Professional Proofreading Services

Proofreading and editing services in London, UK

London is the United Kingdom’s largest and most active city for proofreaders and editors. For this reason, if you are looking for book proofreading services or proofreading and editing services, then London is certainly a good place to start. Even if you are not based in London, you can use the Internet and Google, to find the best professional service providers that live and work within the London area.

You might be wondering why use a proofreading editing service based in or around London, the answer is simple, with such a large and dense population the chances of finding talented native speaking service providers is much easier. This also applies to companies or individuals that offer these types of service, this also applies to cities throughout the UK and why they are more desirable compared to other non-native speaking providers in the marketplace.There are a few key points to bear in mind. First, native English speakers make much stronger proofreaders and editors compared to those who learned English as a second language. In addition, having someone who has developed a writerly ear, and a sense of style, for the English language is always vital in writing services, including book proofreading services.

Image: Many great writers, including William Shakespeare, lived in London

Just by hiring someone who lives in London, and who speaks English fluently and properly, won’t guarantee a good writing service. As a case in point, the cornerstone of strong proofreading and editing services is the professional’s experience, expertise, and general strength as a proofreader and editor. It is quite a complex procedure when implementing these services, which means that when you hire a person to complete your work, you should pay close attention to vetting them. For example, you can always ask to receive a free sample before hiring someone, which will allow you to gauge their suitability.

The extended nature of a book means that, for book proofreading services UK, close collaboration between the proofreader and the author is essential. This collaboration needs to take place over a relatively long period of time, given that – in order to provide a high-quality check for 30,000 to 100,000 words (the rough length of a book) –24 hours is not enough. Furthermore, since books are typically proofread or edited using an iterative approach, where the author is actively involved in offering feedback to the writing professional, the person you recruit needs to have some level of skill in project and time management.

Image: Proofreading projects for books usually take longer than other document types

Altogether, London is certainly a good place to start when looking for a professional writer, proofreader, or editor to help improve your documents. Many London-based companies offer a range of writing services tailored to the needs of their clients, and the majority of these services are offered by accredited first language English speakers. If you have the time, do consult with as many writing professionals as possible to ensure that they can complete your work effectively.

Quality proofreading services in London, UK

Professional proofreading services are available in most of the UK’s major cities and the competitive competition within London is strong, but it is also true that services can be used from these companies using digital channels. As a matter of fact, it is common for businesses, authors, and speakers of languages other than English to order proofreading services over the Internet, and a growing number of these services are reliable, efficient, and affordable. Since the online proofreading space is so competitive, prices are falling and quality is increasing rapidly, both in terms of the convenience and price of the available services.

Newcomers to the proofreading space are likely to be overwhelmed by the sheer number of available service offerings. For example, if you enter a search term such as “proofreading services” into your search engine of choice (e.g., Google, Yahoo, or Bing), you will notice that hundreds, if not thousands, of hits are returned. The varied nature of the available proofreading services can also be problematic for newcomers. As a case in point, if you read the service descriptions of several professional proofreading services, it is typically the case that services vary in terms of price and levels of detail.

Image: Countless proofreading providers are available in London, some more reliable than others

For people who are living in London or just visiting the historic city, it is worth remembering that countless famous and influential writers, editors, and proofreaders live in the city, along with prominent companies that specialise in providing professional proofreading services. This has been true for years, which is especially clear when considering the impressive list of writers, authors, and other creative people who have lived and worked in London (e.g., William Shakespeare).

Additionally, in a city where so many official business communications, research initiatives, and professional activities take place, a considerable number of proofreading companies, as well as freelancers, have emerged to cater to growing demand for high-quality content.In the past, it was common for companies to recruit permanent proofreaders, editors, and copy writers, who would be assigned duties ranging from re-organising business plans and grant applications to proofreading, editing, or paraphrasing press releases, official reports, or presentations.Today, however, companies in London can use the Internet to recruit specialised proofreaders from nearby companies.

Image:Artists, editors, writers, and talented proofreaders often move to major cities like London

Proofreaders are valuable for several reasons, whether you need help improving the readability and clarity of your college or university work, your creative projects, or your business-related documents.If you are interested in recruiting the services of a professional proofreader, especially if you want to narrow your search to a high-quality London-based company or freelancer,it is important to consider the importance of their reliability and effectiveness. Although most proofreaders will offer a guarantee that they will correct any deficits you find in their work free of charge,receiving a correct-first-time document is often a key demand for mission-critical writing.

Importance of proofreading and editing services

A lot of things are involved in proofreading and editing services, and the two services differ in important ways. The purpose of this article is to outline what proofreading services and editing services are, and then to emphasise all the ways they are both important for writers, businesses, students, and ESL speakers.

What is proofreading?

What is involved in professional proofreading services?

The first important point to note is that, depending on the company or freelancer that is offering you the service, the nature of their guarantee and service details will differ.

For example, certain companies offer cheaper services than others, but this sometimes (not always) means that their service is less comprehensive. In certain cases, proofreading companies will also offer integrated proofreading and formatting services, while in others, this won’t be the case.

In a typical proofreading service, the main issues that are focused on include: (i) grammar, spelling, and punctuation, ensuring that all are correct; (ii) consistency and typographical errors; (iii) syntax and choice of words; (iv) consistency in tone; and (v) sticking to a style guide, if provided.

What is editing?

Together, proofreading and editing services cover every aspect of your written documents.

The main difference between editing services and proofreading is that, when you work with an editor, they will first proofread your document, and then focus on several additional issues.

Since a service from a reliable editor is usually more comprehensive than a service involving only proofreading, both services are normally priced in different ways.As a case in point,online service providers usually price editing significantly higher than proofreading.

In a normal editing service, the main issues of focus include: (i) proofreading; (ii) restructuring passages; (iii) revising writing quality; (iv) emphasising clarity and concision; and (v) leaving feedback and suggestions in comments.

Why are proofreading and editing services beneficial?

These two services are powerful for students, academics, businesses, and learners or professionals of all kinds. Importantly, both services are readily accessible online and in-person (for example, several notable proofreading services companies have offices in London). They are also affordable, and for writers who struggle in certain areas, they can be a source of helpful advice for future learning.

Editing services, as well as other writing-related services, solve several problems depending on the type of person. For example, authors who have completed creative writing projects can benefit from the time saved when they work with an effective and efficient proofreader. This is because such services can allow them to produce even more scripts, articles, poems, and manuscripts.

Yes there is a cost involved to both of these services, but the benefits afforded to documents that receive these types of services, will certainly outweigh the initial cost.

Essential tips to know before editing your book

If you are planning on editing your own book, it is important to know about the value that great book editing services can bring to you, as well as standard editing and proofreading services. For novels, poems, screenplays, manuscripts, e-books, or any other creative writing projects, recruiting the services of an effective, native English editor can significantly improve the quality of your writing.

Learning that J. K. Rowling, Stephen King, Jane Austen, and many others of the world’s greatest and most well-known authors used editing and proofreading services to help create their work often comes as a surprise to people. It is also a surprise for many to learn that many professionals in the political and business arenas do not write their own speeches, statements, and reports, which has contributed to the rapid growth of the field of ghost-writing.

The first key tip to know before editing your book, therefore, is that it is perfectly OK and normal for you to seek out editing services. Services of this kind, in which an editor works to improve the clarity and readability of your written material, are typically more comprehensive than proofreading services, but both editing and proofreading services can work well with almost-finished book writing projects.

Image: Receiving help from editors has been a go-to for writers for centuries

If you decide to edit your own book, which is also a common practice among many authors, there are several key techniques and practices that it is worth knowing about. Many authors, including Stephen King, have developed clear and structured approaches to writing, drafting, and editing their work, which helps them to streamline the process of writing. Although in the case of Stephen King, many professional editors have worked co-operatively with him to create, organise, and perfect his most famous novels, screenplays, and short stories, his habit of adopting a structured approach is key.

Image: Having a guiding strategy for the editing process is essential

The publishing business has transformed as a result of the rise of the e-book, and this is particularly so for authors who want to publish their own manuscripts. In any case, however, whether one is self-publishing or going the traditional route, editing services, as well as services focused towards the related issue of proofreading, are more important than ever.Therefore, a key tip to know before editing your book is to ensure that, when you are at the stage when you are preparing for publication, and you are nearing the end of your project, get in touch with a team of professional editors.

Image: Use industry advice to reach successful publication

All in all, it is clear that, despite the value that book editing professionals can bring to your written work, finding a reliable, effective, and experienced person to work with on your projects is a complex issue. Knowing about the tips for book editing discussed throughout this article, if you bring these to bear on your process of working with a professional editor, is likely to guide you towards successful publication. These types of services will give your work a valuable final polish before presentation.

Things you must know before Ordering Paraphrasing Services

It is well-known, even among people who are not professional proofreaders, that the skills needed to provide strong, efficient, and reliable proofreading services are extremely difficult to develop. This is also true for paraphrasing services, but far fewer people are familiar with these valuable and increasing popular services compared to proofreading.

While there are many people providing both of these services today, especially on the Internet, not all of them have the capabilities needed to offer a strong and competitive service. For this reason, this article outlines a few of the key things you should know before purchasing paraphrasing services.

What paraphrasing actually is

A writer will “paraphrase” or “rewrite” a sentence, paragraph, or entire document in order to communicate its meaning using different words. As such, paraphrasing services are performed when a client pays a professional to rewrite a piece of text for them.

Good examples of paraphrasing

One way to think of paraphrasing is that it is essentially the opposite of “quoting”. Remember that the act of quoting somebody, a document, or anything else involves copying or repeating their speech or written work. Therefore, the easiest way to find a good example of paraphrasing involves comparing it to the source text (i.e., the original quote that was rewritten).Software such as Turnitin, which checks a piece of text and highlights any words, phrases, or passages that are similar to those found in other documents, can help you determine what a good example of paraphrasing is.

Don’t order before receiving a free sample

Free samples of paraphrasing services, as well as proofreading services and other writing-related services, are readily offered in many proofreading companies. Some companies may give you 200 words as a free sample, others less, and yet others more. If you are new to paraphrasing and rewriting, it can be difficult to evaluate the quality of the work you receive. However, if you compare it to the originally quoted text, you will have no trouble determining whether it is a good example of paraphrasing. If so, you will be in a much stronger position to order a reliable service.

Can you do it yourself?

Of course, if you can – and have the time to – paraphrase a document yourself, then you should do so. Not only does paraphrasing make you a better writer, but also it improves your understanding of the subject matter.

Paraphrasing is the first step towards becoming a subject matter expert. This is not so much the case in proofreading because proofreading services help you avoid the monotonous task of reading your own work many times over, which can have a detrimental effect on learning and motivation.

Who the service is provided by

Although proofreading services are often provided by the same people who paraphrase and rewrite documents, it is worth checking the credentials of the person who will be assigned to complete your work. If the “person” turns out to be a machine, avoid this provider at all costs. This is because the state-of-the-art in document paraphrasi

Professional Proofreading Services for Students and Businesses

In today’s business environment, time is money. This is also the case for students, which means that, in order to buy oneself time as a business owner or a student, professional proofreading, and – in particular – the professional proofreading services offered by reputable companies and freelancers, are well worth considering.

Businesses should use professional proofreading services

As a business, checking memos, presentations, manuals, annual reports, product descriptions, reports, and marketing materials (both internal and external) is an extremely time-consuming affair. Furthermore, if the author of a marketing strategy, or any other type of business-related content, must check it over to find grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors, then their employer ends up paying them for time that they could be investing in more productive tasks.

For this reason, in businesses, professional proofreading, especially when it is provided by a reliable and effective company or freelancer, can add a considerable amount of value. In many cases, it can help the business to achieve even greater profitability and success, which is vitally important in today’s increasingly competitive corporate world. In particular, if the business hires a proofreader to check over an employee’s content, this achieves two fundamentally important goals:

First, the business can ensure that their employees, whether they are finance professionals, marketing practitioners, or back office workers, are spending time on the tasks they know how to complete most effectively.
Second, the quality of the written content that the employee produces will improve significantly. One of the main reasons for this is that, in professional proofreading services, the proofreader who checks over the content has received dedicated training to improve their ability to deliver high-quality, authoritative, and error-free content.

With the above issues in mind, it is clear that the availability of professional proofreading in today’s world, particularly in the online space, is highly valuable for businesses. Companies such as Amazon, Facebook, and – to a growing extent – internationalising businesses (e.g., Chinese companies looking to break into overseas, English-speaking markets) are all known to leverage professional proofreading services. Therefore, it is highly recommended for all businesses, even SMEs, to do the same.

Students benefit significantly from professional proofreading

Although many students enter higher education (HE) and further education (FE) to improve their written communication skills, it is well-known that, by working with a strong and reliable proofreader, they can dramatically improve not only their marks but also their academic attainment.

This may sound counterintuitive – How could it be that, by getting someone else to check over their written work, they improve their own knowledge, as well as their ability to write structured content?

As a matter of fact, there are several reasons why this is true.

First, for students who have their essays, dissertations, or assignments proofread by an experienced and adept writer, checking over the work they receive can dramatically improve their ability to avoid similar errors in the future and receive a higher mark or accolade. One of the main reasons for this is because, in today’s proofreading space, it is common practice for proofreaders to highlight– often using comments or Microsoft Word’s “track changes” feature –major errors. This allows the student to realise what their mistakes are, and then to avoid them when writing in the future.

Second, when a student has a proofreader attend to the somewhat monotonous task of error-proofing a written document, this frees up their time to focus on studying, learning new things, solidifying existing knowledge, and – as an issue that is equally important to academic attainment –socialising. As a result, this helps them to get more out of their time at college or university.

How can I find Proofreading Services in London, UK?

The Oxford English Dictionary, one of the main authorities on the English language, contains 273,000 words, 171,476 of which are in common use. No wonder, then, that international students, internationalising businesses, and even native English-speaking academics, researchers, and entrepreneurs are using proofreading services, and – in particular – professional proofreading services, more than ever before.

Aside from the incredibly vast nature of the English language, and thus the difficulty associated with mastering it, there are other reasons why a growing number of working people and students, in almost every conceivable field, are using professional proofreading services. For one, different words may mean different things depending on the context (e.g., the homonyms “bear” and “pen”). This creates noticeable difficulties in writing and proofreading work, especially for people who grow up speaking French, Italian, or any other language that does not contain many homonyms.

Now more than at any other time, people are also using professional proofreading services due to the rise of the Internet, Web 2.0, and the ubiquity of digital technologies. For this reason, if you are looking for proofreading services, you need look no further than your PC, iMac, Android phone, or any other Internet-enabled device. Even if you are intent on finding proofreading services offered by reputable companies and freelancers in London, the UK’s capital city, it is worth remembering that Google, Yahoo, or any other search engine is the best place to start.

In the old days, finding a strong proofreader was a complex, drawn-out, and – in many cases – impossible task. Before the invention of Morse code, the electrical telegraph, the computer, and, even more recently, the World Wide Web and social media, vetting your proofreader was, for all practical purposes, not achievable in any satisfactory way. However, today, if you want to find high-quality, fast, efficient, and affordable proofreading services in London, which is a city that serves as one of the major global hubs for professional proofreading services, the first and easiest step is simply to go to your computer and begin typing.

When a proofreader, especially a trained and experienced one, checks over your work to identify and remove as many mistakes and errors as possible, it is worth remembering that they are drawing on a highly-developed and distinctive set of skills. Needless to say, not everybody possesses this set of skills, and – in some cases –a proofreader who lacks the necessary experience and attention to detail can severely damage your work. This costs you a lot, whether you are a business owner, an aspiring researcher, or a student. Not only do you waste money in paying for a service that did not provide as advertised, but you also put your reputation on the line in submitting a suboptimal document.

If you are looking for a proofreader who is based in London (or if you, a London-based business or student, want to find a proofreader), do not simply hire the first freelancer or company you come across when you conduct your Internet search.

There are many unscrupulous service providers in today’s online space. Since the World Wide Web is effectively a “World Wild West”, where anybody can publish a website and begin offering services, you should check to ensure that the company you are considering is reliable, effective, and suitable for your unique needs. One way you can do this is by communicating directly with the service provider or a representative (e.g., by phone or by email), but it is also recommended that you receive a free sample before handing over any money.

Book Proofreading Services in London, UK

Both book proofreading services UK, as well as conventional proofreading services, can provide the help of trained and qualified professionals, which can have a dramatic impact on the quality of your manuscript. This can improve your chances of publication, and it can also save you considerable amounts of energy and time. Therefore, this article outlines several of the most important ways that proofreading services, especially for book authors (including e-book writers, fiction writers, non-fiction writers, and others), can benefit your success as an aspiring or established writer.

Reluctance to use book proofreading services UK is well-documented. Although – to the best of our knowledge – no empirical research has examined this issue, one can clearly see that many book authors are sceptical about hiring proofreaders to check over their work simply based on an observation of the huge number of spelling, typographical, and spelling errors that many books, and especially e-books, contain. You might be surprised to find this, especially if it has been a while since you sat down and read a book (if you are anything like us, platforms such as Audible are largely responsible for this!).However, in the next e-book you read, it is almost guaranteed that you will find a typo, so prevalent is the reluctance among many authors to use proofreading services.

Image: Many people now use Audible, but books are still widely bought, sold, and read

Even the most widely-known book authors, despite the widespread availability and affordability of book proofreading services UK, are often reluctant to spend money on recruiting a strong proofreader or editor. For example, the first edition of the first Harry Potter novel, The Philosopher’s Stone, was notoriously ridden with typographical errors! Someone trying to find an excuse not to use a proofreader might point out that, in 2019, a first edition of The Philosopher’s Stone sold at auction for around 90,000 US dollars. However, it seems self-evident that this is not to be taken as an endorsement of including spelling mistakes in your next book, in the hope that this might somehow increase its value. Rowling’s series of novels became popular in spite of the typographical errors and altogether clumsy writing the book contained, and – as a matter of fact – it is known that the author began to use book proofreading services UK intensively before publishing her next books.

Image: The first edition of The Philosopher’s Stone is recognisable by its typos

Why is it, then, that so many books contain typos, grammar errors, and other types of embarrassing slips of the pen? The reasons are complex, but the main one stems from the misperception, held by many authors, that because they are extremely talented writers, they must therefore be equally talented proofreaders. As noted, however, this is a serious misperception. To become adept at providing proofreading services and to develop the ability to check over someone else’s written work in an efficient, systematic, and highly effective way, one must receive dedicated training. In certain cases, experience can compensate for official proofreading qualifications, but almost all writers, especially those who spend most of their time working on the creative task of producing books, lack this experience. As a result, the painstaking, analytical, and detail-oriented task of weeding out basic errors in a document is often not a natural talent for creative authors.

Professional Rewriting Services

A professional rewriting service transforms a piece of text. The purpose of rewriting services is to take a specific paragraph or excerpt from a document (for example, a book chapter, a web page,a blog post, or an academic article), and to rearrange the structure, ideas, and arguments so as to achieve two critical things: (a) to keep exactly the same meaning as the original document; and (b) to create a new, cohesive piece of text.

The image below presents an example of a typical rewriting service. Notice that, in Example 1, there is a nicely written and very formal-sounding sentence, which contains a lot of information, but which is slightly technical and complicated. In the rewritten (or “paraphrased”) version of the text, shown in Example 2, the person who provided the service has kept exactly the same meaning as in the first, but the text has been changed. Note that several grammar and spelling errors in the original version have been corrected, and the length of the sentence has been shortened substantially. Issues such as the stylistically undesirable use of the passive voice have also been addressed as part of the professional rewriting service.

Image: Rewriting services can transform pieces of text

Since this type of service can have such a powerful effect in transforming the way a document looks, sounds, and reads, they can be valuable in different areas. For example, if you are a student who needs to perform a literature review,then the write-up phase for your literature review’s findings will involve an extensive amount of paraphrasing the results of other studies. If you recruit a paraphraser/rewriter to provide this service (which is essentially the same thing), then they can, for example, paraphraser the results sections of ten academic articles, which is an immense aid for a researcher. For academics, this practice closely resembles one of the key duties of an academic research assistant. Literature reviews are an especially important way to develop knowledge in an area of study, and professional Proofreading services can play a key role in the process of completing reliable, transparent, and comprehensive literature reviews.

Another application of this service relates to the issue of plagiarism. When pieces of software such as Turnitin (which is used widely by universities and other institutions) are applied to some documents, the so-called “similarity index” (SI) value may be too high. For example, at some universities (e.g., Newcastle University and Oxford University), an acceptable SI value for a scientific paper, as ranked by Turnitin, ranges between 15% and 25%. For a humanities paper (e.g., a dissertation in musicology or English literature), the maximum accepted SI value may be even lower than this. Therefore, for some students, if Turnitin returns an SI value that is too high, one solution is to hire a rewriter to paraphraser the sections of the report that Turnitin identified as problematic. The image below shows a typical Turnitin report with “plagiarised” (or, at the very least, problematically similar) content highlighted in different colours.

Image: Turnitin reports highlight all the places where paraphrasing or proper attribution is essential

Altogether, it is clear that paraphrasers and rewrites can add a substantial amount of value to the life of a researcher. Paraphrases can be used as research assistants, as specialists to perfect a document’s style and structure, or as experts for solving the problems highlighted by Turnitin. At the same time, it is also worth emphasising the advantages of rewriters for marketing, content strategies, and other initiatives. Rolling out engaging and high-quality content quickly is significantly easier with a skilled rewriter on the team, and so considers looking further into these professional services.

Essential Tips on Proofreading and Editing Services

Editing and proofreading documents is an art and a science. For this reason, proofreading services and editing services, despite being readily available online, are incredibly complex to provide, meaning it is vitally important to find a reliable and experienced person to work with.

The success of professional proofreading services and editing services depends on highly qualified editors and proofreaders, but the skills needed in each case are different. For example, editors should hold some level of experience and, ideally, expertise in the subject of the document they are editing (e.g., mathematics knowledge for computer science papers), whereas many of the world’s best proofreaders are not subject matter experts.

Image: Different skill sets are needed for proofreading and editing

Differences in the types of proofreading and editing services that are offered by many of the well-known service providers online are also important to consider. For example, some proofreaders may offer document formatting as a separate service, whereas others will format the document you submit while proofreading it. Other service types are also relevant to bear in mind when you are hiring a proofreader or editor, includingthe increasingly popular “double proofreading” service (this involves two proofreaders working independently on a document, whose corrections are then combined to complete the overall proofreading services task). Although the effectiveness double proofreading may not be higher than traditional proofreading (it actually has some significant downsides!), it is important to know that there are multiple options available.

Image: Diverse types of proofreading and editing exist

One of the main tips to know about that relates to proofreading services and editing services is that, in order to find the strongest person to work with, price is not always the most important factor to consider. For example, many companies offer lower rates than the well-known names, and their service quality is just as high. A good way to separate the high-quality companies and freelancers from the low-quality ones is to get in touch with them, to explain what you need, and to evaluate their response. If possible, ask for a free sample (most service providers will offer this), and that will also be able to tell you whether to go with a particular company. Another key issue to look for relates to the guarantees that come with, for example, editing services, where an unlimited number of revisions may be offered by the service provider to ensure customer satisfaction.

Image: Quality doesn’t always align with price – learn something about your editor before buying

Altogether, it is important to remember that editing and proofreading are different things. You are likely to need both at some point, even in the course of completing the same document (e.g., editing for more comprehensive re-work, and proofreading for pieces of text you are more confident about). Paying attention to the tips highlighted throughout this article will help you remain alert for the main things that can lead to a positive proofreading or editing experience. In particular, focus on price, quality, and communicating with your proofreader or editor to learn about how they can address your needs directly.