Getting your writing right - as in, high-quality, engaging, and helpful - in social media, blog posts, emails, can make all the difference between a view or no view, a click or no click. And there are slews of proofreading and editing agencies that companies and individuals hire to make sure their work is top-quality.Īt the same time, now that there’s so much writing on the Internet competing for eyeballs, proofreading largely rests on the writers’ shoulders. Since then, proofreading services have become paid full-time work, firstly in the book, magazine, and print journalism world, and then in the advertising, legal, and business world as well. Apparently, 60 years later, after many books and documents had been published, a book publisher wrote the first contract stating that the responsibility of proofreading lies with the author. In 1439, Johannes Gutenberg invented the modern movable printer. Proofreading has come a long way since the 15th century, when printing allowed people to document their ideas beyond hand-written letters and documents. Which is why we believe now is the time to get clear about what exactly proofreading entails in our modern world. Now that just about everyone is a writer, just about everyone is a proofreader, too, when you think about it. We’re pretty open-minded, but we generally recommend that writing be at least partially dressed before sharing with the world.

“Writing without revising is the literary equivalent of waltzing gaily out of the house in your underwear.” - Patricia Fuller

Free proofreading software for writers