Proofreading yourself vs someone else doing it for you

[Palamon]

Do you proofread yourself, or have someone proofread your work for you? I'm my own proofreader, and I reread and go through my work thrice or more to make sure it's close to perfect.

I am pretty good at finding mistakes, so I always prefer to do everything myself.

 

[Venia Silente]

My personal experience is that proofreading yourself doesn't work too well, unless you can take quite some distance from your work — for example by taking some time away from it, or by changing the visual style you are using to read it (change fonts, dark mode, print vs screen, etc).

Overall, getting someone else to proofread for me works well. Of course there are situations where this is largely difficult (eg.: contest writing) but the results are worth it whenever you can find a stable proofreader.

 

[CiCi]

A bit of both. I learned so much from my writing buddy, and her advice, opinions, and general thoughts were invaluable. We gave each other both readings and reactions live on-camera, as well as detailed, typed-up reviews, and unleashed our honest thoughts. I think we were also just a really good match to cover each other's bases, but she's a much better writer than me for sure.

I've also done tit-for-tat style reviews. There is so much to learn from other writers that I think it's in no way a good idea to simply trust your own judgment. I do a lot of solo things currently as I'm busy while also doing a bit soul-searching, as it were, for what my writing is supposed to be, but I really want to get back into the review/beta reading game again when I have the time.

 

[Caite-chan]

I always find it's hard for me to proofread my work because I know what to expect and what I want to say. I feel it's easier for someone else to read and point out my mistakes that I might not have noticed. Or I describe things as if everyone should already know and not realize that either.

 

[Bay]

I tend to proofread/edit a couple rounds at least first. Sometimes I try to find someone for a second pair of eyes/another opinion, but recently I've posted a few short works that weren't beta'd because either someone I know that could help is busy or I'm just unable to find someone.

 

[Vragon2.0]

Mostly myself though I sometimes can get lucky and find somebody. Others are good at catching mistakes I would make, but I feel I have the drive personally to be more thorough and go through multiple times to make sure everything is right (even if I miss things still).

 

[gimmepie]

Both!

Proofreading just by yourself isn't reliable because you miss things you don't know are errors or accidentally skip over because your own writing style. But sometimes a third-party is going to miss things too. Having multiple proof readers reduces the chances of missing things.

It's less of a big deal for casual writing, but for my book I'm working with a professional editor.

 

[Knight Of Legendaries]

Both. I do try to proofread my own work, but I usually read what I think I wrote. Which is why I get my twin to proofread for me in exchange for proofreading his stories.