How I help

I trust that you and your team are the experts when it comes to your content. You know what the report needs to say and why it’s been crafted that way.

You don’t want someone charging in and changing the text. That’s not proofreading. So I don’t edit, tweak or ‘improve’ your writing.

What do I do, then? My expertise is in detail and discernment.

It’s knowing the common unintentional issues across content types, efficient ways to locate those oversights, transatlantic English nuances, whether it’s a deliberate stylistic choice and when not to make an amend.

I search out the unintentional errors that can give your clients cause for concern and lead stakeholders to question your claims.

I don’t fiddle or fix – I focus.

Clear, clean content is as much about your readers as it is about your reputation.

When there’s a significant financial outcome or vital call to action, it’s important your readers are engaged to the end.

I follow my strategic 5-stage BEAM process to systematically remove accidental distractions that drag your readers away from the message.

Typos? They’re not even half of it. It’s misplaced hyphens that alter meaning, inconsistencies in stats, misspelt software product names, wrongly pasted footnote links, mis-labelled figure legends and missing table references.

Written content that’s been transferred into the artwork also creates new issues. Paragraphs are copied twice, placeholder text remains mid-page, page numbers aren’t consecutive and watermarks are found floating on images.

I methodically work through artworked files to ensure the design supports the content.

Errors are expected – it’s why I’m here. As your proofreader, I communicate all queries, notes and suggestions with kindness. It’s important to me that I annotate your content in a way that I’d be happy to receive for my own writing.

And I know the work doesn’t end once I’ve returned your proofed content.

The average number of annotations made in 2024 was 73 per 1,000 words. I expect there’ll be a fair few hundred in your content – that’s the norm! Your team needs to work through those amends to decide how to move forwards with the content and the designers are tasked with making all those updates. So I also consider the impact of the changes on you and your design team as I mark up your work.