This is a detailed final reading of a manuscript. This service can only be purchased after editing services have been utilized through the Book Puma Services platform. The Proofreading process is delicate and detailed. If we don't have our hands on the editing process prior to proofread, we cannot guarantee our work.
If an author purchases the full Book Puma Services Platform, they will get the Proofread 20% off.
Whether or not they’re willing to admit it, copy editors rarely, if ever, catch 100 percent of the errors in a book-length manuscript. This is through no fault of their own. To err is human, and even the best editing software's like Microsoft Word — or third-party platforms such as Grammarly — are not perfect.
This is why there is one final editing stage: proofreading (or proofing for short).Between copy editing and proofreading, the manuscript will have been taken from its manuscript form in Microsoft Word and been run through one of several software programs — such as Adobe PageMaker or InDesign, or QuarkXPress — to create the final book pages, called galleys. These galleys are exported as PDFs, or Portable Document Format files.
Almost all proofreaders, or proofers, will print out these electronic galleys. They do so for the same reason as copy editors, but also because this gives them the feel of an actual reading experience, which will help not only with text issues but also those involving the formatting of the pages. Some publishers, be they self-published authors or traditional presses, will print out the galleys and bind them in a paperback book format, while most will print galleys on larger paper for ease of reading and marking errors.
Regarding the text of a book, a proofer’s job is only to find typographical errors (typos), missing words, and errors in spelling and punctuation. At this stage, all changes involving story continent, syntax, and other higher-level concepts have been approved and set by the author, previous editors, and publisher.
But, in almost all cases, a proofreader will find a few of these typos and other such mistakes. It is after this stage that the text of a book should be perfect. And because this is the author and publisher’s last chance to avoid any mistakes making into the print book that will be sold, the publisher usually utilizes several people to read proofs and look for these small mistakes.
In addition, proofreaders will look at page proofs for formatting mistakes. These can include words that should be either bold, italicized, or in small caps, or whether a scene break is properly denoted with the publisher’s preferred symbols. Additionally, proofreaders ensure that the blocks of text are on the correct side of the page for binding purposes and that the headings and page numbers are in the correct places above and (possibly) below the text blocks.
In addition to quality control and for the pride of everyone involved, there is a financial reason to utilize quality proofreaders like the ones at Book Puma Services, brought to you by Blue Handle Publishing. After the final proofing is done, midsize and major traditional publishers will order print copies of their book for storage in warehouses across the country (and world, in some cases) in preparation for a book’s release date. This is known as a first printing or a first print run. The first print run for a book can range in quantity from a few thousand (smaller independent presses) to several million (for household names such as Stephen King and John Grisham).
An unfortunate number of these first print runs will still contain a typo, though no publisher or the professional editing and proofreading service they work with will find that acceptable. However, most of those can be corrected on a second printing of the book.
But egregious errors (think accidentally not including the second r in “prostrate,” or deleting the space between “pen” and “is”), may cause a publisher to destroy every unsold copy in a first run, which creates a large financial loss. This is known as “pulping” the books, as the paper will be turned into pulp to be recycled
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