Proofreader: profession and its features

Every day, people flip through newspapers, read various magazines and websites on the Internet, look at signs and shop windows, wondering when any error is found in the text. Although this happens, it is quite rare. Indeed, before publishing any text, the material needs to be carefully checked by the corrector.

Description

Proofreader is a profession, the essence of which is quite simple: reading texts before publication, finding and correcting all typos, stylistic and grammatical errors. In this case, compliance with the editorial policy should be monitored. In publishing, such specialists are very much in demand. Each newspaper or magazine has at least one proofreader to ensure that the texts are in order. It is clear that a true specialist must have serious knowledge of the Russian language.

Story

Proofreader is a very ancient profession, since people specializing in error correction existed 2000 years ago in Rome. They worked in the shops where books were sold, reading and correcting errors. As soon as printing business appeared and books began to be printed in large print runs, text editing became very popular.

Today, there is already a large number of virtual services that allow you to spell check and emphasize all errors. Because of them, the work of the corrector has become less necessary. But it is worth saying that all such services are still very far from perfect. Authors who trust them lose their vigilance and, unfortunately, literacy.

Candidate Requirements

Often you can hear the question: is the corrector a profession or a specialty? Rather, a profession, since universities do not teach precisely on proofreaders. But education is still needed. Here is a list of standard requirements for a good corrector:

• Higher linguistic or philological education.
• Perfect knowledge of the Russian language.
• Knowledge of the signs that are used in proofreading.
• Knowledge of the printing house and its principles.
• Perseverance and attentiveness.

For publications that specialize in a particular area, experience in adjusting industry texts is often required. These can be legal, economic texts. In such cases, employers often prefer proofreaders with an education in the industry, rather than just linguists or philologists.

By the way, often education is not enough, because you still need an innate talent.

Sometimes at least an initial knowledge of a foreign language is required, as well as knowledge of computer programs, since texts are not always adjusted in all the well-known Word.

Working with a large number of directories and dictionaries is also one of the requirements. Indeed, corrector is a specific profession. You need to be not just a competent person, but an expert.

Among the desired knowledge and skills, the following should be noted:

• Possession of software for finding errors.
• Ownership of publishing programs.
• Knowledge of the publishing process and the work of the media.

When hiring, they pay attention not only to the diploma, but also to the completion of the test task, in which they propose to edit the texts. For this reason, random people will not be able to get into the profession.

Prospects

Text editing is not an activity that can provide candidates with high earnings and career growth. Working in the publishing house, you can rise to the senior corrector. This will end growth. Salaries are not very high, but you can get good pay if you read and edit at least a hundred pages of text per day. This is a very big load. In some cases, it happens that the corrector becomes the editor of the department, but this will require tremendous efforts. Managers from proofreaders, as a rule, are good, as they are attentive, assiduous. All the efforts of correctors remain in the shadows, as the author receives fame and money. Well, if there is a very gross error in the text, then the corrector will wait for the punishment.

Wage

Corrector remuneration is low. It ranges from 18 to 45 thousand rubles. The average salary is the amount of 21 thousand rubles. That is why many representatives of this profession work simultaneously in several publishing houses. This is entirely possible, since the production cycles of all publishers are different. Corrector at home is another area of ​​this profession in which you can get good additional income in your free time.

Advantages and disadvantages

Corrector work has both positive and negative sides. The benefits include:

• The work is suitable for those who do not like to lead an active lifestyle and choose sedentary work.
• It is possible to work remotely.

The disadvantages include:

• Monotonous and routine work.
• The prospects for climbing the career ladder are foggy.
• High degree of responsibility with low wages.

The main places of work are print and online publications. But you can also get a job in a printing company or in the one where there is a service responsible for public relations.

Some publishers, trying to save money, give correction of texts to journalists or copywriters. But practice shows that verification by a professional corrector is still required, since the authors are not without mistakes, and the publication is losing credibility.