Annual Salary
£22,000 to £34,000
Average UK salary in 2023 was £34,963
(source Office for National Statistics)
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Proofreaders check text before it's printed or published to make sure it's correct and complete.
Average UK salary in 2023 was £34,963
(source Office for National Statistics)
You could work: freelance / self-employed; managing your own hours
There will be
2.3% fewer Proofreader jobs in 2027.
As a proofreader, you'll work with digital and non-digital documents to make sure they're ready for publication.
You'll:
You could work in an office or from home.
You can get into this job through:
You may find it useful to have a degree in:
You'll usually need:
You can apply to do a Publishing Professional Level 4 Higher Apprenticeship, which may help you get a proofreading job.
This usually takes around 2 years to complete.
You could start as an editorial assistant then move into proofreading.
If you have a degree or expertise in a particular subject, you could use it to develop a proofreading specialism. For example, if you have a technical or scientific degree you could proofread science textbooks or journals.
Volunteering will help you get a better understanding of the job and is a good way to make contacts in the publishing industry.
You could volunteer to:
Doing professional courses can improve your skills and your chances of finding work. You can find short courses through the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading and The Publishing Training Centre.
Experience working in publishing or journalism could help you to find jobs.
There's a lot of competition for work and publishing companies do not always advertise vacancies.
Often, jobs are filled through:word of mouth; recommendation; agencies that offer proofreading services
You'll find it helpful to develop a portfolio of your work, paid or unpaid, to show your skills to employers.
You can find out more about proofreading careers from the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading.
As an experienced proofreader, you could build up your reputation as a specialist in a particular field, work freelance, or approach publishing companies about jobs.
With further training you could move into editing, or commissioning content for publishers.
You'll need: