What Is Proofreading? And How It Differs From Editing)
The best proofreading service is:
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The last line of defense between your novel and an embarrassing typo!
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The final polish on a manuscript before publication, so it’s as shiny as possible!
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To confirm your pretty formatting worked!
Editing vs Proofreading:
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Editing fixes the writing. Proofreading fixes the typos!
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Editing is like a renovation. Proofreading is the cleaning service!
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Editing improves clarity and craft. Proofreading eliminates distractions!
Book Proofreading Services
Sometimes, typos slip through the cracks. Sometimes, indie authors will publish a book without proofreading services or editorial services due to financial reasons. And that’s okay! TDragon’s book proofreading services are available for published works! I will go through your published work and proof it, a service commonly used for:
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Refreshing digital versions with clean copies
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Preparing a manuscript for Special Edition printing
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Cleaning up verbiage for audiobooks
Manuscript Proofreading Services
If you have yet to release your novel into the world, then TDragon’s manuscript proofreading services can be reserved to prep the manuscript for:
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Final publication
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Sending to agents or publishing houses
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Preparation for sending to voice actors for audiobook recording
What's Checked in a Professional Proofread
Professional Proofreading checks include:
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Confirming common errors are not made (its vs it’s, your vs you’re)
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Checking for continuity in word choices (i.e. toward vs towards)
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Confirming character names are spelled the same throughout
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Search for typos, punctuation errors, and formatting snafus
Fiction proofreading services are especially important, especially in more speculative genres where character and location names tend to be non-standard.
Proofreads can take 2-4 weeks, depending on manuscript size and volume of existing errors. Why does it take so long? Well, that’s because TDragon conducts:
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Surface level sweeps: multiple objective manuscript searches, reading through every search result to ensure accuracy
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Line-by-line accuracy checks: one to two readthroughs of the book in its entirety, looking for typos and formatting errors
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Final Polish: final slow readthrough with audio as the last safety net
Our Proofreading Process
What Makes TDragon the Best Proofreading Service for Authors
Value! A TDragon proofread is as thorough as any on the market, but at less than half the price tag! This service is offered by an indie author specifically for other indie authors, because I know how important a clean manuscript is to keep a reader from DNF’ing a book.
The best proofreading service checks for errors, typos, and formatting issues. It will require multiple searches and read throughs of the book or manuscript.
Proofreading a book requires attentive, detailed review of every word on every page. Even copyright and acknowledgement pages are covered! This needs at least two full readthroughs of the book, if not more.
TDragon proofreading tends to be 50% to 70% cheaper than other proofreading services, however! Not because the work is being done faster, or is less thorough. But because every author deserves to have the best version of their book published, and it is important to me to help those who otherwise couldn’t afford these services to have them available!
Given the amount of readthroughs a proofread requires, it can take two to four full weeks to conduct.
Fiction is my specialization, with a particular love of fantasy, science fiction, and romance. But I cover all fiction genres except horror.
Sometime in the future, academic and non-fiction proofreading services will be available.
Ideally a Microsoft Word or Google Doc file is provided for a proofread. For already-published works, I am able to do an ePUB proofread, but please note that the formatting of proofreading results will differ widely based on the reader used for that format.
