Affix Graphic Design
& Proofreading
PROOFREADING SERVICES
Proofreading is an essential part of the writing process and your
success as an author, editor, technical writer, advertiser,
marketing director, or business owner.
WHY PROOFREADING IS ESSENTIAL
Proofreading
Portfolio Pages
​
TRACK CHANGES
ADOBE ACROBAT
FORMATTING
You invest a considerable amount of time, energy, and creativity in your writing. That alone qualifies it to undergo the process of proofreading so that it sparkles, free from errors. But in our humble opinion, there's actually more to proofreading than spit and shine. If we're right, you write so others want to read everything you (or your clients) have to say.
o
Proofreading is the last, unsung, but crucial step that improves the readability of your writing — be it an original novella, step-by-step home improvement article, or motivating advertising message. We'd go so far as to say that proofreading is one of the most effective tools that a writer can use to affect how long and intensely readers stay engaged with their writing and that that can influence and feed the growth of your readership, livelihood, and, perhaps most important of all, your soul.
o
Now, that's a pretty bold statement to make. But think about it. How many times have you been reading when a spelling, punctuation, or word use error disrupts the flow and pace of you're reading? A break in concentration like that is disruptive and if it happens often enough, it becomes a real threat of losing the reader's attention altogether. and if that isn't bad enough, the reader's esteem for the writer could be damaged and unrecoverable.
A skilled Affix proofreader can help distinguish you as a savvy writer, trusted authority, or highly adept businessperson. Or all three!
AFFIX PROOFREADING is searching for and identifying language errors in an edited,
US English text document and annotating corrections for our clients to accept and implement, or reject.
​
• We proofread for errors in spelling, grammar, punctuation, word usage, consistency,
formatting, and conscious language.
o
• Content for proofreading may be found in headlines, text, charts, graphs, tables, image
captions and other graphics for a wide variety of online and printed items including
periodicals, ads, e-books, business emails and correspondence, websites, blogs —
even t-shirts and billboards.
o
• Proofreading is not writing or rewriting. Those are the writer's realm and responsibility.
Does that mean we won't point out the occasional problem we see that's outside the
scope of proofreading? Of course not, that be neither professional or kind.
We aim to be both.
o
Affix proofreads your writing using our life experience, deductive reasoning, and career-acquired skills. We support our skills with the following traditional and online proofreading references and resources.
o
• The Chicago Manual of Style, Associated Press StyleBook, Merriam-Webster Dictionary,
and The New Collegiate Oxford Dictionary. We also honor and implement client style
requests, and utilize custom style sheets provided by clients.
o
• Annotating software Microsoft Track changes, GoogleDocs, and Adobe Acrobat Pro
and Reader.
O
o
• Web searches, state-of-the-art online language platforms and websites, and books.
STRUCTURAL & COPY EDITING
Affix Proofreading Services offers structural and copy editing
to writers of shorter US English documents.
WHAT IS STRUCTURAL & COPY EDITING?
STRUCTURAL EDITING looks at the overall way writing is organized. Structural editing looks at the big picture of the writing while focusing in on the logical flow, style, tone, and general quality of the writing. Structural editing is done before copy editing and proofreading. Structural editing is not developmental editing, which is typically done by an editor teamed with a writer at the beginning or in-progress on a large writing project.
o
COPY EDITING deals with the mechanics of writing and finding ways to improve overall clarity, readability, and flow of text so it’s seamless for the reader. The focus of copy editing is on sentence structure, word choice, tone, and consistency. These ensure that the writing communicates effectively to the intended audience. Copy editing may also help to make the writing more compelling and impactful without changing the writer's voice. Copy editing is done after structural changes are completed and before final text is submitted for proofreading.
o
Writing submitted to Affix for structural or copy editing is typically used for: brochures, short stories and novellas, website and magazine editorial sections and articles, advertorials and advertisements, website page sections, newsletters, graphic novels, blogs, business correspondence and announcements, charts and graphs, image captions, and infographics.
THE AFFIX PROOFREADING PROCESS
We start with confidentiality, pricing,
and turnaround — upfront.
o
We protect your privacy from the get-go with a Confidentiality
and Non-Disclosure
Agreement.
•
We provide custom pricing and turnaround estimates based on your writing sample and order form.
•
We promptly
add your project to our work schedule upon
the return of your signed order, initial payment,
and the upload of your document files.
•
We send step-by-step instructions for file prep and transfers to your private and secure folder
at the Affix portal.
​
We read your writing, proofread it, and
read it again.
o
First, we read your written
work from start to finish to understand its intended message and audience.
•
We proofread for the
language errors in your text, annotating corrections
as we go.
•
We apply our corrections
to a copy of your document and read it line-by-line
aloud to polish proofreading
and annotations.
•
Your document with all of our corrections and annotations
is saved. It’s now ready, upon final payment, for the quick trip to your portal folder
for your review.
You accept and make corrections, and take
a final pass on us.*
o
It's your turn.
Choose which corrections you want to make in your document using
Word track changes or Acrobat Reader.
•
When you've finished, simply return a copy of your corrected file to us and we’ll give it your free
final pass.
•
We’ll notify you if we find any issues in the final pass so you can update and finish your document.
•
If all is good to go after the final pass, you'll get an
email letting you know
your job is complete.
*The Affix Final Pass is a final check to confirm that client corrections to their document have been made successfully.