Proofreading

VanMan2007

Openwind_Curse wrote: »

I used to battle with this problem of 'no experience' all the time last year! You'll find that with nearly any profession you choose, there will be a vast majority of businesses and individuals that require you to have some form of experience -- be it with a degree or with years of first hand experience.

What I've learned over the previous 365 days has been this: You can find work in the field you're interested in, even if you're just starting out. You simply have to start small. It is a little more 'cut throat' than typical corporate ladders, in the sense that you will likely start with entirely undercutting other freelancers until you have a reputation or a sizable portfolio or... Of course, a lengthy amount of time invested in the job.

Check out some freelance boards on the internet: PeoplePerHour, Freelancer, eLance... You can find beginning work on these sites that pay pocket change but provide some very valuable experience for whenever you want to apply for a position at a company.

I can also vouch for the previous poster who recommended Demand. They pay very well but do have some strict conditions and require experience. I've yet to be accepted regardless of the fact that I've been successfully getting contracts for the previous five months. Food for thought!

Thank you. Honestly, I'll be happier to "cut my teeth" on smaller jobs, so that when a better opportunity comes along, I'll have the tools and the skillset to get the job done.

What a friendly, helpful thread! Thank you for everyone that has posted. I hope it will continue; but for now, just an interim group hug!

Nice job, guys.

mithras

Some really useful info here!

For those of you who've already been using these sites for freelance work I'm curious about how they pay you. Do they pay direct to your account or Paypal or some other option?

SailorSam

Openwind_Curse wrote: »

Check out some freelance boards on the internet: PeoplePerHour, Freelancer, eLance... You can find beginning work on these sites that pay pocket change but provide some very valuable experience for whenever you want to apply for a position at a company.

Can i join in ?
I'm not working at the moment and have got to an age were i'm going to struggle to get back to work and i wondered if i could start to earn a few bob working from home on the Internet. I've never done any writing before but feel i can string a few sentences together at least as good as some i've read. Thanks for the information so far, one of the places i thought i may get a bit of practise is Textbroker. I've read a fair bit about it on here, what do you think.

podperson

I've done proofreading work in the past and most places have had very little interest in any 'proofreading courses' that you may have done. There's such a lot of them around now and most are very basic and seem to be just designed to take money off people who see it is a direct route into the industry. For companies rather than one-off jobs then they will generally have their own editing tests for you to pass anyway.

Sailorsam - there is a thread on here on Textbroker and some people seem to do ok on it. I signed up a few months ago but find it very frustrating - it automatically assigned me to level/grade 3 and all the jobs seem to be level 4 or above. When I started I was checking several times a day for the elusive level 3 jobs that people assured me showed up but goodness knows where they are!

SailorSam

Exactly the same with me podperson, i was given a level 3 and stopped looking 'cos so little came up. I must start looking again. I've read a lot of the free kindle books on Amazon, quite a lot of the authors use that as an entry into writing. Hoping once they get their name known they'll get some paid work.

podperson

SailorSam wrote: »

Exactly the same with me podperson, i was given a level 3 and stopped looking 'cos so little came up. I must start looking again.

I found it very annoying as it says that they check through your submission and grade it on quality etc but mine pinged back to me almost instantly so was definately done on an automated system!

VanMan2007

Thanks podperson and SailorSam for your replies.

SGina

podperson wrote: »

I found it very annoying as it says that they check through your submission and grade it on quality etc but mine pinged back to me almost instantly so was definately done on an automated system!

Hi Podperson, as Vanman2007 has said, this is a positive thread and I don't really intend this to be negative but just giving a view point. Textbroker might initially use software that scans what you have submitted and if it passes that test then a real human will take a look at your work. I can see from above you have misspelt 'definitely' and also from your webpage you used 'it's' when it should have been 'its'. Maybe they expect someone writing at level 4 to get these right.

Quote from your webpage below:
'Haven’t been on here for a while so bit of a catch up! Am hard at work as usual – subbed a short story to a competition last weekend so fingers crossed on that one. Working mainly on a novella at the moment – it was originally going to be a rather short 20k-ish one but as often happen it’s taken on a life of it’s own and is currently at around 30k with a bit to go yet.'

podperson

SGina wrote: »

Hi Podperson, as Vanman2007 has said, this is a positive thread and I don't really intend this to be negative but just giving a view point. Textbroker might initially use software that scans what you have submitted and if it passes that test then a real human will take a look at your work. I can see from above you have misspelt 'definitely' and also from your webpage you used 'it's' when it should have been 'its'. Maybe they expect someone writing at level 4 to get these right.

Quote from your webpage below:
'Haven’t been on here for a while so bit of a catch up! Am hard at work as usual – subbed a short story to a competition last weekend so fingers crossed on that one. Working mainly on a novella at the moment – it was originally going to be a rather short 20k-ish one but as often happen it’s taken on a life of it’s own and is currently at around 30k with a bit to go yet.'

If I'm doing very quick updates to a forum like this or to facebook (and often from a mobile device) then things do probably get missed. I don't see that as the same thing as any professional work I do which is always carefully checked. I have had multiple works accepted by publishers and have also done editing and proof reading for publishing companies.
I submitted a passage to Textbroker and in less than a minute I had an email saying I had been assigned to level 3 - a real person would barely have had time to read it in that timeframe never mind assess it for mistakes. If that's how they automatically work their system then fair enough but they should say that rather than claiming it is assessed on an individual basis.

System

podperson wrote: »

If I'm doing very quick updates to a forum like this or to facebook (and often from a mobile device) then things do probably get missed. I don't see that as the same thing as any professional work I do which is always carefully checked. I have had multiple works accepted by publishers and have also done editing and proof reading for publishing companies.
I submitted a passage to Textbroker and in less than a minute I had an email saying I had been assigned to level 3 - a real person would barely have had time to read it in that timeframe never mind assess it for mistakes. If that's how they automatically work their system then fair enough but they should say that rather than claiming it is assessed on an individual basis.

I had the same podperson. I've been a proof reader for going on three years, but mine pinged back with a 3* too. I presumed I hadn't included enough keywords or something like that, if that is how you are marked.

I'm loving this thread though! I've just started a proof reading course that was recommended by the SfEP and I'm finding it really useful I know nothing about publishing as all my work has been online. It is definitely possible to get work without a qualification though!