Whitten Words’ Professional Policy:
Some Things for Clients and Potential Clients to Consider
Please refer to the following list to get an idea of what to expect of my service.
--The Editor
01.) My job is to do my best work for you, my clients. When I do a job, I work until I am satisfied that it is finished.
02.) As with all things, a job takes as long as it takes. The time required to complete a job depends upon several factors including, but not limited to: length of the copy, number of mistakes, whether I am proofreading or editing, etc.
03.) You should submit a copy that is as close as possible to a final draft. This is for my benefit and for yours; the fewer mistakes you make, the less likely I am to miss one. It will take me less time to proofread or edit a near final draft than it would an earlier draft and therefore submission of such a copy will cost you less. Additionally, if you don’t submit a near final draft, you may find that you have to resubmit the final copy for proofreading or editing; and this will also cost you extra money.
04.) If you have an approaching deadline, and you intend to use my services, please submit your copy as soon as possible. While I can do a professional-grade job under a tight deadline (assuming an appropriate size for the copy), it may not be up to my usual standards. While it is true that a given job takes as long as it takes, ‘as long as it takes’ is sometimes as long as it can take; and this can affect quality.
05.) When you have a deadline, it is your responsibility to tell me when it is and when you need the copy back by. I recommend that you ask me to get the copy back to you by a date that is no less than 24 hours before your deadline. If we are working with a hard copy, you should take the eccentricities of the postal service into account.
06.) Please do not assume that I will be able to work for you. I am a busy man. Proofreading and editing in my experience can be very time consuming depending on the nature of the job. If I tell you I cannot take your copy, this does not mean that I do not like you. It just means that I can’t take your copy. Reasons for this can be because I have a multitude of jobs that have to be finished, or because I have one really big job. Under such conditions, taking an additional copy would be unprofessional. The further away your deadline is, the more likely it is that I will be able to take your copy. (I may be able to make special arrangements with regular clients, providing they tell me in advance when they will need me.)
07.) Different media necessarily yield different results. If you wish me to work with a hard copy, I will mark on the copy and return it to you with the marks. However, if you, as have most of my clients so far, wish me to work with some form of computer text document, this will not be the case. For simple proofreading, I will correct the document as I read. I will then return two files to you: the original and the corrected copy. The exception to this is that if you have a persistent ‘mistake’ that may be a stylistic choice on your part, I will not correct it; I will highlight it and put a suggestion next to it.
08.) You make the final decision. I make corrections based on the rules of grammar, preferences of style manuals, and my own opinion. You do not have to accept my corrections of suggestions if you do not want to; some people deliberately break or bend the rules of English as part of their own distinct writing style. However, you should keep in mind that copies that conform to the accepted rules of English usage are more widely accepted.
* * *
