How many rounds of proofreading does your book need?

Is one read-through enough? Three? Seventeen? When is a book ready to publish?

Let’s talk about proofreading. Not whether your book needs it (it does; all books need proofreading), but how many rounds of proofreading it needs.

Rounds? you may be thinking. But surely one is enough, especially if I hire a professional proofreader? 

Yes, one round may be enough, if:

1. The manuscript sent to the proofreader is in really good shape, having been copy-edited carefully, and there aren’t many mistakes to spot; and
2. You’re happy to accept that the odd mistake may slip through the net. 

The last point may rile you up. Surely a proofreader’s job is to weed out ALL the mistakes?

No, actually. As the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading in the UK points out, ‘No matter how well trained, experienced and diligent they are, [proofreaders] are still human.’ A proofreader’s job is to make the book ‘ready for publication – suitable, and of a high enough standard, for the purpose and audience required’.

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