Proofreading
Since 2005 I have undertaken a wide variety of proofreading assignments and I now have several repeat clients. Projects have included:
- Illustrated novels
- Illustrated beginners’ guides to topics in computing and photography
- Technical software documentation
- Marketing material: brochures and corporate newsletters
- Careers and educational directories
- School mathematics textbooks
- Guidance books for young people
Techniques that I’ve used have included:
- Traditional proofreading on paper using British Standard markup
- On-screen proofreading of PDF documents, applying markup with Adobe Acrobat
- On-screen proofreading with the results presented in a separate document
- Proofreading Word documents and applying the corrections directly in Word
Copy-editing
I prefer to edit on screen, and am an experienced user of Microsoft Word’s advanced support options for professional editors. Copy-editing projects that I’ve undertaken since early 2006 have included:
- Support material for secondary-level maths teachers, for use on the web
- Numerous short articles on biographical and literary topics
- Detailed environmental analysis for use in a book-length document to support a major planning application
- A thesis for an advanced degree in computational physics
My combined proofreading and copy-editing experience for paying clients totals well over a thousand hours.
Page layout and typesetting
I have more than three years’ experience of page layout and typesetting projects, mainly full-length illustrated books, using Adobe InDesign. At the time of writing (summer 2008) more than 30 of these books have been successfully printed. Before switching to InDesign I used Adobe PageMaker for several projects, mainly illustrated leaflets and brochures.
Image editing
I have five years’ experience in the use of Adobe Photoshop to edit images, starting from either a scan or a photograph (in some cases, a photograph that I’ve taken myself). These images are normally intended for use in illustrated books or leaflets, and are prepared to printable quality at resolutions of 300 dpi, 600 dpi or more. I routinely:
- de-screen images to remove moiré patterns from halftoned originals
- retouch damaged old photographs
- enhance low-quality supplied originals to improve sharpness etc
- perform colour correction
- recreate original line drawings from a scan of a printed copy
Hundreds of my edited images have now been successfully printed.
Writing
I wrote a great many technical documents, including software specifications, during my 20-year software engineering career.
I researched and wrote the text for an illustrated local history book about Cambridge for the general reader, due to appear in Worth Press’s Memories of Times Past series in late 2007.
For an example of my informal writing, please see my blog.
My career background
I graduated in Mathematics from Cambridge University and did a one-year postgraduate Diploma in Computer Science. I then worked in the software industry for twenty years. My employers included ARM (4 years) Harlequin (7 years) and Topexpress (4 years). Activities that are particularly relevant to the work I do now included:
- Seven years working on electronic publishing software
- Two years providing technical support for customers
- Three years managing other members of staff
- Five years working on configuration management
For more details please look at my career timeline.