When I moved from teaching language (Spanish and English) to proofreading for an ad agency, I already had years of editing under my belt. I thought it would be a lateral transition, but the transition was not as easy I would have liked. I had a patient boss who saw promise and allowed me to find my proofreading style while adhering to the company style guide and our clients’ style guides. That job taught me a lot about discipline and detailed work that I still carry with me to this day. It’s one thing to do proofread your own work or work as a freelancer who doesn’t have to consult or negotiate with others about each other’s marks. It’s another thing to make sure a proofreading team is consistent not only with themselves but within the team. However, my coworkers provided a safety net of knowledge. We all had areas of expertise that helped to augment the core knowledge of our group. My coworkers taught me quite a bit those eight years.
When you first start out as a proofreader, you’re like “I’m a grammar god/goddess. I got this.” Then you find out that there can be more negotiating with language than you previously thought. Sure, you know the difference between there/their/they’re and you know what a reciprocal pronoun is. But the first thing I learned about proofreading is that not all grammar has to be correct for all purposes. Sounds like a commonsense concept, but you have to learn to be flexible if a situation calls for it. I had spent years drilling correct grammar to my students in two languages and writing academic papers where precise writing was celebrated. It was difficult to let go when a client really wanted an apostrophe in the wrong place because it looked better that way. Or when you were told to use a comma instead of a semi-colon. Goodness, I still have nightmares about commas that I fought for to get placed correctly but ended up getting scratched in the final version.
One of the biggest lessons to learn if you are a perfectionist is that you have to let go and don’t stress the small stuff. I’m much better now about consulting with writers and/or clients and listening to why they want something a certain way. I may still disagree with something, but I’ll make a note in my style guide for that client and move on to the next. There is always going to be another grammar battle another day (or later the same day). You can’t be so rigid that you alienate everyone you work with (I’ve worked with that kind of proofreader as well). Sure, I’ve gone to the mat about something I’m really convinced is just wrong and I won’t sign off on it. But that’s happened maybe three times in my career.
Always talk with your client before you start a job and ask them, “What are your expectations? What are you hoping to get out of this proofreading pass?” You’ll be amazed at how open someone is to taking critiques if you’ve already started a conversation about your process rather than taking a job, completing it and handing over work with corrections everywhere. Again, this would seem to be a commonsense practice, but I’ve worked with clients who have said they’ve never had that beginning conversation with a proofreader before and it felt like an abrupt transaction rather than a dialogue about why certain marks were made.
What are the pitfalls of negotiating language and clients’ expectations that you have had?
BrandeeMiller/editing-services 