Accuracy Works

Welcome to Jon Idle’s Accuracy Works proofreading service. I can help you to improve any document or script you are working on. This doesn’t only mean correcting errors, which many people think a friend can do. It means sorting out inconsistency; it means helping you get the style of writing right; it means avoiding ambiguous phrases; it means getting the layout and format correct. There are examples below, and in my blog, of how this works, and why it matters.

I can work on a wide range of business documents, academic work or full-length books, whether fiction or non-fiction. Your friend might not notice that you referred to Britain on page 6 and the UK on page 315; neither of those is a mistake, but if you really meant the same thing, it needs changing. And would you realise that you wrote ‘well-being’ in one place and ‘wellbeing’ in another? These are examples of what a skilled proofreader will point out. As a professional proofreader, I won’t just get rid of errors that a computer spell-checker – or your helpful friend or colleague – would miss. I can also help improve clarity and consistency.

I can check your work either electronically or on hard copy. I usually send you corrections within 48 hours for a short script, and have met every single deadline my clients have given me. I can also quote for more urgent work such as a magazine article, or academic work, with a fast-approaching deadline.

As a published author, it’s very important for me to have a reliable proofreader, and in my second book, Adrift in Caledonia, Jonathan Idle caught a number of details others had missed. I was impressed by his forensic thoroughness, and wholeheartedly commend him to others.

Nick Thorpe, award-winning writer, editor and speaker

Please check the other pages of this site to find out more: the ‘About’ page gives some background on me personally; the ‘Blog’ is where I upload occasional short articles about my work, about style and accuracy, and about writing in general; ‘Testimonials’ speaks for itself – and for the quality of my work on very different styles of document; ‘How it works’ shows examples of corrections and comments I would make; ‘Proofreading or copyediting?’ explains the difference between these terms; there is also a page about ‘Simple checks’ you can do yourself, to eliminate certain errors before sending your work to another person; and ‘Contact’ is an easy way for you to message me.