Editor/proofreader seeking unpaid work

[Anvil Factory]

I will be graduating with a Bachelor's degree in English soon, and I should probably get something on my resume. Experience is everything, after all.

I'm probably shortchanging myself, but I'm interested in providing commercial game developers the opportunity to have their scripts proofread for grammatical errors and such, for free. Well, aside from an honorable mention so employers don't think I'm a lying liar. (Redundancy for humorous effect, I promise!) I'm also willing to give script writing a shot, but I can't promise anything overwhelmingly great since I'm a self-taught creative writer.

If interested, please contact me via PM.

[mysterialize]

Are you willing to edit for non-commercial projects?

[Anvil Factory]

I'm willing to consider it, but I'll place precedence on commercial projects. You're certainly welcome to send me a script whenever you're short of hands. I can't promise anything, that's all!

[mysterialize]

Heh, alright. I'll wait a bit and see if you get any other responses first then. I've just been having bad luck finding proofreaders who will stick around, but I'm sure I can get something to work.

Thanks though. I may contact you later.

[Anvil Factory]

I received an offer via PM, actually. I'd love to look over your script; I'm only uncertain about speed, that's all. \o/ Just send it to me when you're done.

[robinwriter]

Hi Anvil,

Your offer seems workable (IMO), lets hope it goes good with the game developers. The best thing you could do to promote yourself (authentically), is to provide some examples. Even if you’re a self-taught pro, prospects would like to see “what can you give us?”.

[Anvil Factory]

Thanks for the advice. I've actually received two offers, so I'm feeling good. Unfortunately, I don't really have anything that represents my current abilities, but I'm willing to provide prospects with samples over PM. I'd hardly call myself a pro, though. I don't have that mentality, or the confidence, yet.

[Jake]

Unfortunately, I don't really have anything that represents my current abilities

To be honest, while it's very good advice for writers and artists putting themselves forwards, it's not immediately obvious how you'd provide examples of proofreading or editing work anyway... to get a really good idea of how good you are at editing, you'd need to provide before-and-after of whole stories, not to mention examples of the kind of feedback you gave - and self-written 'examples' are more or less pointless, since anyone can find errors and weaknesses that they inserted themselves on purpose.

I guess you could provide examples of your writing in the same manner a writer might, but that's really only half the story when you're talking about proofreading and editing, it'll just show that you have decent spelling and grammar...

[jack_norton]

I found that most people (not all of course) that worked with me so far in various fields including writing/proofreading lack a simple requisite: being constant. So many people start enthusiast, then basically disappear from a day to another...

[Anvil Factory]

Unfortunately, I don't really have anything that represents my current abilities

To be honest, while it's very good advice for writers and artists putting themselves forwards, it's not immediately obvious how you'd provide examples of proofreading or editing work anyway... to get a really good idea of how good you are at editing, you'd need to provide before-and-after of whole stories, not to mention examples of the kind of feedback you gave - and self-written 'examples' are more or less pointless, since anyone can find errors and weaknesses that they inserted themselves on purpose.

I guess you could provide examples of your writing in the same manner a writer might, but that's really only half the story when you're talking about proofreading and editing, it'll just show that you have decent spelling and grammar...

I was more or less thinking the same. There's a big difference between editing my own work versus editing someone else's, too. Thanks!

I found that most people (not all of course) that worked with me so far in various fields including writing/proofreading lack a simple requisite: being constant. So many people start enthusiast, then basically disappear from a day to another...

That's pretty unfortunate. Don't worry; I'm still around! I'll probably seem a lot slower compared to how speedy I was for the first batch because I'm trying to be more thorough. I'll be looking at the previous batch, too, so it'll be a while.

[jack_norton]

Ah that was not actually directed at you or anyone else here