Proofreader Preference: Someone you know or someone you do not?
By diannelee89
@diannelee89 (52)
Philippines
June 27, 2012 3:09am CST
I am currently writing a book, hoping have it published it someday. It is a dream come true. Naturally, we want our books to be as polished as it can be. No misspelled words, grammatical errors, and incorrect use of punctuation marks, and so forth.
Now I intend to have my book proofread. Do you recommend to have it proofread by someone you know - let's say a relative or a close friend - or by someone you do not - like an anonymous professional proofreader? Does it matter?
I have heard that if you have your book proofread or edited by someone you know, he will be too biased or concerned about your feelings. Thus, he may only provide you good comments and all. On the other hand, he may know you well, what you intend to achieve and portray - thus, he will know how to revise your manuscript. What do you think?
I will appreciate any comments and feedback. Thank you!
1 person likes this
4 responses
@doroffee (4222)
• Hungary
27 Jun 12
If the person who you don't know is a professional, I'd definitely choose them. Your friends may be biased, pay attention to the book and your talent and their being proud of you instead of doing the actual work. Someone you don't know would concentrate on the business :).
@diannelee89 (52)
• Philippines
1 Jul 12
True. Close friends tend to be biased and only want to make you feel good about your work. It's nice and sweet, but you need to be serious about what's really quality and not if you want to publish something that you really worked hard for.
I appreciate your response. Thank you.
@syramoon (654)
• United States
27 Jun 12
I would do both actually. I have many projects half done, but my dream is to be a published writer, so I have thought of this before. I would keep a copy of the original of course, but I would get a couple people I know to read it, proof, and make suggestions, but then I would want a profession editor/proof reader to look at it too, and maybe more than one. Then I would take into opinion every thing they said. Good Luck on your publishing journey.
@diannelee89 (52)
• Philippines
1 Jul 12
Thank you. It is great that you are doing a lot of projects. I am just getting started, and I hope I will be successful. Since I have plenty of time now, I can focus more on finishing my manuscript.
Hiring a few professional editors can be costly, that's for sure. I guess I will have to deal with it later once I'm done polishing my manuscript. I'm really excited!
@crimsonladybug (3112)
• United States
27 Jun 12
First you have to separate the difference between proofreading and editing. Proofreading should be done by someone who has a good working knowledge of grammar, syntax, spelling and mechanics and who knows how and where to look things up if they have questions about should I have put a comma between spelling and mechanics? Editing is where personal feelings come into play and that should be done by someone you trust to give you an honest reading. I have friends who I think are honest with me about my writing but have also never really given me any negative feedback so I can't be 100% sure. I assume they are being honest because they say they are and they are my friends so I should trust them but... you know how it goes.
Also, I think getting a few different people to read it is a good idea. The human mind has a tendency to auto-correct and that makes us miss things. The more people you have reading, the more likely they will be to catch all the errors (or a vast majority of them).
@mariakelly42 (54)
•
27 Jun 12
Well, hiring professional proofreaders have merit. They are more experienced, and they also have the expertise and understanding of what it takes to proofread a book. Editing a book is more than just taking grammatical errors after all.
Asking a friend to proofread your book is advantageous because it's free of charge, but you'd have to pick a friend that knows how to be objective and not biased.
Hope this helps! :)
