How to Start and Editing and Proofreading Business

Anything you are good at can become a business if you know what you are doing. If you are a person with good writing and editing abilities, and you have been wondering how you can turn it into a career— editing and proofreading as a business might just be your thing. If you can easily spot mistakes in writing, both grammatically and structurally, turning your skills into a business can be a great idea. Recently, there is a surge in demand for freelance editors and proofreaders, and the pay can be very generous, depending on your skills. If you are thinking of starting a business providing editing and proofreading services, this article is for you.

04.09.2021

How to Start and Editing and Proofreading Business

Anything you are good at can become a business if you know what you are doing. If you are a person with good writing and editing abilities, and you have been wondering how you can turn it into a career— editing and proofreading as a business might just be your thing.

If you can easily spot mistakes in writing, both grammatically and structurally, turning your skills into a business can be a great idea. Recently, there is a surge in demand for freelance editors and proofreaders, and the pay can be very generous, depending on your skills. If you are thinking of starting a business providing editing and proofreading services, this article is for you.

Here, we have jotted down how and with what you can take your editing and proofreading skills and turn them into a productive and profitable business.

How to start an editing and proofreading business?

Trying to get an editing and proofreading business up and running is quite an easy feat as it does not require much capital. You are offering your skills, and you do not have to invest in heavy machinery or commercial spaces. All you need are the skills, knowledge, and experience.

Here are the things that you need to do to get your business up and running:

1. What type of editing?

The first thing that you should decide on is what kind of editing or proofreading service you will provide. For starters, there are different types of editors out there. You may offer various services, or you may specialize in one sector. Deciding on this will help you understand what kind of client you are looking for.

2. How much will you charge for your editing and proofreading services?

This is the tricky part of the editing and proofreading business. For professions that involve selling a skill, determining a price tag can be an overwhelming job. You have no such parameters to measure your worth, nor do you have any rule of thumb that can help you determine how much you should charge your clients. On that note, you do not want to overcharge or undercharge.

Basic factors to consider charges of editing and proofreading 

The quality of the services plays the most important role in determining the cost of editing and proofreading services. Generally, the cost of proofreading and editing services depends on some basic factors such as types of documents, word counts, and turnaround time. Take note that the pricing may vary from service provider to service provider.

i. Pricing as per the type of document

Some proofreading and editing providers determine the service charge as per the type of document. However, some service providers charge similar prices irrespective of the type of document whether you have written a personal essay, a thesis, dissertation, or a research paper.

ii. Pricing as per hour 

Some companies or freelancers charge their clients hourly. However, being a reliable proofreading and editing service, we can tell you that hourly proofreading services can be risky. Proofreading and editing require time and patience. Editors and proofreaders even can’t estimate the exact time required to proofread or edit any manuscript. In this case, if you value your money, you should be more aware while hiring an hour-based service.

However, these hourly proofreading services are generally provided by freelancers. It can range up to $10 to $100 per hour relying on the quality of work and qualification of the editor or proofreader. Also, these charges are variable in different countries and project types.

iii. Pricing as per page

Some proofreaders and editors charge as per the number of pages and calculate the words per page as an average depending on the font and line spaces. A regular page generally consists of 300–350 words. Though pricing as per page may seem to be cost-effective initially, it ultimately charges similar to cost per word.

iv. Pricing as per word and turnaround time

It is the most common way of charging for proofreading and editing services. Most professional proofreaders and editors charge per word and turnaround time (TAT). Pricing as per word count is completely aligned with the TAT. Generally, the cost per word count depends on the types of services and turnaround time.

v. Pricing based on the type of service (editing vs. proofreading)

Pricing based on the types of service (editing vs. proofreading) is also very common in the proofreading and editing industry. Many people have a misconception that proofreading and editing are the same services. Well, both services are interlinked but not similar.

Generally, a proofreader checks all the usage of grammar, wrong spelling, incorrect punctuation, and other general things. On another side of the coin, editors rectify core writing issues such as sentence construction, readability, and academic tone. Naturally, editing charges are higher than just proofreading. Where proofreading service demands $25/1000words (10 days TAT), editing service may cost approximately $29/1000words (10 days TAT).

Editing and proofreading services

vi. Best Edit & Proof’s editing and proofreading pricing policy

Best Edit & Proof has a very simple and straightforward pricing policy, relying on the following three basic parameters: numbers of words, turnaround time, and the type of service (proofreading vs. editing). Best Edit &. Proof’s very competitive prices are set at a flat rate per thousand words, so you will know in advance precisely how much the job will cost. The price you are quoted remains unchanged irrespective of the complexity of the document or the volume of corrections needed. Please note that if you are a newly registered user with Best Edit & Proof, you are also eligible to get a one-time discount code.

We have customized pricing policies for different services based on the turnaround time. You may check our price from our personalized price section by inserting your requirements. We don’t enjoy any hidden charges.

3. What licenses does an editing and proofreading service provider require?

The next step would be working on the actual business. Naming your business and other legalities should be next. No matter what business you run, always make sure that you have the proper licensing and permits. This will not only save you from future issues but will also be a symbol of your authentication for your clients.

4. How to reach clients and target groups?

Now here is the main part. You know your skills, you have decided on your editing and proofreading services, you have your price range up, you have named your business and acquired all the necessary permits. Next comes getting clients.

First, you need a place of contact where your clients can approach you. You would need to build your presence, and starting with a LinkedIn account is a great idea. You can get more professional by building a website that potential clients can visit. Make sure to clearly state your services, your experiences, and your skills. Next, all that is left is to get networking and marketing.

5. How to spread the word?

No matter what type of business you run, marketing is a must. Without marketing, your clients will never get to know about you, and thus, your business will go unnoticed. Therefore, the next step is to work on marketing.

A great place to start is to join freelance editing opportunities and engage your networks. However, for effective marketing, you need to be more specific. You need to understand your target group, their behavior, and you need to come up with strategies depending on that. Social media are also another great way of getting the word around.

Importance of editing and proofreading services

If you are skeptical over why people may need editing and proofreading services, let us clear your doubts away. Editing and proofreading are essential in the world of literary work. Be it for a fashion magazine, a business magazine, the academic world, or anything related to the literary department, editing and proofreading are a must.

This gives rise to plenty of career opportunities in the field as people tend to look for editing and proofreading services for their work. Therefore, if you want to start a career or business in this field, this guide is all you need to learn everything.

Do you need an expert to review and edit your manuscript?

Have you completed writing your manuscript? Do you want someone to review the entire article and make necessary changes if required? If yes, we bring the most trusted and efficient editing and proofreading services near you. At Best Edit & Proof, our experts will edit and proofread your papers to make necessary changes. 

Best Edit & Proof expert editors and proofreaders focus on offering manuscripts with proper tone, content, and style of academic writing and also provide an upscale editing and proofreading service for you. If you consider our pieces of advice, you will witness a notable increase in the chance for your research manuscript to be accepted by the publishers. We work together as an academic writing style guide by bestowing subject-area editing and proofreading around several categorized styles of writing. With the group of our expert editors, you will always find us all set to help you identify the tone and style that your manuscript needs to get a nod from the publishers.

English manuscript formatting service

You can also avail of our assistance if you are looking for editors who can format your manuscript, or just check on the particular styles for the formatting task as per the guidelines provided to you, e.g., APA, MLA, or Chicago/Turabian styles. Best Edit & Proof editors and proofreaders provide all sorts of academic writing help, including editing and proofreading services, using our user-friendly website, and a streamlined ordering process.

Get a free quote for editing and proofreading now!

Kindly visit our order page if you want our subject-area editors or language experts to work on your manuscript to improve its tone and style and give it a perfect academic tone and style through proper editing and proofreading. The process of submitting a paper is very easy and quick. Click here to find out how it works.

Our pricing is based on the type of service you avail of here, be it editing or proofreading. We charge on the basis of the word count of your manuscript that you submit for editing and proofreading and the turnaround time it takes to get it done. If you want to get an instant price quote for your project, copy and paste your document or enter your word count into our pricing calculator.

editing and proofreading services

24/7 customer support | Live support

If you need support for editing and proofreading services, contact us. You can also e-mail us or use the 24/7 live chat module to get direct support. We have a 24/7 active live chat mode to offer you direct support along with qualified editors to refine and furbish your manuscript. Alternatively, you can text us through our WhatsApp business support line.

editing and proofreading services

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This article explains editing and proofreading services as a business. To give you an opportunity to practice proofreading, we have left a few spelling, punctuation, or grammatical errors in the text. See if you can spot them! If you spot the errors correctly, you will be entitled to a 10% discount.

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