9 Things Your Proofreader Wants You to Know
Whether you hire a proofreader because you struggle with grammar and punctuation or you simply don't have time to proofread the wording yourself, the writer/proofreader relationship is a special one.
Your proofreader sees you at your best and at your worst. We’ve learned which punctuation rules trip you up and which word pairs confuse you. We understand your struggle with hyphens, commas, and semicolons. And you know what? Your errors don’t bother us. We love the opportunity to make your wording clearer!
However, as is the case with any relationship, sometimes we hold things inside that we really want to say but aren't sure how (or when). This post is an honest, straightforward list of things that your proofreader wants you to know. I encourage you to read it with an open mind and heart. Your proofreader will thank you, and your workflow will be better for it.
9 THINGS YOUR PROOFREADER WANTS YOU TO KNOW
1. You probably aren't our only client, although we try to treat you like you are.
As much as we love you and want to do a great job for you, we likely have other clients too. We also have families and personal lives just like you do. Please be considerate of our time (a valuable commodity in this business), and we will bend over backwards to do a fantastic job for you.
2. We appreciate a heads-up (if possible) when jobs are coming our way.
Work with us to create a system that shows when your files are due. Some tools that would work well for this are Trello, MeisterTask, or a spreadsheet via Google, Excel, or Airtable. Email communication is perfectly fine as well. Just keep us in the loop. Of course, we understand that rush jobs come up, but if your file isn't due for a few days, please communicate with us so we can schedule our tasks accordingly.
3. When you give us advance notice that a job is coming soon, please don't leave us hanging.
We sometimes rearrange our own personal schedules to be available for you, and it's frustrating to be waiting for a file, only to be told later that the job fell through or you decided to proofread the file yourself but forgot to tell us.
4. We need to know exactly when you need the corrected document returned to you.
Tell us the date and time you need the file back. Remind us what time zone you’re in, too. We probably have other proofreading tasks in our queue and want to complete each one on time.
5. Let us know that you received the corrections that we return to you.
When we don’t hear from you, we worry that you might not have received the corrections. Even just a reply that says "Thanks!" is fine. We understand that you might not have time to write a lengthy email right after receiving the file. However, when your schedule eases up a bit, we'd love to hear your comments.
6. Your feedback is important to us.
Let us know how we did and what we can do to improve in the future. If we missed something, let us know so we can do an even better job for you next time. Even the best proofreaders want to develop their skills.
7. "Thank you" means so much.
Especially for those whose love language is words of affirmation, a brief word of appreciation will mean more than you know. Constructive criticism is also welcome when there's something we can do to improve.
8. Feel free to ask us questions.
Many of us are teachers at heart and would love the opportunity to explain a punctuation rule or a confusing word pair like affect/effect or insure/ensure. Nothing pleases us more than to see your documents grow cleaner over time because of things we've taught you.
9. We love what we do, and we're so thankful that you are our clients!
About Julie Corbett
A veteran proofreader of over 25 years, Julie is passionate about the English language and teaching others to use it correctly. When she’s not proofreading court transcripts, she’s writing blog content, reading about productivity, or spending time with her family. Contact Julie here.