The best online proofreading jobs allow you to remotely make money proofreading. Proofreading is an excellent online job if you're a grammar nerd, and the added bonus is that proofreading is flexible, pays well, and has virtually no start-up costs.
Overall, proofreading is a great side hustle for teachers, college students, those working a traditional 9-to-5 job, and anyone who wants to supplement their income.
Proofreading isn't for everyone, but it's a great fit if you:
- Cringe when your friends mistakenly use they’re, their, and there
- Obsessively edit your emails
- Know how to properly use a semicolon
- Spot spelling errors from a mile away
Sound like the kind of thing you'd excel at? Then keep reading to find out exactly what proofreaders do, how much they're paid, and where to find the best online proofreading jobs for 2023!
Here's How to Make Money Proofreading in 2023:
What is Proofreading?
Before we get started, let's make sure you understand exactly what you'll be doing. Proofreaders do a quality check on written content, ensuring that it's free of spelling, grammar, or punctuation errors. They are usually the last set of eyes on a piece of content before it's published.
Proofreading is an extremely important part of the writing process, and it can be done completely online these days.
Because proofreading is an essential step for virtually type of writing, you can find online proofreading jobs that involve editing blog posts, admission essays, ad copy, resumes, books, cover letters, sales pages, emails, articles, case studies, and much more.
What makes proofreading so flexible is that many of the online proofreading jobs for beginners are for part-time and/or freelance work.
Want to make money proofreading?
This FREE seminar teaches you the five steps to becoming a well-paid proofreader.
Proofreading vs. Editing
Proofreaders are often confused with editors or copy editors. Copy editors make substantial changes, like restructuring written content or rewriting entire sentences. The work proofreaders do is just as important, and it happens after a copy editor has made changes.
Here's a chart that explains the difference in proofreading vs. copy editing:
Proofreading | Copy Editing |
|---|---|
Review the final draft before publication | Review a draft before it's finalized for proofreading |
Often includes fact-checking sources and statistics | Might be involved in the creation and quality of the writing |
Checks for consistency and formatting | Helps the writer craft more impactful written content |
Corrects spelling and grammar errors | Ensures consistent tone and style |
Does not delete or add content | Clarifies meaning and context |
By the time a proofreader starts editing, the piece is entirely written. Proofreaders aren’t changing the tone, style, or organization of a piece of writing; they are just fixing small errors that writers inevitably miss, no matter how many times they reread their work.
Think of proofreaders as the last line of defense for catching any typos, misspellings, or minor grammatical errors.
How Much Do Proofreaders Make?
How much you make proofreading varies based on your experience and the type of clients you work for. We've looked at job sites to find salary data, and proofreaders make $20-$40 per hour on average.
Here's the data we found:
- Salary.com puts the median proofreader salary at $54,805 a year, and the average hourly wage of $20-$30
- Indeed reports that proofreaders average $24.92 per hour, and report hourly pay for top proofreading jobs in the U.S. at $26-$41 per hour
- ZipRecruiter says proofreaders average $47,171 annually or $22 an hour on average
- Glassdoor lists the average proofreader salary of $40,609
- UpWork says the median rate for proofreaders is $25 with a typical range between $18 and $35/hour
Do I Need Special Skills To Make Money Proofreading?
One of the cool things about becoming a proofreader is that you don't need specialized training. But it is important to have excellent grammar, punctuation, and spelling if you want to make money proofreading — the obvious things!
Time management and communication are two other extremely valuable skills, and there's a good chance you've already developed those skills running a household, working your 9-to-5 job, or with another side hustle.
Not all, but some proofreading jobs require familiarity with specific style guides (MLA, APA, or Chicago style). Fortunately, you can find free guides online or check out style guide books from the library to freshen up on those styles.
Do I Need a Degree To Find Proofreading Jobs?
No, you don't need a degree to find online proofreading jobs, and this is another reason it's one of our favorite work-from-home jobs! Proofreading doesn't always require a bachelor's degree in English or Journalism or any other type of degree. Occasionally, a client will require a bachelor's degree, but most of the time, your references and track record are far more valuable.
As long as you possess basic proofreading skills — excellent spelling, grammar, and punctuation — you can start to make money proofreading.
There are tons of freelance proofreading jobs out there if you know where to look and how to set up your business. The Well-Paid Proofreader seminar teaches you five proven strategies so you can get paid to proofread. You can learn more and join the FREE, hour-long Well-Paid Proofreader seminar here.
Pros and Cons of Proofreading
One of the best ways to decide if something is a good fit is to weigh up the pros and cons, so here are a few:
Pros
Cons
Essential Tools for Beginning Proofreaders
Proofreading is an incredibly accessible job because you don't need a lot to get started. However, there are a few tools that are vital to your business. Bonus: most are free or super inexpensive!
- Spellchecker: Even the best writers, editors, and proofreaders will accidentally misspell a word now and then. Blame it on our fingers! Basic spell-checking software that comes with your computer or word processing program is a great must-have tool for proofreaders.
- Grammarly: You can go one step further than your spellchecker with a Grammarly subscription. Grammarly is an online writing assistant that checks for spelling, grammar, concision, formality, and more. You install Grammarly on your computer, and it will even check your emails and social media posts, which is really helpful when communicating with clients. Basic Grammarly is free and checks for spelling, punctuation, and grammar errors. You can upgrade to Premium for $25/month and access features that check for plagiarism, tone, fluency, formality levels, and more.
- Google Docs: If you have a Google account, then you already have Google docs. What's so nice about it for proofreading is that you can see a history of edits, collaborate with clients, and it's easy to send and receive documents.
- Dropbox: Not all of your clients will want to use Google Docs, which is why setting yourself up with a free Dropbox Basic account.
Learn more in Best Proofreading Tools for 2023.
18 Best Online Proofreading Jobs From Home in 2023
Now that you understand what proofreading is, how much proofreaders make, and what's required, here's a list of places to find online proofreading jobs.
1. Fiverr
If you're looking for proofreading jobs for beginners, Fiverr is one of the best freelancing platforms to start with. The way it works is that you create a profile and list your services, and then companies and business owners can search the platform and send you a work order.
The most successful freelancers on Fiverr have professional-looking profiles, offer clear outlines of what services they deliver, and define their work by niche. What we mean by niche is specializing in a specific industry or type of client. For example, you can advertise that you specialize in proofreading personal finance blogs, romance novels, college admissions essays, and so on.
2. Facebook
This isn't a place you'd expect, but Facebook is an excellent place to find freelance work, especially if you want to make money proofreading. Here's a recent job posting in the Proofreading and Editing Services group:
Facebook groups work best for those who are willing to engage and be helpful to other proofreaders instead of solely trying to self-promote. Many have rules about how you can and can't interact, so pay attention and be kind!
3. UpWork
UpWork is another solid option if you want to make money proofreading with no previous experience. UpWork is similar to Fiverr, but freelancers can also browse open job listings and pitch clients with proposals. Having a professional-looking profile and writing personalized proposals is the best way to get noticed on UpWork.
4. American Journal Expert
American Journal Experts provides English language editing and other manuscript preparation services to researchers, scientists, and scholars. To work as a proofreader for AJE, you’ll need to be an expert in a particular field. Being an expert means you have specialized knowledge or skills in one of the industries they work with.
5. Babbletype
Babbletype provides market research transcription and translation services for companies. They hire professional proofreaders and editors to ensure the consistency and accuracy of their transcription services.
6. CACTUS Global
CACTUS Global provides English writing services for scholarly and medical publishing. They have freelance and full-time work-from-home positions. Cactus requires that its editors have expertise in the fields of study they are editing, such as engineering, healthcare, life sciences, medicine, or surgery.
7. Domainite
Domainite is a content mill that finds freelancers to churn out quick and inexpensive content to companies. The pay isn’t awesome, but it’s an option for online proofreading jobs for beginners so you can build your resume.
8. Edit 911
Edit 911 offers premium editing services for books, dissertations, and other documents. They say, “No other editing service has higher standards,” and that might be true because they require their editors to have a PhD.
9. Editor Live
Proofreaders for Editor Live earn an average of $750 to $1,800 every two weeks and work in four-hour “collection” shifts. The requirements to work for Editor Live are passing a two-part exam and to either be enrolled in an accredited university with a GPA of at least 3.6 or have a bachelor’s degree with 5+ years of professional experience.
10. Freelancer
The way Freelancer works is that companies and individuals list jobs and their budgets, then freelancers bid on the work. You need to set up a freelance proofreader profile before bidding on work.
11. Polished Paper
Polished Paper connects editors and proofreaders for academic, manuscript, professional, and personal writing. There is a 35-question test to pass before getting hired.
12. ProofreadingServices
ProofreadingServices.com has over 10,000 clients using quality proofreaders and editors on a variety of projects. They hire editors with experience as teachers, professors, newspaper and magazine copy editors, and other relevant job fields.
13. Scribbr
Scribbr is for students who want someone to polish their essays, dissertation, or thesis. They hire editors that are available for at least ten hours of work each week, have proofreading experience, and hold at least a bachelor’s degree.
14. Scribe Writing
Formerly known as Book in a Box, Scribe Writing offers book writing services. Proofreaders work on book projects that generally take around four months.
15. Scribendi
Scribendi provides proofreading and copy-editing services for authors, academics, companies, students, and individuals. You will need at least a bachelor’s degree and three years of experience.
16. Wordvice
Wordvice has an in-house team of "revision experts" that professionals can hire for business, academic, and professional editing services. As a company, they've edited over 288,000 documents! Wordvice is always accepting new applicants, and they are currently looking for proofreaders to help ESL clients.
17. Gramlee
Gramlee specializes in a 24-hour turnaround time, and if their proofreaders can't deliver, the customer gets their work for free. That means you'll have to be efficient and fast if this is one of the online proofreading jobs you want to learn more about.
18. Writer's Relief
This platform offers a wide range of services for writers, from proofreading to website design. To get hired for one of its online proofreading jobs, the ideal candidate has experience, and Writer's Relief says they only hire 2% of those who apply! You can find an application on the Writer's Relief site.
Related: Best Online Proofreading Courses in 2023.
How To Get Online Proofreading Jobs for Beginners
Now that you know where to find proofreading jobs, the next step is landing a job. There's no magic pill to make money proofreading, but here's what you can do to position yourself to break into the market, land your first job, and grow your proofreading business, whether it's a side job or turns into a full-time business:
- Find one or two platforms to focus on in the beginning. Fiverr and UpWork are great places to start if you don't have much experience.
- Research each job board or platform to learn the best practices for making money. We have an UpWork review, Fiverr review, and FlexJobs review to get started with.
- Consider offering discounted services to land your first couple of jobs in exchange for reviews. Reviews are key to establishing yourself on platforms like UpWork and Fiverr. While you can't demand a review, you can explain that you're building your business and are interested in getting feedback that can be shared with future clients.
- Reach out to your network for your first job. This is one of our favorite strategies for starting a business — use your network! Your network includes your family, friends, coworkers, neighbors, etc. You can post on social media or email them to let them know that you've started proofreading and ask if they have any leads for proofreading jobs. Your first paying job could be as simple as proofreading your cousin's resume. Just make sure you ask for a review!
- Start a website. You can start a WordPress site for as little as $2.95/month with Bluehost's discounted pricing (WordPress is what we used for this site!). All you need is a simple page that introduces who you are, reviews from past clients, and the services you offer. This is a great way to share your business and reach clients who aren't on freelance platforms.
- Join proofreading and writing groups on Facebook. One thing Facebook does really well is community groups. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of free groups for freelancers, and these groups often share new job posts before they hit the big job boards mentioned above. Search for ones that are specific to freelance writers, editors, or proofreaders.
How To Make Money Proofreading in 2023: The Final Word
Learning how to make money proofreading is a great way to supplement your income and work from home. The biggest thing is knowing where to look for proofreading jobs.
Well-Paid Proofreader, the FREE, hour-long seminar, teaches you to the five steps to becoming a well-paid proofreader.
Proofreading isn't for everyone, and that's okay. But if you are detail-oriented, motivated to complete projects by deadlines, and committed to producing stellar work for your clients, proofreading is a great side gig.
FAQs
According to salary data and job sites, proofreaders can make $20-$40 per hour.
Proofreading is an excellent side hustle because there are low to zero startup costs, it doesn’t require a degree or specialized training, it pays well, and you can scale it into a full-time business.
Overall, vacancies for proofreaders has decreased since 2004, but it’s expected that demand will start going up between now and 2029. We believe that the rise in online work, online learning, and online content creation will be responsible for that increase.
About Ariel Gardner
Ariel Gardner is the editor-in-chief of M$M, an elder millennial, and really wants to keep her lattes. She’s seen both ends of the financial spectrum, from trust funds to a paycheck to paycheck lifestyle, and uses that experience to empathize and connect with a wide range of readers. She has been editing and writing professionally for personal finance websites since 2015.
