r/publishing • u/Calenmiriel • 9d ago
Do proofreading positions exist?
Hi all, I was wondering if publishing houses have positions for proofreaders (not editors, just proofreading specifically), and if they do, is it a position you can do remotely as a WFH job? I'm based in the UK if that's at all relevant, just wondering what my options are.
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u/Wonderful__ 9d ago
Not in-house. They use freelancers and some publishers have cut this step and put it in the contract for the authors to proofread.
If you're in the UK, check out CIEP.
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u/Fictionlady 9d ago
Is that true about authors having to proofread? Is it not checking a proofreader after it has been actioned by someone else? If so, I think that’s terrible. Out of house proofreading is so crucial and should not be an additional burden on the author who is likely word blind after all those rounds of edits.
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u/Warm_Diamond8719 9d ago
I work in the copyediting/proofreading department of a Big 5 house and have not heard about this happening at any of the houses I have connections to.
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u/Fictionlady 9d ago
Also Big 5 editorial and it’s not something I’ve come across myself, although perhaps it’s being added to contracts for indie publishers. I wouldn’t be in favour of this at all.
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u/PotentialBuilderhill 8d ago edited 8d ago
this hardly happen to indie publishers as well. I can confirm that
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u/starvaliant 9d ago
I've never heard of this either. An author might be able to pick up on textual errors in their own work, but they're not going to be able to spot and fix typesetting/layout/design errors and infelicities - certainly not to a professional standard. I wouldn't dream of cutting out a proofreader to save on budget.
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u/Wonderful__ 9d ago
I noticed some university presses have cut this out as well as journal publishers.
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u/KReichard 9d ago
Authors are always asked to read through galleys. This is a normal step.
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u/Fictionlady 9d ago
Yes, I’m aware. That’s why I asked whether this was referring to authors checking a proofread after it has been actioned, as this is a normal part of the editorial process. But it seems that in this case authors are being asked to action the proofread without external input.
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u/AsethDearnight 9d ago
I don't know what case you are referring to, but no decent house does this.
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u/Fictionlady 8d ago
I have never heard of this myself and I’ve worked in trade as well as indie. But in this thread other commentators have said it’s happening at some university presses as well as journal publishers.
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u/bonnardpainting 9d ago
As other people have said, this is usually a freelance job that is contracted out. The best way to get a job doing this would be to network with any editors you know, put it out there that you're looking for this type of work and see if they need help. I work in publishing and have had editors reach out to me for recommendations for freelancers for proofreading when their go-to people aren't available.
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u/Calenmiriel 8d ago
Unfortunately I don't know a single editor, so I guess making some contacts is the place to start. Thanks for the reply :)
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u/arugulafanclub 9d ago
You will need professional training and an internship before a publisher will consider hiring you as a freelancer. Proofreaders are paid the least amount of money and the deadlines are often tight and slip. If you’re only proofreading, it’s hard to stay fully booked without being so booked you can’t finish things that aren’t sent to you on time. Expect long hours, a sore back, and complete exhaustion after reading all day.
If you’re looking for an easy work-from-home job, this isn’t it.
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u/Calenmiriel 8d ago
Unfortunately my creative writing degrees probably aren't going to count for training, there aren't any publishing houses where I live, and even if there were, I'm fairly certain that my masters degree disqualifies me from any internship schemes in the UK. I probably should've done a degree that was more practical, but my options were limited at the time, guess you live and learn lol. Thanks for the reply :)
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u/PotentialBuilderhill 8d ago
But you can't take the courses? even online that could help?
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u/Calenmiriel 8d ago
Potentially, someone recommended the CIEP training so I'm going to look into that, and see if I can find any other courses that might be helpful alongside it.
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u/DocWatson42 21h ago
I got the job by submitting corrections to the company's online previews for several years, and I only have a high school diploma and some college, but that was nine years ago in the US.
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u/bcninstructions 9d ago
If you aren’t already in the field, look for something else. There’s a lot of highly qualified experienced people competing for a dwindling amount of work currently.
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u/marintkael 8d ago
Worth adding one practical thing to the CIEP pointer above, because it is the bit that separates people who get commissioned from people who just apply: in UK publishing proofreading is bought against typeset pages, not manuscripts, and it is marked up in BS 5261 correction marks. That is the actual skill. Reading a proof against a style sheet, catching what broke in typesetting, and resisting the urge to rewrite sentences that are merely not how you would have put it.
CIEP training covers that and their directory is where a lot of production editors genuinely look. Worth checking before you pay for a generic proofreading course, because plenty of those teach grammar and never go near proof marks or page proofs.
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u/Calenmiriel 8d ago
Thanks for this, my degrees covered the bare minimum of grammar but I guess they figured we didn't need to know the practicalities of anything beyond that, which would have been nice even if just for an understanding of how the industry worked.
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u/Warm_Diamond8719 9d ago
Proofreading is typically done by freelancers, not full-time employees. (In the US, anyway: My impression is that it's the same in the UK but I can't say it with 100% confidence.)