The big question that most prospective and new proofreaders have is “Are there legitimate online proofreading jobs?” Absolutely. But as with any industry, there is work to be done when hunting for online proofreading jobs. However, success is completely possible and within reach for those who put in the work.
Remote proofreading jobs are gaining even more traction in this digital world where working from home has increased in popularity, too. The key is finding a job that suits your skill set and pay requirements. Proofreading is only one level of editing and is often used (incorrectly) as the catch-all word for multiple levels of editing.
Once you know exactly what you’re looking for, and you know what your skills are worth, it’s time to start the hunt for online proofreading jobs. Let’s learn more about what kind of online proofreading jobs there are available and if you qualify for them.
Proofreading jobs on freelance platforms
Freelance platforms like Upwork and Fiverr are a popular way to find online proofreading jobs. To be fair, some of them are saturated with existing proofreaders, which is why it’s best to offer more than just proofreading to prospective clients. It helps you stand out from the competition if you’re a copyeditor as well.
The benefit of freelance platforms is that the clients are actively searching for someone with your skill set, can quickly see examples of your work or past reviews, and have payment protection (for both parties). However, the drawbacks are that these platforms take a fee from your earnings, there’s a lot of competition, and you don’t always know the quality of the document you’re going to work on ahead of time.
Many proofreaders and copyeditors make a full-time living just from the work they get on freelance platforms, while others do better with other sources like local companies or networking.
Proofreading jobs on job boards
Job boards are another source for freelance proofreading jobs from home. Businesses around the world post jobs looking for proofreaders, copyeditors, and content editors to help them craft grammatically correct content for their readers.
You could find a small publishing house, a growing blog, or a Fortune 500 company looking for someone to hire. These jobs typically require some amount of experience, so you’ll need to land other work first, in most cases. Here are just a handful of examples of real online proofreading and copyediting jobs:
How to qualify for online proofreading jobs
Proofreading is not as simple as it appears, which is why training helps to legitimize you as you search for online work from home jobs. There is more than one way to handle the treatment or spelling of numbers, capitalization, symbols, commas, citations, em dashes, quotation marks, and much more.
Trained proofreaders follow a style guide that sets the preferred rules to help keep the spelling and punctuation consistent across the entire book or set of documents. It’s critical for maintaining a polished, professional look.
Anyone can check how to spell the word “pernicious” but do they know how to handle dangling infinitives or ellipses or plural possessive apostrophes?
Whether you’re looking for proofreading or copyediting jobs, the person hiring you needs to know you’re qualified to help them. An English degree or extensive writing courses can be helpful, but even that isn’t enough since they do not strictly focus on correcting grammar and punctuation using a specific style guide.
Getting training from a reputable source is the best way to prove your worth to make money with online proofreading jobs. A proofreading and copyediting certificate demonstrates that you’re trained and prepared to take on the important job of creating an error-free document.
Learn more about online proofreading jobs
If you’re interested in how to become a proofreader who is qualified to apply for legitimate online proofreading jobs, then take a look at our master course: Editing Made Easy. As part of our comprehensive course that teaches the foundational grammar and punctuation principles, you’ll also receive targeted advice for how to launch yourself as a proofreader and copyeditor.
We provide a range of specific advice to help students land their first job using proven techniques and steps that other proofreaders have used to make their way into this amazing industry. You’ll find proofreading and copyediting jobs at home in no time. (Psst. They’re not all online either!)
