September 17th, 2010
Proofreaders vs Editors
Just a little note to explain the difference between proofreaders and editors.
Proofreaders, are an your first step after you’ve polished your manuscript to the best of your ability. They see what you’ve actually written instead of what you intended to write.
A good proofreader with tell you where your story goes off track, slows down, goes too fast, skips important bits and get stuff wrong.
We highly recommend finding other authors to work with and proofreader each other’s stories. It might take some time to find authors who are a good fit but it’s worth the time and effort because their input is invaluable. There are also some really good paid critique services as well if you can’t find other authors to work with.
When your proofreader gives you their feedback, go back and fix the problems. Then re-polish your manuscript.
When you send your manuscript through to a publishing company, you’re dealing with editors.
No matter what size the publishing company, if an editor is going to reject your manuscript, they’ll do it within the first few pages.
Editors are part of the publishing business. They don’t have time to invest in correcting problematic writing. If they’re not captured by your story, or see basic errors that should have been caught by you or your proofreader, they’ll toss your manuscript without a 2nd thought.
Smaller companies like ourselves, try to help new authors, by giving some direction on how to improve their writing.
This doesn’t make us proofreaders.
At PBB, we offer a few general comments about the biggest issues we see and provide a few examples for clarity. If there were only those specific mistakes in your manuscript, you would be offered a contract.
There is an expectation that you, the author, take those examples and see how they apply to your entire novel.
If you’re having difficulty identifying trouble spots, get your proofreader to help. because after all, they see what you’ve actually written, not what you meant to write.
Good luck with your writing!
Sue