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Rachel Rowlands, Editor & Author
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Rachel Rowlands, Editor & Author

Proofreading

the final polish
ready for one last check of your book before you publish?

How proofreading can help:

  • A careful, meticulous, and slowed-down read-through to spot any lingering errors that may have slipped through during a copy or line edit.
  • Can be done in a Microsoft Word file, or on a fully laid-out and designed PDF file with all design elements in place.
  • Ensures you have a professional, publication-ready book and covers everything from minor corrections to page numbers, headings, contents and copyright pages, and maps.
  • Checks that nothing has been left out of your book before you hit publish.
how i proofread

My approach

I only proofread books that have already been copy/line edited. If you had a copy/line edit with me, however, I always suggest hiring a separate proofreader, as having fresh eyes for this final step is so important. As much as I would love to continue working on the books I edit, I get too close to a project after copy or line editing, and may miss things.

I can work in Microsoft Word, using the Track Changes feature, or, alternatively, in Adobe Acrobat on a PDF of the designed book if needed.

A shiny red pen gripped in a hand over a notebook
what you get

Service includes…


A fully proofread manuscript, marked up in Microsoft Word using the Track Changes feature. This is the easiest way for you to see and understand my changes and comments, as everything is tracked in red. I can work on laid-out PDFs by request.

A proofread may also include a separate set of proofreading notes highlighting any wider queries (such as broad continuity errors or notes on missing content).

Let’s get your book publication ready!

still unsure?

Here’s what writers and publishers say!

Professional and conscientious

I’ve been lucky enough to count Rachel among Black Library’s pool of freelance editors and proofreaders since 2018, and since then she has lent her talents to a variety of products across our range, including work on our fantasy, science-fiction and horror genres. Rachel is a professional and conscientious editor, taking the time to provide in-depth queries where necessary. She is extremely thorough in her work, always hits deadlines, and is seemingly never phased by the amount of unusual terms to be found in our fiction! She has worked on both short and long-form stories, and seems eager to tackle any task. I would not hesitate to recommend her services.
Darkness in the Blood by Guy Haley
Karen miksza, desk editor
Black Library (Games Workshop)
Website

Attention to detail

Rachel has a great attention to detail and is always punctual and communicative.
Alexandra holmes
Bookouture (Hachette UK)
Website

Extremely proficient

After working particularly closely on a line-editing project, I suggested to the author that she use another person for proofreading. Rachel matched my requirements perfectly and to my delight, I discovered she’s a great colleague to work with. My client, the author, also thinks she’s great, so it’s a win-win-win for us all. Since I first became acquainted with Rachel, we have worked on two books together. She has gone from strength to strength and I would look for opportunities to work with her again. Rachel is professional in her approach, kind and generous in both her attitudes and sharing her knowledge, and is extremely proficient with the work she does.
Katherine swailes, PHD., DIP.EDIT
Write or Wrong? – editing and proofreading
Website
book your proofread
Member of the Editorial Freelancers Association

A few bits of cat café news! My publisher has enr A few bits of cat café news! My publisher has enrolled Cake Off at the Cat Café in Kindle Unlimited! Snowed In has been on there for a while now, but you can now read Cake Off there, too, if you have a subscription! 🌸🐈🍰

We also have over a hundred ratings on Amazon which is amazing! Thank you so much if you left a star rating or a review. ❤️

And finally, Cake Off will be in The Works stores from June! I absolutely love The Works, so I'm very excited they are stocking it, and I'm going to be heading out looking for it next month! 🐱 And in even MORE fun news, The Works will also be stocking Snowed In at the Cat Café as part of their Christmas range this year, which is just dreamy and has me looking forward to the season already!🎄❄️
This little lady, Haru, has been in our lives for This little lady, Haru, has been in our lives for two years already! 🥹❤️ She really healed my heart and brings us so much joy every day with her quirky little personality. Our old lady, Jesper, even loves her like a sister now... within reason that is!
I finished Sunrise on the Reaping yesterday and I I finished Sunrise on the Reaping yesterday and I absolutely loved it! I adored the original Hunger Games trilogy like a lot of people did and I can't believe the first book came out sixteen years ago! I was eighteen when the first book released and you bet I did what a lot of people did while reading the series – wore my hair in a Katniss braid! 😂 I still have my mockingjay pin somewhere.

Anyway, this book felt like such a return to the original trilogy in the sense that I had that same inability to put this down, even though I already knew Haymitch's story wasn't going to be a happy one. I won't spoil anything but Suzanne Collins wraps up this book on such a beautiful and hopeful note in spite of that. I was hooked all the way through, there were moments where my jaw was on the floor, and the character development was masterful. Those 1984-esque elements of the Capitol always watching were as chilling and well done as they've always been.

Now I want to go back and reread the original series again. 🥹❤️ Maybe the audiobooks this time!

#sunriseonthereaping #suzannecollins
Hope you're enjoying the sun as much as Haru is. 🐈‍⬛️🌞

I've just wrapped up a big book editing project for a client of mine and, apart from a short story edit, I have three weeks to devote fully to working on writing my next book! 🥳 I'm currently halfway through my first draft and have to send it to my publisher at the end of May, so this time will be so valuable for getting it done. If you love my cat café books you'll be pleased to see the big reveal for this one soon... 💗

As far as editing goes, I'm almost fully booked for the rest of the year! I only have a couple of spots remaining for full manuscripts so if you'd like to work with me do get in touch on my website!
Meta must #DoTheWriteThing when it comes to AI and Meta must #DoTheWriteThing when it comes to AI and stop stealing authors' work. @meta ✋️

If you don’t know by now, the company Meta was found to have been using book piracy websites to train their language learning model, LibGen. A language learning model is a form of AI created to understand and generate text. It can do this because it is trained to do so. And how does this “training” happen? By feeding it text. Lots and lots of text.

Instead of going to authors and asking for permission to use their copyrighted works, Meta went to book piracy websites and downloaded millions of books to train their AI. 

My traditional debut, Snowed In at the Cat Café, was used. Something I absolutely do not agree with, and didn’t give permission for. Like many other writers, I worked so hard to get a book deal and to get to where I am today. I’ve been writing for my entire life, and many of you know how long it took me to get my publishing career off the ground. And yet, a huge company like Meta can steal my work, and use it in ways I had no say in.

This is unacceptable. Meta must be held accountable. AI companies cannot be allowed to get away with creative theft. 

Thank you to @thesocietyofauthors for organising a day of protest on this today and providing resources and social media images to spread the word. Please share as widely as you can!

#meta #metabookthieves

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