Proofreading your manuscript is usually the very final stage of the editing process. Similar to the copyediting stage, it isn't an essential step if you are planning on publishing traditonally and submitting to literary agents. An agent is able to overlook the occassional typo if you have an interesting and well-communicated story.

If, on the other hand, you are planning on self-publishing, we would highly recommend a proofread before you publish. Chances are, that if your book has been through a few rounds of edits, then the odd typo and grammatical error may have slipped through.

If we take a book on for proofreading and we don't think it is at the proofreading stage, we will let you know and direct you to one of our other stages, focusing on story, such as the hybrid edit or manuscript appraisal.

The following areas are covered as part of the proofreading service:

• Spelling and punctuation errors*

• Grammatical errors*

• Correct use of paragraphs, speech marks

• Standardise the appearance of extracts, quotations, verse, line breaks and indents

*These will be occasional errors that have slipped through during the previous editing stages and not where extensive edits are needed. In the case of extensive edits being needed we will refer you to either a line edit or copyedit.

Please note that changes will be made electronically in Microsoft Word and using the 'track changes' function. You will be able to see each of the edits that have been made to your manuscript.