing & Proofreading Business.

Harnby touts this as “a book for editorial business owners, by an editorial business owner.” She promises that it is not a marketing textbook and that she’s done her best to avoid using jargon; rather, she’s tried to give editorial professionals real advice in the same manner she would in a face-to-face conversation.

Even the introduction is packed full of useful information, and the first item Harnby tackles is dispelling the notion that editors and proofreaders are not marketers. Everyone, she says, is a marketer, and having a marketing strategy is essential. After you’ve invested time and money in setting up your business, marketing is the next step to help you find clients and sell your services. Being good at what you do is not enough; you need to be found in order to be successful. Once you have built up your client base, regular marketing helps you stay in the minds of your clients.

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Event Review: Advanced Proofreading with Ruth Wilson

Written by Roma Ilnyckyj; copy edited by Karen Marshall

Review of seminar Advanced Proofreading with Ruth Wilson (offered by Editors BC on September 20, 2014)

Ruth Wilson’s advanced proofreading workshop was exactly what I had expected: fun, loaded with information, and the quickest six hours you could hope for when you’re indoors and just steps from the Seawall on a sunny late-September day (see photo). As an editor who is not quite a beginner but also not sitting on years of experience, I found this workshop a perfect match for my needs. Although you can’t become an advanced proofreader in one day, this seminar taught me three things that I can actively work on in my quest to become one.

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Event review: #LFMF

Couldn’t attend EAC-BC’s #LFMF event? Don’t worry. Programs co-chair Frances Peck has compiled a list of the “editing lessons learned”—editors’ true confessions, if you will—that were shared that evening.

At EAC-BC’s first meeting of the season (on September 19, 2012), about 35 of us gathered at the YWCA in Vancouver to drink wine, nibble cheese, catch up with fellow editors, and confess our failures. Humility was the watchword of the evening as we tweeted editing lessons we’ve learned the hard way (using the hashtag LFMF, learn from my fail) or described our embarrassing moments to the group.

See slide show.

The “winning” #LFMF lesson

The (unofficial) winner, for its black humour and high “uh-oh” factor:

Always turn off autocorrect. My instructor’s last name, Vigna, was autocorrected to vagina without my noticing.

More #LFMF lessons

The various lessons—about the importance of proofreading, the need for careful estimating, the pitfalls of technology, and more—were too valuable to keep to ourselves, so we’re sharing them with WCE readers. A big thank you to those who laid bare their biggest gaffes so that others needn’t repeat them.

“Materiel” isn’t always a misspelling. Learned the hard way from a military client.

Always review the document, or a good sample of it, before estimating. What’s described as an easy edit may really be a nightmare.

Proofread every invoice. I once tweaked my template and got my postal code wrong! Delayed payment, red face.

Say yes to every project and you’ll sacrifice quality. I look back on work from hectic times and know it wasn’t my best. Ouch.

If you’re sending an attachment, attach it BEFORE you write the email and forget to do it.

Before sending a style sheet to the client, don’t forget to give it one last A-to-Z sort.

Proofread your invoice template. There is no such thing as the GSH tax.

Mix estimate with educate for big jobs. Itemize the tasks you’ll do at each stage. Helps client appreciate the value for the $$ estimate.

Make sure all comments to self are deleted from final edit. Author should never see “Boring!” or “Gibberish.”

Always estimate based on word count—never on page count.

I edited a dissertation in LaTeX. When the (now) prof gave me the published copy (in person), I saw I’d edited no footnotes.

Your awesome new time-tracking software doesn’t do much good if you don’t press the “start” button.

Sent out a resumé several times mentioning articles I had published in a “newpaper.” Applying for copy-editing jobs.

When signing off with “Regards” in a memo to an author, keep in mind that the G and T keys are in close proximity.

See slide show.

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