Stephen B.

I'm an Englishman with excellent command of, and deep love for, my native language, and I want to give your own words some of that love and attention. I am a stickler for consistency and correctness in word use, presentation and formatting. My niche is NOT in producing the written word, but in proofreading and copy-editing other people’s to take it to the top level. I take your written labour of love and polish it to perfection, not to put my own voice on it, but to show your own work in its very best light. ACADEMIC WORK I specialise in high-end academic proofing and editing up to PhD level. I have a thirty-year professional career behind me and have written three master’s theses of my own, as well as writing or collaborating on numerous scientific studies and corporate reports. I am adept at applying the main style guides (especially APA6) meticulously, in both text and reference sections. YOUR SUBJECT: I do not need to know your subject! A common misconception I find in many job postings is that the client is looking for someone who knows their subject – when really what they need is an objective proofreader/editor who has the ability to see behind the subject to the words beneath, to make sure that the sentences and paragraphs are properly constructed, fluent and readable. Rest assured that I will search/Google/Wiki any questions as I come across them, and won’t waste your time coming back to you with queries – but if I need to ask them, I will. WHAT I DON’T DO: I will polish up your academic work, but I won’t do it for you. I won't write anything. I don’t re-write passages, build arguments, do research, fill in sections, or anything that necessarily has to be the work of the author. POLISHING HIGH-END NATIVE AND NON-NATIVE ENGLISH CONTENT If you’re a business person, an entrepreneur or a marketer from an English-speaking country, I will check over your corporate manuals, marketing material, B2Bs, white papers, Web content, etc, to make sure they are grammatically perfect and internally consistent. Small errors on Web pages or in business communications are jarring to the reader, and give the impression (even subconsciously) of a lack of professionalism. If you’re an entrepreneur or a marketer from Europe (or any other non-English-speaking country), who wants your content to be checked and perfected to make it sound like it was written by a native, then I’m your man. Your customers will feel more drawn towards you if you have taken the effort to make your business material polished and professional. (THE NEGATIVE STUFF...) WHAT I DON’T DO: I DO NOT WR*TE. I don’t make silk purses out of sows’ ears. I don't polish turds. If you’ve paid someone a few dollars to write something for your content mill and find you have to pay someone else to fix it up, then you’ll find someone a lot cheaper than me to give you what you want. If words were animals, then I’d be a pamperer and a groomer – not a puppy farmer. WHY AM I SO EXPENSIVE? I’m not, believe me. You’ll only need to pay me once to have your work ready to go, so by paying more upfront you’ll be saving in the long run. WHAT I DON’T DO If I see a mention of Copyscape, forget it. I don’t spin; I don’t rewrite; and I won’t work on anything that I know or believe to be plagiarised (and I will flag accordingly). AND I DON’T WRITE. If you’ve been shown to this page by a search algorithm, forget it. I’M NOT A WR*TER. Upwork's automatic algorithms are as effective as a chocolate fireguard or an underwater hairdryer.