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Blog • Understanding Publishing
Last updated on Dec 06, 2022
What Do Proofreading Marks Mean?
About the author.
Reedsy's editorial team is a diverse group of industry experts devoted to helping authors write and publish beautiful books.
About Dario Villirilli
Editor-in-Chief of the Reedsy blog, Dario is a graduate of Mälardalen University. As a freelance writer, he has written for many esteemed outlets aimed at writers. A traveler at heart, he can be found roaming the world and working from his laptop.
Having your work come back from an editor covered in red pen is daunting to begin with. Receiving a manuscript that's covered in proofreading marks that might as well be hieroglyphics can be even more intimidating.
But before you reach for your cipher wheel, remember that the purpose of proofreading marks isn’t to confuse you. It’s to provide a detailed roadmap to a professional and polished final manuscript . While independent authors are not likely to spring for large print runs that would be ruined by more than a couple of typos — proofreading still remains an essential step for most serious self-publishers.
These days, it’s unlikely for the proofreading process to occur via pen-and-paper, meaning that the use of proofreading marks is also becoming increasingly rare. Most proofreaders used tools such a “tracked changes” to flag issues — and many indie authors choose to forgo professional proofers for software such as Grammarly or the simple red, dotted line that signifies a typo in processors such as Microsoft Word or Google Docs.
That being said, screen fatigue is a real thing, and there’s something about a hard-copy document that seems to draw the eye to errors more than a digital one. So if you’re working with a proofreader and want to ensure the collaboration fulfills its top potential, it’s worth getting to know the meaning of the more common proofreading marks.
So, without further ado…
What are proofreading marks?
Proofreading marks are used to highlight spelling, vocabulary, grammatical, and punctuation errors, along with formatting and layout issues.
When proofreaders are editing a hard-copy manuscript, they will leave corrections on both sides of the margins: on the left-hand margins for corrections in the first half of the sentence and on the right-hand side for corrections in the latter half of the sentence. A corresponding mark will also be included in-line to indicate where the issue is.
Alright, now let’s take a look at these formidable editing symbols.
Proofreading marks chart
The following proofreading symbols are taken from The Chicago Manual of Style 17th edition. While in-house style guides may vary from publisher to publisher, these symbols are standard across the industry.
Let’s start with operational marks, which cover everything from spelling to sentence structure to improper spacing.
- The “delete” symbol on its own will refer to a word, while “delete and close up” will refer to a letter in a word.
- The “let it stand” symbol would be used when more than one round of proofreading was done, and it indicates that a correction or alteration should be ignored.
- The “transpose” symbol indicates the order of words needs to be changed (spot the transpose problem).
Next up are the punctuation marks, which — you guessed it — indicate that punctuation needs to be added .
Then there are typography marks, which denote formatting corrections.
Lastly, these are common abbreviations used by proofreaders to indicate issues related to the copy itself.
The importance of proofreading
Ensuring that your book is polished and error-free is just as important to the reader experience as the writing quality. Your book can’t effectively communicate if the reader is constantly paused by spelling mistakes, awkward sentence structures, or uneven spacing.
Here's what these proofreading marks look like in use, when a proofreader returns a manuscript, and when their suggestions have been incorporated:
Looking to get your book proofread?
First, we recommend doing as much of the work yourself as possible. Here are a few resources that will help:
- Reedsy Studio will point out spelling and grammatical errors as you go.
- How to Self-Edit Your Manuscript Like a Pro is a free Reedsy Learning course covering the ten most common writing mistakes — how to find and how to fix them.
- What to Expect From Beta Readers is an informative blog post about how to work with beta readers to get your book ready for publication.
- What Are Sensitivity Readers? is all about the controversial topic of sensitivity readers and what they actually do .
Free course: How to self-edit like a pro
Rid your manuscript of the most common writing mistakes with this 10-day online course. Get started now.
Once you’ve done all the proofreading work you can, we encourage you to consider working with a professional. Proofreading is the final stage of the editing process and will ensure your book fully meets its potential for success.
The average costs of working with a professional proofreader on Reedsy are:
- $350 for a 40k-word book
- $520 for a 60k-word book
- $700 for an 80k-word book
Head to our marketplace to request quotes from a variety of professional proofreaders for free, or check out this post for more information on what you might expect to pay for professional proofreading services.
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Proofreading Marks: What Do They Mean?
#scribendiinc
Last updated: June 1, 2017
An overview of commonly used proofreading symbols
If you've ever had a hard copy of a document proofread, chances are that you're familiar with the strange typology of professional proofreaders. Your returned document is so full of symbols (hieroglyphics? squiggles? cuneiform script?!) that you think it has been translated into Martian!
These strange markings are the "footprint" that your proofreader has left on the document to highlight where changes need to be made to the text. The proofreader uses a series of symbols and abbreviations to suggest changes, correct spelling errors, improve punctuation, and generally enhance the quality and readability of a hard copy document.
Locating proofreading marks
In hard copy proofreading, corrections typically appear in the left or right margins beside the line containing the error. A mark is also placed in the text to indicate where the correction needs to be made. A caret (^) indicates an addition, and a line through the text indicates a deletion or a replacement. Proofreading marks are traditionally written in red ink for better visibility.
Frequently used proofreading marks
Delete a letter: a diagonal line through the letter with the delete mark in the margin
Delete a word: a straight line through the word with the delete mark in the margin
Frequently used abbreviations
Faulty diction: DICT
Awkwardly expressed or constructed: AWK
Wordy, too verbose: WDY
Wrong word used (e.g. to/too): WW
Eliminate the need for proofreading marks
Deciphering a proofreader's suggested changes used to take hours; fortunately, it doesn't have to any more. Submit your document to any of our proofreading services today for a speedy, easy-to-use document review that makes use of Tracked Changes instead.
Image source: Kay Ransom/BigStockPhoto.com
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