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Your Manuscript Needs Memoir Proofreading.

You’ve written your book and, while you have not had professional memoir proofreading done, you’re feeling positive about your manuscript. Perhaps you’ve had ample coaching or careful editing and now you feel your text is ready for publication.

“Isn’t the next step to publish it myself or send it to a publisher?” you ask.

Wait! There’s one more step before publication!

Every manuscript needs memoir proofreading—it’s sometimes distinguished from “copy editing” and it’s sometimes not. As we use the term proofreading at The Memoir Network, we include the full scope of copy editing—grammar, spelling, rewriting awkward phrasing, transitions, wordiness, jargon, continuity of style and so forth—as well as tasks associated with proofreading such as the consistency of formatting—e.g., every chapter title is dropped a determined number of spaces. Commercial publishers distinguish between the copy editing and proofreading while self-publishers tend to combine the two. Here at The Memoir Network, we call the to processes proofreading.

We feel the distinction is not important to a self-publisher. What is important is that the two functions are undertaken—and undertaken well.

Why do I really need memoir proofreading?

Just as, when you have cleaned house and are almost ready for your guests to arrive, you will do a last look around.

Isn’t it only then that you notice you have forgotten

  • a pair of shoes by the door,
  • a few glasses you washed ten minutes earlier still in the dish drainer,
  • the wine bottle which is sitting on the counter rather than in the fridge.

In the same way, your manuscript is likely to have a few “tidy up” spots that have not been taken care of. Perhaps there are

  • questions that are punctuated with a period.
  • homonyms that neither spell-check nor anyone picked up: a “pear of shoes” anyone or how about a “pair compote”?
  • both appearances of the real name of a character and the pseudonym you intended for its replacement. (Speak of not being clear!)
  • some words that should have been italicized but for some reason were not—sacre bleu, what happened to the italics!

Your manuscript needs tidying up. It’s called memoir proofreading.

Denis Ledoux

A professional memoir proofreading is still necessary after editing.

“But I’ve had my book edited,” a writer will continue to insist. “Isn’t copy editing—or what you call proofreading—at this point redundant?”

Yes, and you’ve vacuumed the rugs and put the laundry away, but there are still glasses in the dish rack and the wine has not been chilled!

Your developmental editor was focused on the development of your story and on its dramatic and psychological polish. S/he actually did much to eliminate typos and grammar mistakes and to check names and dates, but that was not his/her focus.

Your proofreader will be focused on these elements—and on nothing else. When you hire a professional memoir proofreader, you hire the finishing touches. Generally, this cannot be done by a friend or acquaintance.

I have giving up on my friend who was doing my proofreading. She doesn’t know any more than I do. Less, actually! The last straw was when she corrected the word “baptize” in my manuscript, changing it to ‘baptise.’ She also does not seem to understand the concept of consistency. Help, please!

an anonymous writer who wishes

to remain friends with her ex-proofreader

Proofreading is a last stage that must be taken care of to prepare your manuscript for publication and release to its audience.

Don’t set the reader up to bemoan, “Oh, I wish the writer had taken care of these problems.”

Request a memoir proofreading.

Here is the process we follow:

  • We offer a complimentary consultation to get to know each other and to discuss your manuscript’s needs. Call 207-353-5454 today. You will be consulting with Memoir Network director, Denis Ledoux. (To read an in-depth interview with Denis Ledoux, click here.)
  • Having agreed on the advisability of moving ahead together, you and our proofreader schedule a complimentary consultation—this is your second complimentary consultation. (We do not want to be hasty. We understand how important this procedure is to you.)
  • Having determined at a basic level your trust in the proofreader and your ability to work with her, you set up a trial proofreading of one hour. Afterwards, you will receive proofed text.
  • Excited about the results of the memoir proofreading you have hired, you leave a deposit to finish the proofing.
  • You request periodic installments of the proofed text or you give the go-ahead to proceed to the end. Your choice.

We will help bring your manuscript to its next level!

We would love to serve as your proofreading team. We feel ours is the best proofreading service you can purchase.

Questions before you buy memoir proofreading?

Give us a ring at 207-353-5454, M-F, 9-5 ET or email us to set up an appointment to explore proofreading your memoir. Suggest three dates and times that work for you, and we will confirm one.

Take the next step & get in touch with us today!