Proofreading

Proofreading is by far the most important part of presenting any publication to the general populace. It is imperative that every aspect of a written submission is inspected for errors; these can range from grammatical, spelling, layout, font and typesetting. Unfortunately when an author is rather close to their work, it is quite common to miss glaringly obvious mistakes that may perhaps be noted by a proofer within seconds of scanning the text. Therefore, at Shadow Ink Press we offer this service to those individuals seeking a trained eye to make one final sweep of their written work.

The process for proofreading is as follows:

1. A 50% deposit is paid directly to Shadow Ink Press before any commencement of work as well as a ‘Standard Agreement’ which outlines what will and won’t be provided along with guidelines for the author to follow. Once the deposit has been received and the agreement signed, the proofreader will be in direct contact with the author either by phone or e-mail depending on geography. During this initial meet and greet, the proofreader will ascertain the author’s preferences for the process; the timeline in which they are expecting the completion of work and any other questions either party feels needs to be tackled before beginning.

2. Since it is assumed that the document in question will have already undergone some form of editorial corrections as well as possible typesetting reconfiguration, the proofreader will automatically print a paper copy of the work (or request one from the author if programs are incompatible) and make any corrections necessary written within the text or margins. Corrections are not made electronically unless specifically requested by the author to do so and if the programs used are compatible with our own.

3. Shadow Ink Press will then send the balance invoice (due within seven business days) as well as a ‘Completion of Work Waiver’ that will need to be signed and returned with payment. We also release the corrected manuscript/document for the author’s approval. If there are any queries that the author may have regarding the proofer’s alterations, these can be discussed via phone or e-mail.

Please consider that if you do complete the Proofreading process with Shadow Ink Press, we’d also be more than happy to assist you with your typesetting, cover design and publishing needs. We also make it our mission to ensure our clients are attended to at every step of the way, so if at any time you need further clarification regarding any stage of any product process with this company, our friendly staff will always be happy to assist.

We also understand that time constraints are of constant concern for any busy author, thus we make your manuscript our priority and will discuss possible time frames required in order to complete a proofread within a timely fashion. However, there are the occasional extenuating circumstances which will naturally be disclosed to the author either before the process begins or as soon as possible so as not to cause unnecessary delays.