This week I did a proof reading job for a 24-page in-house magazine that had obviously been written and laid out with care and attention to detail. There were some small corrections to make, but the entire magazine was well-written and most of the changes were to correct minor style inconsistencies.
This is how proofing should be. It was a pleasure to do the job and I’m confident that I was able to do it well.
During my career, there have been occasions when the term ‘proof reading’ has been stretched to mean some pretty hefty editing. I’ve sometimes been asked to ‘proof’ copy that doesn’t seem to have been read through to make sure it makes sense, or that is hundreds of words too long to fit on the page. In cases like these, you end up working so hard to edit the text that it’s difficult to feel confident that you’ve spotted all the errors.
Of course, we’re all prone to error. As a writer I know how easy it is for mistakes to creep in - which is why proofing is such an important part of the publishing process. I genuinely enjoy proof reading because I’m contributing to a professional, error-free document. And when the materials are as well-presented as this week's proofing job I feel that I’m working with my client as part of a team that really cares about both its product and its audience.
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