7 Proofreading Techniques to Perfect Your Writing
Book proofreading is one of the most important parts of editing a book and it is crucial when it comes to making sure that the final copy of the book is free of errors, grammatical or otherwise.
It is the process of reading text with the intention to spot errors that the writer might have made while creating the first draft. It is essentially a way to polish the first draft of the text to ensure that it is error-free.
Even though using professional book proofreading services is the best option when it comes to any serious project, in this article, we take a look at seven proofreading techniques that can help you perfect your writing.
Seven Proofreading Techniques to Perfect Your Writing
- Focus on only one thing at a time. It is very easy to get overwhelmed when you’re trying to spot every single error in your writing but if you try to keep your session focused on finding only one type of error, the process becomes significantly easier.
- Fact-checking. This is especially important if the book you’re writing is non-fiction. All facts and statements made should have a source as you cannot simply make up facts. By checking facts that you cite in your work, you provide more professionalism and depth to your work.
- Take your time. A lot of writers rush through the entire body of text when trying to proofread and miss a lot of things. Always make sure you have enough time to proofread and focus on it doing it well rather than quick.
- Read it aloud. Reading a text of body aloud is the best way to proofread it as errors are easier to detect when the text is being read aloud.
- Print it out and read it. It is always a better idea to proofread the text printed on paper than on a computer screen. Other than being really bad for your eyes, computer screens are also much harder to edit text on.
- Stepping away from time to time. Sometimes, it is a really good idea to step away from the work and refrain from starting to proofread it immediately. By taking your time away from the text, you’re allowing your brain to find new ways of approaching the text and you’ll soon find yourself fixing things that you didn’t even notice before.
- Be well rested and prepared for spending a lot of time going over the text and be ready for it. This is very important as a lot of writers feel that the task of proofreading is a chore and must be done with quickly, however in that process, they start rushing it and their quality of work suffers. This is another reason why hiring a professional to handle your book proofreading is the best option as they are accustomed to the task and already adhere to the best practices and methods.
Proofreading is a process that requires a lot of hard work and careful attention to detail and any writer attempting it should be careful to make sure they follow book proofreading techniques that allows them to perfect their writing.