(Newswire.net — June 12, 2020) — Have you always been worried about unidentifiable grammatical errors keeping your submissions from approval? Well, “unidentifiable” because it’s not always possible to eradicate all language anomalies without professional help.
Most people tend to settle with the first editor or proofreader they find online. However, this can turn out to be a grave mistake as you need to carry out due diligence beforehand.
If you’re scouring the market for reliable proofreading-and-editing-services, get along with this guide. We’ll cover the aspects you need to pay heed to when it comes to preventing common mistakes.
Being unsure about what you want
How can you find a renowned proofreader and editor if you don’t have a clear idea of the requirements?
Thus, your best bet is to narrow down to the project requirements to understand the type of errors in the content.
Different types of grammatical and language issues require a different expert to rectify the same. This means you can’t proceed with a single proofreader or editor as your one-stop solution for all corrections.
There might be times when sentence structure isn’t good, or typos are lurking in the text. More possibilities include the lack of flow in the content or formatting issues. Although all of these can lead to rejection, know that you need different individuals to handle these for you.
Not paying heed to the deadline
There’s always going to a ticking clock when it comes to submitting the work.
If you’re not keeping any time to review the work of the proofreader and editor, you’ll end up missing the deadline. Sounds scary, right?
However, you can avoid going down that lane by having a couple of extra days while assigning the task. This way, you can even hire someone urgently (without missing the deadline) in case you’re dissatisfied with the work.
Keeping ambiguity in guidelines
You can’t afford to keep your editor and proofreader confused about the guidelines related to the project. This will prevent them from taking care of all the factors that determine whether your content gets approved or not.
Make sure you clearly specify all the guidelines so that a proofreader or editor can understand what they’re getting into.
If you have some feedback from the authorities, you should keep the proofreader or editor informed about the same. This way, they can realize what’s expected from the project and the standards they need to cater to.
Ignoring the portfolio of the proofreader and editor
You must go through the work experience of the proofreading and editing service in order to comment on their credibility. While at it, assess the type of changes they’ve made and how much the overall quality is improved.
Moreover, you need to be watchful for any errors you can find in their portfolio. This will act as a red flag to help you steer away from such a service provider.
Not investing ample time in reviewing the portfolio can ultimately ruin your proofreading or editing project.
Not asking for a sample
Before assigning the entire project, you should go ahead with a sample task first. Ask the proofreader or editor to rectify a particular section of your assignment and evaluate the modifications.
Most proofreading and editing services tend to provide a free sample of their work. However, there’s no harm in paying a relatively smaller amount to be assured of the quality of their work.
You should only proceed with the assignment when you’re satisfied with the changes made in the sample. This will keep you from wasting a significant amount of money due to hiring an incompetent service.