Some successful writers can and do manage to write, rest
their brains and fingers for a time period, and go back
to edit and proofread the work themselves.

For the writer, the mantra has always been “good writing is re-writing.” For the agent, having the ability to spot a good literary work is a must. BUT, the agent does not edit or proofread, as a rule.

I have heard it said in a forum for writers, “If writers can do their own editing,
they certainly can learn how to do proofreading.”

Is this necessarily true? I am skilled as an editor and proofreader but KNOW I am no writer … does a writer necessarily have the skills of grammar and spelling and word usage?

I know that I often miss my own mistakes because I know what I EXPECT to SEE
and know what I MEANT to SAY. This is often the case and why I have always said
that even proofreaders NEED proofreaders …

Proofreading is the end part of the editing process, focusing on surface errors like wrong spellings, grammar and punctuation errors. Proofreading should be done only after the editing revisions are finished.

Put another way, separate the editing work from your proofreading work.
When editing, you want to connect ideas and smooth out the word flow
rather than thinking of punctuation, grammar or spelling.

Here’s a sampler on how to proofread your work.

Never depend on grammar and spell checkers. They have limited dictionaries.
Spell checkers will not catch the error if your misspelled word is also a valid word.
(your and you’re, there and their, etc.)

Proofread for only one kind of error at a time. It is easier to catch grammar errors
if you are not checking punctuations and spelling mistakes at the same time.

Read slowly. Better yet, read the words aloud. Two senses (sight and sound) are always better than one. You can do this if you separate the text into separate sentences.

Press the return key after each period so that every line begins with a new sentence.
Use a ruler if you are working with a printed copy.

Circle every punctuation mark to force you to look at each one. Later, go back and ask
if these punctuations are correct. (Commas usually flood some long-winded sentences without your knowing it.)

Read the paper backwards. This technique is best in checking spelling.
Start from the last word and work your way to the beginning.
Since grammar is incoherent, your attention is solely on the spelling of each word.

Learning process

As you do your own proofreading, hopefully you would know your weak and strong points.
You would then know how to do a systematic strategy to find errors that are typical of you.
You will learn to discover specific areas in your writing that need careful attention.

Do you think paid editorial services can do this for you?

I do proofreading and editing in two different manners.

The most cost efficient method for the client is for me to just make the necessary changes
as I go. Some clients, however, want to SEE the changes that are made and also want me to make suggestions that they can adopt or ignore. This is much more timely, so costs the client more, but he or she can then see what needed fixed and hopefully learn what to avoid or use in the future.

I have been blessed with some wonderful clients who KNOW that they need my services. Sadly, so many savvy business people and great authors DO NOT believe that it even matters if their web sites, blogs or books are filled with errors. Even sadder still is the fact that a lot of their visitors or readers will not notice or even care if they do. As a former
Honor Roll Grammar, Reading and Spelling student, that really saddens me.

Remember, I am a Virtual Assistant who LOVES to do editing,
proofreading and transcription assignments!

Jan Tallent
Tallent Agency Virtual Assistance

573-775-4520 jan@tallentagency.com

When I decided to move my home based office services business
forward to the now popular Virtual Assistance niche, I saw a lot
of advice both for and against specializing my services.

Knowing where my strengths lie and where I have NO expertise,
I decided that specializing was the way for ME, personally, to go.

It is like when I worked in the *real world* as a Kelly Girl, which was a huge employer
for temporary office help, I only accepted assignments for file clerk, receptionist or general office. I could DO many office tasks but either did not feel qualified or frankly, did not WANT to perform several of the jobs that were offered to me.

I turned down several office management job offers although I was qualified TO do
the jobs – I instead opted to train someone else to fulfill the duties for those jobs.
I did not want the responsibility of running the offices and preferred to have set tasks
to perform daily as apposed to being in charge of staff and the stress that I saw coming with those jobs.

This said, there are Virtual Assistance services that I cannot do or do not want to do.
So I am concentrating on my strengths, which are:

Proofreading

Editing

Transcription

Social Network Assistance

Research

Because each client is as different in his or her way of wanting things done
as each office is, I am constantly in training as I work with each person.
Since I love to work and love to learn, this is a great business for me to be in.

Kind of like when I had temp jobs with Kelly Girl, I am responsible to get my portion
of the work done but ultimately NOT having the headaches and stresses of the business owner. Of course, I do still have those with my OWN businesses, but that is another story.

Since I know that most of us are feeling this money crisis, to both ensure that I can work steadily and to help the budget of potential clients, I have come up with my retainer plans. This can be of huge benefit to those who need my services but cannot afford, or do not want to spend, my hourly fees. I have beaten every other reputable deal I could find
in my specialties to achieve this.

Here are my Retainer Services – Paid in advance ONLY:

* Proofreading, Editing, Social Networking Assistance, Help Desk Assistance,
Email Account Maintenance, Blog Posting, Web Page updates, Submitting your Blogs
& Articles to directories, etc. can be retained weekly or monthly to save you money
and assure continual work flow.

* Ten hours per week $15 per hour = $150

* Fifteen hours per week $13 per hour = $199

* Twenty hours per week $11 per hour = $220

* You can use your entire retainer fee on one project
OR mix them up in any categories as needed

* Monthly retainer of at least 20 hours per week, EVERY week,
booked and paid in advance for a month at a time = $10 per hour.
Limited to TWO monthly retainer clients.

Click here to schedule a retainer project.

Remember, I am a Virtual Assistant who LOVES to do editing,
proofreading and transcription assignments!

Jan Tallent
Tallent Agency Virtual Assistance

573-775-4520 jan@tallentagency.com

Not having any writing skills to brag about and not being at ALL talented with art or graphics skills, I am a huge fan of PLR, or Private Label Rights products. I am also a digital *junkie* so do admit to purchasing every interesting or useful ebook, article pack or instant biz type item I can find.

Luckily, with PLR products, we are allowed to edit them as we see fit. We can change the names, web site info, resell at any price we choose and most importantly, to ME, a proofreader, can fix the often few but sometimes MANY typos and run ons and other annoying mistakes.

I had been searching my last few months worth of downloads, knowing I had purchased a book on copy writing but having forgotten its NAME, having quite a time of finding it! I am usually very organized, but for some reason lately have been remiss in filing all downloads in my handy categories for easy use.

Well, great news, last night I found it! It is a really informational and interesting ebook of an interview with Alex Mandossian, done by Louis Allport, titled 10 Steps To Killer Web Copy.

Over the past twelve years, Alex has made his clients and himself over $184 million in sales. Yes, you read that right!

He’s the marketing consultant many internet experts consult with.

The book is exceptional BUT I have to be honest here, the mini-site salespage was coded to where it was all one LONG line, instead of the usual from top to bottom format, AND half of the words IN the salespage were all run together with no spaces. I am not sure if this was an accident and a proofreader / editor was needed or if it was done to make the reseller “work”, but it took me almost two hours to edit the salespage and get it ready to use.

This is just one of the many services your Virtual Assistant can perform for you. And, if you purchase the above product, I will edit YOUR salespage, except for your name and website info and payment information, for FREE.

Remember, I am a Virtual Assistant who LOVES to do editing,
proofreading and transcription assignments!

Jan Tallent
Tallent Agency Virtual Assistance

573-775-4520 jan@tallentagency.com