Lesson 9: Proofreading & Copyediting Professionally

Objectives:

• To enumerate the advantages of working as a professional proofreader and copyeditor
• To enumerate the disadvantages of working as a professional proofreader and copyeditor
• To briefly discuss the different challenges one might come across as a professional proofreader and copyeditor

Quick Navigation through the Lesson 9:

• Punctuality
• Stress Levels
• Time Management

In this penultimate lesson, we’ll be looking at proofreading and copyediting professionally. In this lesson, we’ll be discussing certain expectations that your employers will have as well as the different advantages and disadvantages of working as a professional proofreader and copyeditor. This knowledge will help you make various choices with regard to how to use your proofreading and copyediting skills as well as which career paths to pursue.

These main points are outlined below:

Punctuality

When it comes to the publishing and editing industry, there are usually very strict deadlines—especially when it comes to periodical publications such as newspapers, magazines and journals. This means that you’ll be expected to submit deliverables at a certain time, on a certain date. On one hand, this can be very good training for your future career—on the other hand, if you feel like you can’t work well under pressure, it might be best to proofread and copyedit for fun or for your personal endeavors as opposed to doing it professionally.

Stress Levels

The stress levels of professional proofreading and copyediting can be very high—especially if your job entails working on voluminous amounts of text which are to be worked through in a small amount of time. This is one of the biggest challenges of copyediting and proofreading: while the project is in motion, you are at the beck and call of the endeavor—if something needs to get done, it needs to get done. However, the one thing which makes this seeming disadvantage a little better is that this is the case for most jobs. There is a certain amount of stress which comes with every means of employment and compared to other fields such as engineering, firefighting or the medical professions, the stress here is relatively low-key.

Time Management

Seeing as how most means of employment as a professional proofreader or copyeditor are now online or on a freelance basis, the freedom to manage your time or to select which projects to work on is one of the biggest advantages of working as a proofreader and copyeditor. These projects allow you to manage your life and to pursue the endeavors you would like, allowing you to lead a fuller, happier life.

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Here we were able to discuss the different factors of working as a professional proofreader and copyeditor, along with their advantages and disadvantages. This allows you to go into the field with adequate knowledge of what to expect and in turn, what is going to be expected of you. Furthermore, we were able to look at how certain factors of working as a professional copyeditor and proofreader can be both advantageous and risky. This knowledge properly equips you to make decisions with regard to your career.

We’ve now come to the end of our short but informative class. Next up we’re going to be concluding our lesson with a short summary and synthesis of everything that we’ve learned so far.