# Indie copy editor/proofreader



## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

I'm Martin O'Hearn, and I can't turn off the editor in my brain even when I'm reading for pleasure. So I'd like to make use of that quirk; I'll copy-edit/proof your manuscript.

I cleaned Optical Character Reader scans of pulp magazine stories as a freelancer for the ebook publisher Radio Archives. I deleted junk characters and fixed other typos introduced by the OCR process, and copy-edited the manuscript: correcting errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation, and formatting from the original, and judiciously modernizing some of those forms to fit the house style. The manuscript went on to a proofreader, but I did my best to leave him no errors.

The editor praised my accuracy and turnaround time. But the extra volume of work dried up, and last taken on, first let go.

I've proofed my own novels; check the Amazon Look Inside feature on either novel or on my eight-hour book to see how I did. I correct with Word's Track Changes highlighted, but can correct an RTF document using bare-bones highlighting.

My rate is $2 per 1000 words; I take payment through PayPal. For a first-time client I'll look at an average chapter's worth (up to 3000 words), and copy-edit/proof it for free before we proceed to a deposit on the remainder of the manuscript's wordage.

Contact me through KB's private messaging or at

[email protected]


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## Andrew Ashling (Nov 15, 2010)

Your price seems very reasonable.

Bookmarked.

All the best.


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## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

Thank you, Andrew.


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## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

Things have changed since I started this thread last week. I'm now Charles Deckins as well as Martin O'Hearn. If you'd told me then that in seven days I'd have a newly written (if very short) book out under a pen name...

Nobody who participated in Joe Konrath's eight-hour challenge had the time for outside help (which makes the books posted on the challenge thread all the more impressive). But if your next deadline allows you a day or two instead of an hour, and you want to give over the proofing to fresh eyes, I hope you'll contact me.


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## Evenstar (Jan 26, 2013)

Hi. I write in British English, but I have an American character in one of my books and have received comments from US readers that I've got her speech all wrong, if I sent you a book are you able to proof just selected chapters relating to that character?


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## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

I'd be happy to take a look, Stella, and give you an example of how I'd handle it.


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## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

Here's an excerpt from the Project Gutenberg edition of _Tarzan the Untamed_ by Edgar Rice Burroughs. What did the volunteer proofreaders miss?

The street that they were following suddenly opened upon a wide avenue, and before them spread a broad and beautiful lagoon, the quiet surface of which mirrored the clear cerulean of the sky. Here the aspect of all their surroundings changed. The buildings were higher and much more pretentious in design and ornamentation. The street itself was paved in mosaics of barbaric but stunningly beautiful design. In the ornamentation of the buildings there was considerable color and a great deal of what appea

of the couch. Here she drew back one of the hangings, revealing a little niche behind, into which she shoved the Englishman and dropped the hangings before him, effectually hiding him from observation from the rooms beyond.

This edition of the novel was published with a passage of some 15,000 words dropped. Between the street and the room with the couch, between the two broken sentences, it lost the end of Chapter 18, the entirety of Chapters 19 and 20, and the beginning of Chapter 21.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Welcome to KBoards! You're welcome to promote your business and website here in the Writers' Café, but we ask that the same basic rules be followed as we have for authors in the Book Bazaar: you may have one thread and must post to it rather than start a new thread each time. New threads will be removed.

Please bookmark this thread so that you can find it again to post to. And, you may not make back-to-back posts within seven days. If someone responds (such as this post), you may reply but otherwise must wait seven days, thanks!

Also, active members may have a listing in our Yellow Pages for Authors .

Ann
KB Moderator


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## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

I now have that listing in the Editing section of the KBoards Yellow Pages for Authors.


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## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

You've already edited for content and style overall. It's the mistakes that may have crept in during the typing that I expect to catch—anything and everything that will bring a reader up short

If a passage makes me ask, "What exactly does that mean?" I'll suggest an alternative. If there's an out-and-out error or typo, I'll flag it with the correction. But if I fiddle with a line because "that's not the way I would have written that," then I'm exceeding the bounds of copy editing and proofing.

As far as possible, I want to keep my paws off your personal style.


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## akmeek (Jan 5, 2013)

I'm responding so I can find this later. I just finished a novel and am starting my own edits and will probably also look for outside editing.


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## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

Thanks for responding, A. K.

While I'm here, I'll link to a current thread--"Proofreading, a thing of the past?"--that I kept out of, since I have a dog in that fight.

http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,161927.0.html


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## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

I've amused myself with a few of the proofreading tests online. I won't offer any here. Although I never got back in the classroom after student teaching, I left college believing you can't test for English mastery with multiple-choice questions. Admittedly, multiple-choice exams are easier to grade, particularly if the grading is left to computer programs. I could go off on a rant about teaching to the test, but we'd leave the subject of proofreading entirely in the dust.

A pass/fail proofreading test, found on the odd blog, boiled it down to this: Find the single error left in this long passage.

That seldom ended well.


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## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

To expand on a point in my first post:

I can take files as .doc, .docx, or .rtf. I'd suggest my using Word's Track Changes as the easiest way for you to, well, track changes; but if you find it cumbersome, or are using a different word processing program, or whatever, I'm happy merely to highlight corrections and suggestions. The one thing I've found since the original post is that to use Track Changes on a file received as a .docx I'd have to return it as a .doc file.


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## Sophrosyne (Mar 27, 2011)

Do you have a website? I'm expanding on my crucial links for indie authors, and I'd love to add your site to the editor/proofreader section.


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## JennyJ (Jul 20, 2011)

yep


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## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

Sophrosyne, thanks; the link in my signature leads to the proofreading page of my website: http://martinohearn.com/proofreading.html

Shirl, thanks for asking; I'll work on any genre Amazon will sell. I suppose the sample edit on a particular piece of erotica that pushes Amazon's limits might tell me I'd be uncomfortable working on the entire book, and I'd say so, but romance and erotic romance sound fine.


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## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

It does take a number of weeks after starting a promotional thread on KBoards to reach a tipping point; I have copy-edited and proofed for a few authors now, and I can offer up as genres on which I've worked so far: Young Adult romance, New Adult romance, and science fiction adventure.


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## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

I'm reached the point of instituting a waiting list; currently it runs about half a week ahead, but who knows where things will lead?


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## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

I'll bump this thread by thanking the authors I've been working with so far; I started out by offering my services in another couple of venues as well, but KBoards is obviously the meeting-place of the elite...


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## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

I don't know which is the better way to let folks know of my services: this thread or my KB Yellow Pages ad.

Luckily, I have both.


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## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

I wait until noon here on the East Coast to bump this thread (after the appropriate number of days, of course). Does that help get me visibility on the West Coast? Am I fussing over the time that a post stays on the first page of the Writers' Cafe?


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## dkgould (Feb 18, 2013)

always good to bump, but you should see if you can get added to the yellow pages (sticky on the front page) and then you won't have to worry so much about staying on the front page


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## Alan Petersen (May 20, 2011)

mgohearn said:


> I wait until noon here on the East Coast to bump this thread (after the appropriate number of days, of course). Does that help get me visibility on the West Coast? Am I fussing over the time that a post stays on the first page of the Writers' Cafe?


I'm on the West Coast, and I just saw your thread for the first time, so it worked.


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## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

Alan, thanks for letting me know! Deirdre, I have the Yellow Pages ad, and my impression is that it's where most people find me, but to keep the ad active I have to keep this thread active (which of course makes sense).


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## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

The first of the snow arrived yesterday (not enough to keep me in today). When the weather does keep me in, I'm happy to have copy-editing/proofreading work to keep my laptop busy!


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## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

In my first three months of copy-editing and proofing for authors who found me on KBoards--the final months of 2013--I took in 1,100,000 words from nineteen writers. It adds up!

Currently my waiting list stretches about a week and a half ahead.


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## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

About a three-week waiting period now. My thanks to the authors who've been giving me repeat business!


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## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

I held off a while on bumping while my waiting list got down to a manageable size; but for those who are looking in the threads, here I am again.


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## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

And now my waiting list has expanded through August; my idea of holding off posting again until the list contracts doesn't seem particularly workable.

If your writing schedule is worked out that far ahead, please get in touch!


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## Guest (Jun 9, 2014)

I might be interested for an upcoming project. As an editor myself, it's hard to find editors who know enough, but I don't think editors should edit their own work. Please fix the punctuation and grammar issues in your original post (it looks good overall, but you made two mistakes I overlook in my own work and want to be sure you would catch them) and message it to me. That will show me your ability as an editor. I would consider your services if you do well 

Update: Thank you for messaging me. Sorry you didn't see the two errors, but I hope my feedback will help you improve as an author and editor. You had far less mistakes than most editors I screen. Kudos  Good luck with your writing and editing!


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## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

I'm leaving my original post unedited for the present, so anyone new to this thread can make their own judgment.

To the newcomers: my waiting list seems to have stabilized at two months ahead; I could take on new novels in October. But if you have a shorter piece (around 20,000 words) nearing completion, it would be worthwhile to email and see if I can fit it in between two of the longer works already scheduled for August and September.


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## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

Thanks to those who have mentioned my work in other threads and on other boards.

I could schedule another 60k manuscript--or a few shorter ones--for December. January onward is wide open!


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## Evenstar (Jan 26, 2013)

mgohearn said:


> Thanks to those who have mentioned my work in other threads and on other boards.
> 
> I could schedule another 60k manuscript--or a few shorter ones--for December. January onward is wide open!


Aghhh! I really need to learn not to wait until the last minute. Can you fit me in for 25k in mid December?


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## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

Well, I only just got in touch again with Evenstar when I came to bump the thread; her post bumped it in October when I wasn't watching, and it had fallen back a few screens' worth on the threads display when I did look again.

[email protected] will find me; the waiting list opens up in the middle of February.


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## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

Well, that was a lot of fun--the snowy aftermath of Tropical Storm Juno here on the New England coast. Luckily this year we kept power, so I was able to work without interruption. My responding to inquiries isn't as timely as it could be, but I've been able to return manuscripts on schedule.

The waiting list opens up in April. Hope the snow is gone by then!


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## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

Almost all of the snow is gone--not quite all.

I have copy-editing/proofing slots open on my schedule as of early May.


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## Evenstar (Jan 26, 2013)

mgohearn said:


> Almost all of the snow is gone--not quite all.
> 
> I have copy-editing/proofing slots open on my schedule as of early May.


Thanks for the reminder Martin, I've sent you an email


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## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

No openings right away, but for those who are scheduling months ahead...

I can take on new full-length novels as of September. In July and August there are spaces on my calendar where I could fit in short stories or novelettes (up to around 25,000 words).

A free sample edit of a couple of thousand words I could fit in within a couple of days, if that's a help!


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## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

I've changed my profile name to my actual name--or close to it. When I set up my KB account the program threw up its hands in indignation at an apostrophe, so I went with an email-style user name. It took a while for me to realize that I wasn't stuck with it in my profile. I'll just have to live without the apostrophe.

Anyway, bumping this thread to keep my Yellow Pages ad active, I'll repeat that the waiting list stretches a few months ahead for novels. If you have an October finish date in mind for your manuscript, drop me a line.


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## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

In the two years I've been copy-editing/proofing for KBoards members, I've been through 33 million words--if I have my zeroes straight!

Slots are open for longer works in December; I might be able to fit in shorter pieces before.


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## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

Normally I'd say in a post near the beginning of December that the schedule opens up in early February--which is true enough.

But this time, due to a cancellation, I have an earlier opening as well: December 15-20 is available for a novel or a couple of novelettes.


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## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

If you're anticipating finishing a manuscript in a month or so, email now and I'll put you on the schedule: [email protected]

I have a feeling that this February and March, as with last year, I'll be inside waiting for the snows to melt away; I'll be glad to spend the time on editing.


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## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

Not as much snow cover as I'd expected since last time! One inch did arrive on the first day of Spring...

The waiting list isn't as long as it has been at times; openings are available in May and thereafter.


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## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

Off on a working vacation--just changing locations for a while, but bringing my laptop. I can take reservations now for schedule slots in mid-July and after.


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## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

I can fit a novel into the middle of September, and there are slots available in October. November and beyond are open.


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## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

Coming up on three years of making a living copy-editing/proofreading! If you expect to have a manuscript ready in December, please ask for a slot on the schedule.


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## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

This feels like putting out the Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving is even over . . . after December 26 I have slots open.


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## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

Skipping ahead to the warm springtime (it can't get here too soon), I can offer slots in April and afterward.


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## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

Some of my regulars have bimonthly or even biweekly bookings set up into the coming months. Amid their slots and the one-time ones, there are spaces on the schedule open in July and afterward.


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## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

There are a few slots available in July, and space is still open on the schedule after that.


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## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

There are a lot of returnees booking ahead on the schedule, but space opens up in late October. I know--months are like centuries in Internet time!


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## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

The schedule is wide open so far for the new year, and the first week of December has opened up.


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## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

The revising of authors' schedules has left the beginning of January open. After my posting about lead times of two to three months, that feels almost like the day after tomorrow.


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## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

Spots on the schedule are available in the middle of each month after January, and from April onward the windows of opportunity are wider.


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## Muyassar Sattarova (Jan 4, 2018)

Thank you!


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## geronl (May 7, 2015)

Is it still $2 per 1,000 words? That's a good price.


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## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

Yes, it is still $2 per 1,000 words.

With some people moving their reserved times a few weeks along, I have a few spots opening up--even as early as the final week of March.


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## Martin OHearn (Feb 9, 2012)

TGISpring! The next few months are pretty much filled in, but there are slots available from August onward.


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