Twenty years ago, I expected most editing and proofreading skills to be replaced by computer programs and apps by now.
Instead, the opposite happened. Self-publishing content is easier than ever before, and written online communication has replaced most phone conversations. People are writing more, not less, and writers are still turning to other writers for assistance.
All writers, even the best ones, need help. When you read, our mind tends to see what it expects to see or wants to see, especially with content we are creating. That’s why we can read word puzzle memes on social media where words are written backwards, jumbled, or missing all the vowels. Our minds automatically rearrange the symbols or fill in the blanks.
Plus, language learning never stops. Grammar, spelling, and word usage rules change, especially as language adapts to our ever-changing technology.
The world is more connected now too. When I was in college, I couldn’t have imagined the average business person needing to know the difference between American English, Canadian English, and British English on a daily basis. Now, persons from those countries work together for the same company, along with persons from every continent in the world. They market their business products or services to almost every continents as well.
Proofreading and editing programs and apps are useful but don’t do everything.
Working with an actual person lets you personalize the experience and specifically target your audience more easily and specifically. You need a different style to target a large accounting firm with an IT software proposal than if you are sending sales letters to a surf club. Your attitude and vocabulary will be very different for a scientific report than for a fun doggie blog. Your idiomatic phrases and analogies may be need to regionalized for different areas within a country or even within a state.
Computer programs don’t always accurately catch the context or nuanced meaning of your words and may recommend changes you don’t want. Apps don’t understand that sometimes maintaining your own voice is even more important than perfection. A professor from China writing a recommendation letter in English for a student applying to a US college doesn’t want a final product that sounds like a fake, computer-generated letter.
For sales content, a computer program may not know that a tagline is too similar to a well-known competitor’s or just not catchy enough, or that the complex words it wants to remove for readability are crucial keywords – at least, not yet.
Let AI drive your cars, order your groceries, secure your home. But for personalized, human attention to your writing, you can contact me here or find me on Upwork:
WRITING
Website content and blogs for businesses and web development agencies are my main B2B writing focus. I have also worked on brochures, general marketing materials, handbooks, and assisted writers with personal writing projects.
EDITING
Helping small businesses who have written their own web content, writers using English as a second language, poets who need help with rhyme and rhythm, and self-publishers who need general assistance, especially with eBooks, have been my editing specialty areas.
PROOFREADING
Recent projects include a concept of operations for an engineering firm, translated web content for a parking management software company based in Paris, and an eBook about Pomeranians. Other past projects: blog posts, instruction manuals, recommendation letters, scientific reports, business proposals, flyers, and articles.
“Kelli is one of my go-to writers. She does a great job on the content and delivers on time!”
“Kelli did a great job writing the content pgs. for my website. Communication and response time was on point. I would recommend her to anyone in need of a good writer!”
“Kelli was a perfect addition to my team to get my project (186 pg. document) professionally edited and delivered to the graphics team in 24 hours. She even jumped back in to help me fix some areas I screwed up late in the process, going above and beyond. She enabled communication and was flexible to my needs. Her skills are great and her work ethic matches mine. She will be a welcome addition to my team on future projects.“
“Kelli turned around a technical proposal for us well in advance of the deadline. Her recommended edits were stylistically smart, and she greatly improved a very important document for us. Very good experience, and her rate is extremely reasonable! Thank you Kelli!”
Upwork Clients: https://www.upwork.com/fl/kellin2
PROOFWRITE 