Anyone make money from proofreading?

dream of silver

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Hi

I'm after a bit of advice.... I'm looking at whether I can make money being a proofreader, and wondering if anyone does this and can give me some advice?

I used to do a lot of copywriting and proofreading in my previous life in an office job, plus I have excellent spelling/punctuation skills, but I don't have any specific proofreading qualifications. Would I need to do some kind of qualification before I could start marketing myself? And if so what? I know that Caitlin Pyle offers a free course via Proofread Anywhere, but I don't fancy paying for her full course as it's kind of expensive!

Also, where do I advertise my services? I've already looked at People Per Hour and Fiverr - are these good money earners? And are there are other good sites?

Any advice would be very welcome! Thanks in advance.

Laura x
 

Jon

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Hi

I'm after a bit of advice.... I'm looking at whether I can make money being a proofreader, and wondering if anyone does this and can give me some advice?

I used to do a lot of copywriting and proofreading in my previous life in an office job, plus I have excellent spelling/punctuation skills, but I don't have any specific proofreading qualifications. Would I need to do some kind of qualification before I could start marketing myself? And if so what? I know that Caitlin Pyle offers a free course via Proofread Anywhere, but I don't fancy paying for her full course as it's kind of expensive!

Also, where do I advertise my services? I've already looked at People Per Hour and Fiverr - are these good money earners? And are there are other good sites?

Any advice would be very welcome! Thanks in advance.

Laura x
I think @Arika does
 

Arika

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Hi, @dream of silver

I make money from proofreading, but not a full-time income.

I didn't have any specific proofreading qualifications, just an eye for spotting stuff, so I'd proofread some of my friends' poetry collections and mags.

I wanted computer-based proofreading work; it took me a while, but luckily, I found two jobs via Craigslist, one which I stayed with for two or three years 'til they closed down.

I'm now working for a company I found via MTurk (Amazon) called TextRanch (www.textranch.com).

I'd say you don't need a specific qualification for paid proofreading, though I don't think it would hurt to have it. What I think is more important is your experience and skill.

Maybe think about who you want to target and that will help you determine where and how to market what you have to offer. I don't know what else to say in that regard as I never really marketed myself. I looked for work and applied.

It might be worth signing up for Caitlin's free course and being in her Facebook group for the inspiration/encouragement.

Good luck.
 
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BreeziOG

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I do too.
I work on a freelance basis with an academic proofreading company, and I also pick up gigs on PeoplePerHour and Upwork. I do proofreading, editing and rewriting - its good to have additional strings to your bow, so your previous copywriting experience can serve you well.
A specific proofreading qualification isn't necessary I've found, more a good eye for detail and an ability to work within specific guidelines (style of English, tone etc) is better. However, particular expertise in a certain area, such as medical or technical writing, will help you out. Additionally, from the academic side, a university qualification is usually required.

Good luck.
 

dream of silver

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Thanks both. I think I'll brush up on my skills via free resources and books, then dip my toe in the water with People Per Hour. Hopefully I can start with some simple stuff first. My background was in marketing, so I was usually copywriting/proofreading posters, brochures, flyers etc. I think I'd be fairly flexible in terms of the type of material I could look at, as long as it's not too specialised.

Thanks again!
 
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Robinette

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I do this too. I fell into it almost by accident by replying to an add on Gumtree for a self-employed position with a UK-based content mill and it has grown from there. I can't recommend the aforementioned content mill but it did give me the confidence to apply to and be accepted by a far better content provider and take on private clients.

Good luck.
 
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dream of silver

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@Arika @BreeziOG @Robinette
Just wondering what applications you actually use when you do proofreading? I'm in the process of signing up to People Per Hour to see how it goes. When I did it in my previous job (some time ago) I would either mark up the changes manually using pen & paper, or we sometimes used a version of Adobe Acrobat where you could mark up changes online. Obviously pen & paper isn't suitable when you're proofreading online, and I've not got the Acrobat version now. Is Microsoft Word with 'track changes' suitable? What sort of files do people tend to send you, is it usually Microsoft Word?

Thanks in advance!
 

Arika

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@dream of silver: For private clients, I use the Track Changes tool in Microsoft Word. Sometimes, I'm sent a Word doc. Other times, I get the content sent in the body of an email, which I then copy, paste and save in Word (and send back as a Word attachment and content in the body of the email so they can use either one). Any content sent in the body is often an email they want me to proof.
 

BreeziOG

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@Arika @BreeziOG @Robinette
Just wondering what applications you actually use when you do proofreading? I'm in the process of signing up to People Per Hour to see how it goes. When I did it in my previous job (some time ago) I would either mark up the changes manually using pen & paper, or we sometimes used a version of Adobe Acrobat where you could mark up changes online. Obviously pen & paper isn't suitable when you're proofreading online, and I've not got the Acrobat version now. Is Microsoft Word with 'track changes' suitable? What sort of files do people tend to send you, is it usually Microsoft Word?

Thanks in advance!

Track changes is generally the most acceptable and commonly used tool - I use this for all but 1 of my clients. 1 client sends me documents as PDFs and I use the comment feature available in the free version of Adobe Reader - we're trying to come up with another solution for this however, as it is not practical for large documents, and very time consuming on both sides. I could invest in Adobe Pro so I could make the changes directly to the PDF, but I don't see the benefit in it for the amount of use I'd actually get out of it.

How've you found People Per Hour so far?
 

hanna.obrien.79

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Hi there, I would love to get into proofreading. Wondered if anyone was still doing this or had any reliable sources out there to check out. Seems I registered with Text Ranch ages ago and never heard anything back.
 

BreeziOG

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Hi there, I would love to get into proofreading. Wondered if anyone was still doing this or had any reliable sources out there to check out. Seems I registered with Text Ranch ages ago and never heard anything back.

I still do, it accounts for about 90% of the work that comes through my business, despite having cut back a lot due to chronic illness. The advice I posted earlier still stands :)
 
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Scratch

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Hi @Arika, do you have a contact at TextRanch or any tips on how to get hired by them? All I can see on the website is to join a mailing list and it seems like a few people on here have never heard back from them.

I used to work at ChattingCat, which seemed pretty much identical but it closed down a few years ago. Does anyone know of any other similar companies?
 
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Dianeayr

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Interesting thread, I like the idea of proofreading and will definitely take a look, I always thought you had to be qualified to do that! Can I ask what the PingPong is about, I see a few of the comments has the link to it. What does it entail and is the pay any good? Thanks in advance.
 
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Arika

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Interesting thread, I like the idea of proofreading and will definitely take a look, I always thought you had to be qualified to do that! Can I ask what the PingPong is about, I see a few of the comments has the link to it. What does it entail and is the pay any good? Thanks in advance.

Hi, @Dianeayr.

Proofreading: Good luck :)

PingPong: I placed the PingPong link in my signature which is why it's coming up when I make a comment.

PingPong is a research site where you're asked to give live feedback on a product (a website or app). If you're lucky to qualify and grab a slot, the research is done online/remotely.

The pay is good, but I rarely get anything from them. The last one I did with them was back in 2017.
 
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