How one of my readers became my proofreader

[TLH]

It took a reader to rid my book of every last typo.

Seriously. Between me, my beta readers, my editor and another proofreader, I thought we had caught them all. We hadn't

Ashley Case had just finished reading my book and contacted me to let me know I had some typos and grammar mistakes in my book. In my head I was thinking it can't be, maybe she's got an older copy of the book. Nope, she had the latest one. I'm thinking maybe one or two slipped by. I asked her to point them out.

A day later she emailed me back an Excel doc. She looked at 60 pages and found 50 errors. It was all neatly documented in Excel for me. I double checked and sure enough, she was right. I couldn't believe it. I was p*ssed, yet grateful. I emailed her back and said she had a pretty good eye, she should be a proofreader. She quickly emailed me back stating she had a Degree in Linguistics and was dying to become a proofreader but didn't now how to get started. I hired her on the spot.

I hope she stops by to say hi and introduce herself. If you need a great proofreader, consider Ashley.

http://ashleycase.com/

[Judy Powell]

Nice of you to post Ashley's info.  I've made a note of it and will forward on to writer colleagues looking for proofreading assistance.

[Victorine]

She should get a lot of work if she hangs around here.

Nice of you to give out her info.

[NRWick]

Hopefully this doesn't come off as too nosey, but I have a question. What sort of mistakes did she find? It just seems like so many mistakes to find in 60 pages that have already been through an editor and a proofreader, let alone beta readers. As long as it's not out of line, could you give an example or general idea of the types of mistakes she found?

Also, thanks for the link!

[David Adams]

Honestly, I've been looking for a professional proofreader for some time now and she looks like she fits the bill. I've dispatched a query asking when she's free and for a quote.

[Christopher Hunter]

Awesome story. I know exactly what you went through. A few readers were generous enough to help me in the darkest days I was facing criticism. I am eternally grateful. As writers we have the opportunity to touch lives, but even better, we have an opportunity for readers to touch ours.

[TLH]

Hopefully this doesn't come off as too nosey, but I have a question. What sort of mistakes did she find? It just seems like so many mistakes to find in 60 pages that have already been through an editor and a proofreader, let alone beta readers. As long as it's not out of line, could you give an example or general idea of the types of mistakes she found?

Also, thanks for the link!

Not nosey at all. It's a fair question. It does sound like a lot. A lot of the mistakes were dropped words. That's my biggest problem. I can't for the life of me catch those. Some were extra words. Apostrophes where there shouldn't be any or there should be. Missing comma's. Couple of tense problems. Words that should have been capitalized that weren't. Those are some of the examples. I would say of those 50 things, most had to do with dropped words. Maybe 10 of the things she flagged I disagreed with.

One thing I did find helpful is that some of my characters speak broken English and she actually helped me to make that flow better and keep the continuity of it through out the book.

[David Adams]

I mailed her but maybe you'd know TLH -- does she have any openings in the next couple of weeks?

[TLH]

I mailed her but maybe you'd know TLH -- does she have any openings in the next couple of weeks?

I wouldn't know. I do know I was her first customer and she just emailed me today to say she finally got her website up and she was ready for business.

[David Adams]

Cool. Well, maybe I'll be her second then?

[AshleyCase]

Thanks Ty! I appreciate the good review. If anyone has any questions for me don't be afraid to ask. I'm pretty straight forward. The website is ashleycase.com and I check email daily.

[shelleyo1]

Your testimonial on her site actually contains an error.   

I'm glad you found someone you're thrilled with. I'd be concerned about the skills of the proofreader who left that many mistakes in 60 pages. That's far too many for a paid pro.

[Geoffrey]

One thing I did find helpful is that some of my characters speak broken English and she actually helped me to make that flow better and keep the continuity of it through out the book.

Now that's a useful skill to have around.  Its hard reading conversation when a character's accent keeps shifting and I'm sure it's difficult to keep accents straight when writing.

[kayakruthie]

I found the very best way to catch dropped words is to send your manuscript to your kindle, then activate the voice feature, and read along on your computer while the Kindle reads to you, fixing them as you go.  Unless you fall asleep, you should catch them all (and if you fall asleep, you might have other problems with your manuscript). 

[AshleyCase]

Your testimonial on her site actually contains an error.   

I'm glad you found someone you're thrilled with. I'd be concerned about the skills of the proofreader who left that many mistakes in 60 pages. That's far too many for a paid pro.

Yeah, I caught that too, but my husband moved it over to the site for me and didn't catch it before he did so. lol!

[AshleyCase]

Now that's a useful skill to have around.  Its hard reading conversation when a character's accent keeps shifting and I'm sure it's difficult to keep accents straight when writing.

That's where my linguistic background came in handy. I know what words a foreigner would drop depending on their mother tongue.

[NRWick]

That's where my linguistic background came in handy. I know what words a foreigner would drop depending on their mother tongue.

Oooh, now THAT'S fascinating. Your background could really help an author hone their characterization skills.

[David Adams]

Hey all,

I hired Ashley to proofread my novel, Lacuna, and I was incredibly impressed with her work, so I thought I'd bump her thread and recount my experience.

I found Ashley to be extraordinarily professional, extremely skilled and very prompt. She had my book back in my hand, with revisions tracked and spades of commentary and very wise suggestions, in a week and my questions were always answered within 12-24 hours -- given I'm in Australia and she's in the US, that's a very tall order.

She's not kidding about the linguistic knowledge, either. She corrected the Spanish in my book, since she speaks it, and also double-checked the translations of the Chinese I had using translation tools. She really went through the book with a fine toothed comb and she was very affordable too (my ~77k word novel cost about $460 USD). Worth every penny... I'm kicking myself for not letting her at it earlier. Lacuna: Sands of Karathi is going through her before it goes anywhere, that's for sure.

I recommended Ashley to my best mate from uni who's also writing a book and also recommend her for anyone who wants to really polish their novel and make you proud to sell it. The only thing I request is that you all don't completely swamp her, since I will have more novels for her to work on shortly... everything that leaves my hand goes through her now. Can't really recommend her higher than that. Just be aware that she doesn't do erotica.

Five stars, would (will!) hire again.

[AshleyCase]

Thanks for the kind words, Dave! I always love working in new genres and with new people. The British English was new for me also, but no challenge is too big for a linguist!  And anyone new to this thread: don't be afraid to check out my website! ashleycase.com

[DDark]

I am also bumping up this thread. I hired Ashley to proof Twist, and was satisfied with her attention to detail and how thorough she was. Dropped punctuation or words aside, she identified issues with punctuation and grammar usage. I thought enough eyes had been on this document that it was clean enough, but she proved me wrong, and I couldn't be happier with the results.

Additionally, I am a very inquisitive person and always want to learn from my mistakes. So the items that I wasn't sure of, I requested information on and received detailed explanations. She's prompt to respond, professional, and my book was completed sooner than I expected, which helped me meet my self-imposed deadline.

Thanks, Ashley!