# Proof reading courses- scam or legit?



## vauxhallmum (Mar 25, 2011)

Has anyone done one of these proof reading/ copywriting courses by distance learning?  The one I'm looking at costs 302 quid and I'm tempted as I want to work from home, but well, is it dodgy? Do you ever get any work out of it? I reeeeealllly need to leave my no-mark arse of a job  I'm desperate, Dan.


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## danny la rouge (Mar 25, 2011)

I've seen these over the years and my guess has always been (based on no evidence at all) scam.


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## vauxhallmum (Mar 25, 2011)

Yes, I suppose if it looks too good to be true, then it ain't true.


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## trashpony (Mar 25, 2011)

It's quite difficult to get proofreading/copywriting work to be honest so even if the course is legit, then finding clients isn't that easy.


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## danny la rouge (Mar 25, 2011)

I'm not saying you can't get a well-paid proof reading job if you have good spelling, grammar, punctuation, syntax etc.  I'm just saying these courses look like "give us some money and we'll show you how to make money".


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## vauxhallmum (Mar 25, 2011)

Bugger. What else can I do from home 2-3 days a week? If I have to go to that sodding market research place one more day I'm going to lose my marbles.


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## RubyToogood (Mar 25, 2011)

I did the Book House course many years ago, on the recommendation of people who worked in publishing. It didn't get me any work in publishing but it has come in useful as a general skill enhancement thing in job applications, because all companies find it useful to have someone around who knows about this stuff and can at least spell.


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## vauxhallmum (Mar 25, 2011)

Right. Prostitution it is, then.


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## wurlycurly (Mar 25, 2011)

vauxhallmum said:


> Has anyone done one of these proof reading/ copywriting courses by distance learning?  The one I'm looking at costs 302 quid and I'm tempted as I want to work from home, but well, is it dodgy? Do you ever get any work out of it? I reeeeealllly need to leave my no-mark arse of a job  I'm desperate, Dan.


 
Proofreading is one word


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## littlebabyjesus (Mar 25, 2011)

I did one years ago. It didn't teach me too much, but it did give me the confidence that I could do it. Following that, I got work initially through advertising on the internet. I had to take work at way under the going rate at first, and also to be a little 'creative' about the extent of my experience, but if you're good, you get reused and you get recommended. There are a lot of shit proofreaders out there! A lot of marketing agencies need proofreaders on an occasional basis and they do look at online registers. I also received enquiries from students and people who had written novels. I joined three online registers, one of which was free and the other two I had to pay for. Both the ones I had to pay for got me work. The free one did not.


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## Cloo (Mar 25, 2011)

I wouldn't say they're a scam, but they're not necessarily much use on their own - if you're trying to freelance, you're much more likely to get work if you have an 'angle'. Meaning if you were, say, a teacher previously, you could say to educational publishers that you've done one of these courses and you're a teacher with N years' experience. As an educational publisher, I might consider giving someone like that a shot. Or if you had third sector experience and approached social care publishers about work, again, might play.

Is there any field you've worked in that people publish books on, basically? Much more likely to get a break that way. But you'll have to prove yourself decent to get subsequent work. I'm an editor by profession and have been for years, and while I'm OK on newsletters/mags, I'm not great at books. I'd consider freelancing, but I don't think I would be consistently good enough to get repeat work necessarily. But that's just me, you might well be much more better are big edits than I am!


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## Maurice Picarda (Mar 25, 2011)

SFEP is the gold standard for accredited proofreaders, and it's worth jumping through their hoops. I think they can also recommend proper training. Chapterhouse certificates really aren't worth the paper they're printed on.


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## littlebabyjesus (Mar 25, 2011)

Ha. I did the Chapterhouse one in about 2000, I think it was. Back then the govt actually paid half your course fee as part of some short-lived scheme. It is certainly useless in terms of the actual certificate – I didn't bother doing their final test for it. But I knew absolutely nothing about publishing and it did give me some insight into that – at the level of knowing some of the jargon so that I didn't feel like I was totally winging it as much as anything. 

These courses are of very limited value, but they're not scams. You send stuff in and they do send it back with comments. Not sure I'd pay £300 for it. But if you feel like an outsider to publishing, as I did, it isn't worthless to do it.

SFEP, ime, are snobby and unhelpful. They try to put you off by telling you how little work there is about. Self-serving shysters, imo.

VM, how is your computer set up at home? If you can get hold of Indesign and teach yourself to use the basics of it (it's not hard), that will greatly increase the scope of what work you can do.


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## oryx (Mar 25, 2011)

littlebabyjesus said:


> Ha. I did the Chapterhouse one in about 2000......
> 
> These courses are of very limited value, but they're not scams.



My partner got the stuff from Chapterhouse round about the same time (they advertise with a badly spelled ad that you itch to correct if you have the soul of a proofreader ) and I definitely got the impression it wasn't a scam.


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## Cloo (Mar 25, 2011)

I don't think we'd necessarily turn our noses up at a Chapterhouse certificate, provided the person approaching us has some kind of experience either of publishing or working in the areas we publish on.

I don't know about SFEP, but I can well imagine they do try to put people off, I suppose there are only so many people good enough to get established in the field.


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## vauxhallmum (Mar 25, 2011)

wurlycurly said:


> Proofreading is one word


 
It's two words on the website for the course


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## littlebabyjesus (Mar 25, 2011)

Is there anything you can specialise in? When I first started, I helped a lot of postgraduates with their theses and did bits and pieces of work for academics because that was an area I was confident about. I ended up branching out and doing all kinds of work, but confidence is a big thing – if there's an area you're confident about, that's what to go for, especially if you can bring something more than just an ability to correct spelling and grammar to it – in my case, I brought my ability to construct arguments in academic writing.


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## vauxhallmum (Mar 25, 2011)

Specialise? Lord no, I just want to work from home. Maybe I should look into envelope stuffing.


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## littlebabyjesus (Mar 25, 2011)

Buy yourself a copy Hart's Rules, and teach yourself the proofreading symbols (you'll only ever use a handful, and many of them are defunct anyway because of modern printing – letters never appear upside-down any more! – but they are still good to know). Then have a look online for registers that you can join, and consider signing up to them, particularly if they charge for it – ime the free ones are useless.

That's probably a better investment of your money than these courses, tbh.


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## trashpony (Mar 25, 2011)

You know about theatre don't you? You could specialise in editing theses on those kind of courses


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## Sue (Mar 25, 2011)

Even if you've got experience, it's hard to get work -- mainly you get it through personal contacts/places you used to work. And, to be blunt, why take on someone unproven (but with a bit of paper) when there are lots of experienced people out there looking for work...?


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## littlebabyjesus (Mar 25, 2011)

You mostly get work through contacts, yes. But I did get work from advertising on the internet. It does work.


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## Paul Russell (Mar 25, 2011)

I wouldn't expect to get much work if you have just done a course. I think publishers will usually look for people who have got some in-house publishing experience. Also, I do this sort of work (mainly scientific sub-editing) and I wouldn't be surprised if the amount of this sort of work decreases in the future as publishers are continually trying to cut costs and corners.

That's why I am also looking at other "revenue streams", so if you get any bright ideas, let me know.


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## Sue (Mar 26, 2011)

Paul Russell said:


> I wouldn't expect to get much work if you have just done a course. I think publishers will usually look for people who have got some in-house publishing experience. Also, I do this sort of work (mainly scientific sub-editing) and I wouldn't be surprised if the amount of this sort of work decreases in the future as publishers are continually trying to cut costs and corners.



A lot of technical/scientific publishers I know are not not only getting stuff laid out and printed in India/Thailand/the Philippines but also getting their copy editing/proofreading done there too. Quality is often questionable but it's all about the bottom line it seems.


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## vauxhallmum (Mar 26, 2011)

trashpony said:


> You know about theatre don't you? You could specialise in editing theses on those kind of courses


 
Now that is a good idea. Thanks


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## Maurice Picarda (Mar 26, 2011)

<snip>

Clever bot. 4 posts, all of which would just about work on any message board. And the spammy ones are on topic. Perhaps you're a meatware galley slave and not a bot at all, although spending time with you while you tried to pass the Turing test would probably be unrewarding. Anyway, post reported.

E2A: just to make it clear, that post was aimed at LittleBabyJesus and not at Vauxhall Mum, who is as real as real can be and wouldn't dream of shilling for dodgy sites.


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## mrs quoad (Mar 26, 2011)

Maurice Picarda said:


> <snip>
> 
> Clever bot. 4 posts, all of which would just about work on any message board. And the spammy ones are on topic. Perhaps you're a meatware galley slave and not a bot at all, although spending time with you while you tried to pass the Turing test would probably be unrewarding. Anyway, post reported.
> 
> E2A: just to make it clear, that post was aimed at LittleBabyJesus and not at Vauxhall Mum, who is as real as real can be and wouldn't dream of shilling for dodgy sites.


 
Odd post is odd.


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## Maurice Picarda (Mar 26, 2011)

mrs quoad said:


> Odd post is odd.


 
A post was deleted to which mine was a sensible response. I then had to edit mine in case it upset poor old Vauxhall Mum.


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## vauxhallmum (Mar 26, 2011)

Don't know what went on there but..
'Poor Old Vauxhall Mum' ???


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## aspirationjones (Mar 26, 2011)

they're not a scam as such but they are in the same league as crap like Kleenezee (imho of course) insomuch that you will be competing against everyone else who is also doing the course for work as well as everyone else who is already a proofreader

these courses usually suggest everyone write a letter on completion to various publishers who get these every year and most likely just bin them now, seeing as these 'courses' have been going for donkeys years

there is an advert for a proof reader (as opposed to proofreader) on http://jobseekers.direct.gov.uk at the moment (in Burnley) and it is only £6ph.  It is something you can do from home - someone I know charges students the cheap rate of £12ph -more to grown ups and businesses - no idea if she makes a decent living from it as she is on DLA etc so I can't judge without asking her straight out how much she relies on that work/money

have you tried sticking *home based* or similar terms into jobseekers direct?


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