HelpWorking with me |
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What will happen?
After you’ve got in touch, how will things unfold from there, and What can you expect to get back from me when I’ve completed a job for you? This guide tells you all about it.
How much will it cost?
I usually give a fixed quote for a fixed piece of work, but I can quote an hourly rate instead if it would work better – for example, if I’m going to do a series of small jobs for you each month.
My fees are broadly in line with those typically charged by other trained, experienced editorial freelancers in the UK. I believe that they’re reasonable, while also reflecting the degree of skill that’s needed to do the work accurately and thoroughly, and the length of time it takes.
The fee for an editing or proofreading job will depend on things such as:
For developing a style guide, I’ll estimate how much work is needed, and we can discuss whether to settle on a fixed fee or an hourly rate.
Payments
Unless we agree otherwise, I’ll send you an invoice after completing the work, and payment will then be due within 30 days. For large jobs, I might ask you to pay part of the fee in advance, and possibly ask you for intermediate payments.
For fees in British pounds, my preferred method is direct bank transfer, but I can also accept payment via PayPal or cheque if necessary. For other currencies, I have an account with Wise, which allows you to make online payments easily with low-cost currency exchange. All the details that you’ll need will be included in the invoice.
After you’ve got in touch, how will things unfold from there, and What can you expect to get back from me when I’ve completed a job for you? This guide tells you all about it.
How much will it cost?
I usually give a fixed quote for a fixed piece of work, but I can quote an hourly rate instead if it would work better – for example, if I’m going to do a series of small jobs for you each month.
My fees are broadly in line with those typically charged by other trained, experienced editorial freelancers in the UK. I believe that they’re reasonable, while also reflecting the degree of skill that’s needed to do the work accurately and thoroughly, and the length of time it takes.
The fee for an editing or proofreading job will depend on things such as:
- The length, complexity and quality of the written material
- The type of service you need
- The schedule
- Any special requirements for the mark-up method, resolving queries, etc.
For developing a style guide, I’ll estimate how much work is needed, and we can discuss whether to settle on a fixed fee or an hourly rate.
Payments
Unless we agree otherwise, I’ll send you an invoice after completing the work, and payment will then be due within 30 days. For large jobs, I might ask you to pay part of the fee in advance, and possibly ask you for intermediate payments.
For fees in British pounds, my preferred method is direct bank transfer, but I can also accept payment via PayPal or cheque if necessary. For other currencies, I have an account with Wise, which allows you to make online payments easily with low-cost currency exchange. All the details that you’ll need will be included in the invoice.
Guides to working with editors and proofreaders
If you’re thinking of hiring an editor or proofreader – and especially if you’re not in the publishing trade – here are some free downloadable guides that I hope will help to make the process run smoothly.
Guide #1: Tips for formatting your Word documents
If you create documents that support your business or organisation – reports, reviews, newsletters and so on – it’s important to format them in a thoughtful, consistent way. This will help your target readers to find their way around them, and to read them smoothly and easily.
A professional editor can help with this. But it will help if you make good use of Word’s formatting functions when writing the document in the first place. This will let your editor focus mainly on the wording in the document, rather than struggling to work out how it’s organised and how it should be formatted.
This guide spells out the basics of creating a professional-looking document using the main formatting features in Word, including the use of styles, templates and various formatting features.
If you create documents that support your business or organisation – reports, reviews, newsletters and so on – it’s important to format them in a thoughtful, consistent way. This will help your target readers to find their way around them, and to read them smoothly and easily.
A professional editor can help with this. But it will help if you make good use of Word’s formatting functions when writing the document in the first place. This will let your editor focus mainly on the wording in the document, rather than struggling to work out how it’s organised and how it should be formatted.
This guide spells out the basics of creating a professional-looking document using the main formatting features in Word, including the use of styles, templates and various formatting features.
Guide #2: Working with tracked changes and comments in Word
When we editors work with Word documents, we normally use the Track Changes function, so that you can see exactly what we’ve changed. We also usually add comments to provide notes, advice, queries and so on.
This guide will help you to follow and understand our change tracking and comments – which isn’t always easy when you find a mass of red lines, boxes and red underlined text appearing on the screen with your document. It will also explain how useful these features are, and advise you on how to follow up on your editor’s changes and comments as you work towards a polished final product. It covers:
Note: This guide doesn’t yet cater for the ‘Modern Comments’ feature that started appearing in the Microsoft 365 version of Word in April 2021. I hope to update it at some stage, once the functionality has been finalised (many users have an opt-out, at least for the time being). Apologies for any confusion.
When we editors work with Word documents, we normally use the Track Changes function, so that you can see exactly what we’ve changed. We also usually add comments to provide notes, advice, queries and so on.
This guide will help you to follow and understand our change tracking and comments – which isn’t always easy when you find a mass of red lines, boxes and red underlined text appearing on the screen with your document. It will also explain how useful these features are, and advise you on how to follow up on your editor’s changes and comments as you work towards a polished final product. It covers:
- How tracked changes are shown on screen
- Types of tracking
- The Reviewing Pane
- Useful settings for Track Changes
- How to accept or reject changes
- What comments are used for
- Different approaches to resolving queries
- Replying to comments
- Resolving comments
- Deleting comments
- Moving between comments.
Note: This guide doesn’t yet cater for the ‘Modern Comments’ feature that started appearing in the Microsoft 365 version of Word in April 2021. I hope to update it at some stage, once the functionality has been finalised (many users have an opt-out, at least for the time being). Apologies for any confusion.
Guide #3: Working with Adobe PDF mark-ups
When we’re asked to work with PDF documents, we proofreaders often use the Comment functions in Adobe software products such as Acrobat Reader DC. This is an efficient way to suggest changes and to provide notes and queries.
This guide will to help you to understand the ‘mark-ups’ that we use when we do this, and to follow up on them as you resolve errors and inconsistencies in your document. It covers:
When we’re asked to work with PDF documents, we proofreaders often use the Comment functions in Adobe software products such as Acrobat Reader DC. This is an efficient way to suggest changes and to provide notes and queries.
This guide will to help you to understand the ‘mark-ups’ that we use when we do this, and to follow up on them as you resolve errors and inconsistencies in your document. It covers:
- The Comment option
- How mark-ups are shown on screen
- Types of mark-up: insertions, deletions, substitutions, formatting changes, notes and queries
- Clarifications
- Customising the Comment pane
- Following up on the proofreader’s mark-ups: replying, keeping track of progress, deleting mark-ups.
If you have a question that isn’t answered above, please contact me.
