DarlingMionette

Hey guys! It’s been awhile, I know. For those of you who haven’t been following along with my journals for the last year, let me give you a bit of an introductory course to Mio. This past year I set aside artwork for my writing (my true passion). It’s been a bit of an adventure, and a year after I started, here I am, a Professional Reader and Review Blogger. I didn’t get a lot of writing done in the end, but I’ve gained a lot of knowledge on the writing industry, and I’ve made a lot of connections with authors, publishers, and editors. It has been such a wonderful experience for me, and I’ve found that finally, I’m doing something I really love. (Because what’s greater than getting free books before they’re published and the only thing you have to do is tell people what you thought about it? Seriously.)

This of course, has spurred me on to my next big change of venue. Here’s the thing: being an artist makes you money. Not a lot—not unless you work really hard at it—but it’s an income. Professional reading? Not so much. Don’t get me wrong, free books and bumping elbows with established authors and publishing houses? FANTASTIC—but you can’t live off it. I need an income, and right now my Wacom tablet is still broken from last summer. So, I decided a few weeks ago that I was going to start making a pretty big career choice.

I’m going to become a Freelance Proofreader/Copyeditor.

I’m familiar with the game. I know what they do, I know how they do it, and having been writing reviews for the past year and talking to a lot of people in the book industry, I know I can do it too. Getting started, however, isn’t as straight forward as it seems. I could jump in—as I did with my commissions—and post some prices, some FAQs, and start taking on jobs. I have no doubt I could pick some up fairly quickly. (I’ve already had a few authors approach me on whether I’ve considered Copyediting professionally), but that isn’t how I want to go about it. So here I am, making a call for content… and this is where you come in.

In order to figure out my strong/weak points when it comes to Proofreading/Copyediting and gauge my pace, I need experience. It also wouldn’t hurt to pad my resume with some names of authors and projects I’ve worked on. Rather than jump right in and possibly fall flat on my face with my inexperience, I’ve decided to jump into the DeviantART community and ask for some help:

I need some chapters of fiction to test out my abilities on. My goal is to find out how fast I work (so I know what I can charge in  terms of $/hour), and also what kind of edits I’m comfortable with, and what I may need to work on. I’m not a dictionary. I’m not a Professor of English. I still have troubles with grasping the fundamentals of some things. So if you have a chapter lying around looking for some Proofreading/Copyediting, this is your chance to get some free help. I am offering up my budding services free of charge to anyone with an original work of fiction that they’re someday looking to publish. I only ask that I can add your name and the title of your work to my resume so that it’s not completely blank when I start charging for my services. Sound good? Read on.

What does a proofreader do?

The goal of a proofreader is to look for and fix cosmetic and technical errors such as spelling, punctuation, formatting errors, and basic grammar.

What doesn’t a proofreader do?

A proofreader doesn't rewrite, fix flow, style, check for continuity errors, re-structure, or fix absurd plot choices. They do not copyedit.

What does a copyeditor do?

The goal of a copyeditor is to correct spelling, grammar, punctuation, style, and usage. They check suitability of the text for the target audience/genre. They look for redundancy, make sure things are logical, information isn’t missing, and even keep an eye on your whitespace. A copyeditor looks for sentence/paragraph lengths, flow, and clarity. They check continuity of items, characters, places, and make sure your style is consistent. They make sure your writing is clear and engaging, your tense is correct, your POV isn't wobbling all over the place, and they flag anything that may constitute a legal issue.

What doesn’t a copyeditor do?

Copyeditors don’t rewrite, or re-structure your chapters. They don’t write in large portions of text for you. They don’t format your text or design your cover, and while there is some overlap, they don’t thoroughly proofread. They do not create bibliographies, indexes, or glossaries. They don’t research your facts for you, and they don’t help you gain legal permission to use copyrighted text or images.

Still Interested?

I’m hoping to get at least 10 chapters for both Proofreading and Copyediting (1 chapter per story please… don’t send me 10 chapters of the same novel). They should be original fiction (no fanfiction… I can’t pad my resume with something that can’t legally be published). Length should be under 10,000 words. The documents should be sent in a format that can be read by Miscrosoft Word (I will be making changes via the Track Changes and Commenting features), and will be returned when finished. I will not publish your work anywhere, nor will I take any of it for my own. This is purely for practice and experience. Edits may take awhile (I have no idea how many entries I’ll receive or how long it will take me to get through each one... it depends on the skill of the author!) But hopefully no single chapter will take more than a few days to look through.  If you’re interested in helping me out and participating in this call for content, please e-mail me at cary_morton@hotmail.com with the following information:

1. Include the chapter file you would like looked over.

2. Tell me if you’d prefer Proofreading or Copyediting (or if you care which one… I’ll pick 10 of each type out of what I receive).

3. Include the Genre / Audience your story is intended for.

4. Give me a list of what your concerns for the story, or your style are. I’ll try to keep an eye out for what concerns you most.

5. Please include the title (temporary tiles are okay if you don’t have a set title yet) of your novel, and your full name (for my resume).

In return, I will do my best to give you the most thorough job of copyediting/proofreading I can, along with consideration for changes, comments, and questions to help you strengthen your work. I’ll try my best to maintain your personal voice and style as much as possible., while improving on what you already have.

Thanks so much guys for taking the time to read this really long article. I’ll leave this call for content open for awhile (maybe a few weeks depending on how many chapters are sent my way), so there’s no rush. Thank you for all your support and consideration as I work towards this new career goal.

Cary Morton / DarlingMionette
of Author Unpublished


UPDATE:I'm still looking for more entries, and for those of you waiting for a reply--it's been a pretty busy weekend, but I am working on the copy edits and they'll be done as soon as they're done. I've already handed back a few, but I've got a couple more that I'm still wading through. Patience  The pace I've been working at varies on the size of the file that was submitted and how many edits are needed. Some copy edits are taking less than an hour, others are taking a few hours spaced out over days. I'll get to them all as quickly as I can. I hope everyone is having a great week!