I have completed over 1,000 proofreading, editing, and translation projects and have helped more than 200 students, academics, businesses, and fiction authors improve their writing. I get most of my requests through referrals and returning clients (see What others have said).

I have trained with and am a Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP).

I also regularly partake in continued professional development courses with the Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA) and the CIEP to keep my skills sharp and to stay up to date with current writing conventions.

In my work as a scientist and researcher (educated to postgraduate level), I have published some of my contributions in peer-reviewed journals.

See my About page for more information about my experience as a translator, editor, and proofreader.

No, I do not offer ghostwriting or rewriting services.

You bet there is!

Apart from slang and expressions unique to each dialect, British and American English also differ in other ways, e.g., in some spellings and punctuation.

Check out this article for an overview of the differences between British and American English or download the guide and save it in your resources library.

Let me know which of the two dialects you prefer in your document, and I will make sure either the British or American style is applied consistently in your text. Other dialects (e.g., Canadian or Australian English) are available upon request.

Proofreading involves checking a document for spelling, typographical, syntax, punctuation and grammatical errors, finding any ambiguities that could be misleading, and ensuring consistency in usage and presentation (numbers, capitalization, abbreviations, hyphenations, etc.).

Editing involves checking a document for the same errors as in proofreading, in addition to adapting the writing style to the type of document and intended readership (while maintaining the author’s voice). In my editing service I also improve the coherence, weed out repetitions and omissions, and cross-check your references to make sure that every citation in the text appears in the bibliography and vice versa.

You can refer to the table on my Editing or Proofreading? page for a complete overview.

Developmental and structural editing tasks are performed very early in the writing process when the text exists only as a rough draft. The focus is placed on the big picture, the logical flow, and story of the text. A developmental or structural editor may delete entire sentences or paragraphs or move them around the document to improve the flow.

Please note that I do not offer any developmental editing services at this time.

Copyediting (I just use the term editing) is one of the services I offer. Copyediting takes place once the manuscript has a logical flow and structure. It is more of a fine-tuning job and focuses on language correction, such as spelling and grammatical errors, as well as improving the overall general writing quality and word choice.

Note that editing is not the same as proofreading (see also FAQ: What is the difference between proofreading and editing?).

If you choose my editing service, you will receive your edited text, an editorial feedback file, and a style guide.

The style guide contains information about the referencing style (Harvard, Chicago, APA Style, etc.), dialect (e.g., British or American English), numbers, units, symbols, capitalization, etc.

Learn more in my article What is a style guide? You can find an example of a style guide here.

The turnaround duration of a project depends on three main factors:

• My availability
• The total word count of your document
• The number of corrections required (for proofreading/editing) or difficulty level (e.g., highly specialized translations)

Assuming a free schedule and a text requiring a moderate number of corrections (or a moderate level of difficulty for translations), I average the following paces:

• 10,000 words/day for proofreading
• 7,500 words/day for editing
• 4,000 words/day for a translation (see also my article on my 6-step translation process)

Go to Rates for more information, including available discounts.

Yes! I am happy to offer a 25% discount to university students (Bachelor’s, Master’s, and PhD programs). Just let me know the name of your university, department, and student ID/matriculation number when you contact me. If I cannot verify your student status, I won’t be able to apply the discount.

If you are a student at Georg-August-Universität Göttingen (where I completed part of my postgraduate studies), tell me so that I can give you an additional discount.

If you have a large project (e.g., a 50,000-word novel) in mind or a recurring project (e.g., a monthly newsletter or blog post), get in touch to find out about special rates I can offer.

As I charge by the hour for my proofreading and editing services, the less time I spend on your text, the more money you save in the end.

One way you can achieve this is by proofreading your work as much as you can before sending it to me. Here are some tips to help you spot and weed out errors and inconsistencies in your writing.

Also check out my Writing Tips and browse through my Blog to find out how else you can improve your own writing and save time at the professional proofreading or editing stage. 

As long as the final document you send me for a proofreading/editing/translation service does not exceed the total number of words we agreed upon (as stated in the quote), then it is my mistake if it takes me longer to complete the service than I expected.

In that case, I will not charge you more (see also My Five Promises). If, however, you realize that your final document will have a higher word count than you originally estimated, then let me know as soon as possible so that we can modify our agreement accordingly.

If you’ve received a quote but haven’t hired me yet, don’t worry—I won’t charge you a thing.

You will only be charged if:

1. You have accepted my quote in writing (via email) AND

2. I have received your final document for the requested proofreading/editing/translation service.

In this case, you will be charged based on the length of your text and the number of days left until the agreed deadline. See my Cancellation Policy for more information.

Go to How it works for a step-by-step overview of how you get a quote, place an order, and receive your edited/proofread/translated document from me.

If you are interested in learning more about how I approach a translation project, read my blog article on my 6-step translation process.

For Word documents:

You will receive two versions of your document from me in the end:

1. “Edits visible”: Your edited/proofread text with Track Changes recorded. You will see the entire markup and have the opportunity to accept or reject any of my changes using the Review tab in Word.

2. “Clean”: Identical to the first, except that all my edits are already accepted. This version is much easier to read because you will only see my comments in the review pane.

If you’re not sure how to use Track Changes in Word, check out the guide I've made available in my free Writing Tips. 

For PDFs:

Since it is not possible to make changes directly to a PDF, you will receive a PDF from me in the end that contains all my markup as comments and suggested changes.

You will have to make the alterations manually in your word processor once you have received the final PDF with my markup.  

I go over each document several times before I return it to a client to ensure I catch every mistake and inconsistency. However, I cannot promise that you will end up with a flawless document, especially if the text requires additional revision (e.g., references or clarification) prior to final submission at your institution or publisher.

If you are not satisfied with a service I have provided, please do not hesitate to let me know and we can sort it out. My goal is to always have clients who benefit from my services and are happy to contact me again in the future and refer me to their friends and colleagues.

See also my blog article on "Can you expect perfection?" and My Five Promises. 

I accept any texts saved as Word documents (“.docx”, “.odt”), Powerpoint (“.pptx”) files, and PDFs. You will get your text back from me in the same format I received it in, unless we agree otherwise.

Invoices are payable via bank transfer within 14 days of the invoice date, unless agreed otherwise.