English
is a difficult
language to master. Word
connotation, nuance,
tone and wrong process can alter the intended message content
and
cause misunderstanding and misinterpretation.
Proofreading and copyediting is applied to make sure your message is
clear, uncluttered, and pleasingly constructed. At
fogfactor,
we help you create writing that is effective, impressive, forceful and
appealing.
 Here's
what our proofreading
and editing services can offer you:
- Proofreading
your company
Policies, Practices and Procedures.
- Proofreading
and
editing manuscripts, official documents or other
communiqué,
prior to printing and/or distribution.
- Letters,
sales literature, sales copies, product features, instruction manuals
- General
proofreading services
- Copy-editing services
- Translation Services
(Chinese and
Malay)
What is the fog factor?
The 'fog factor' is a
writer's yardstick
to measure the acceptability of written work. It measures tautology,
padded syllables,
sentence length, multi-syllable words and other factors as a guide
to meaningful writing.
Briefly, here's how to
calculate the fog factor or fog index:
A. Count the total number of
words
B. Count the total number of
sentences
C. Count the number of
3-syllable or more words
D. Divide A
by B to get average sentence length
E. Divide C by A to
get the percentage of big (3-syllable) words
F.
Add D and E
G. Multiple F by 0.4
The result shows the
fog factor or fog index. The
ideal range is between 7 and 9. A fog factor above
11 indicates the writing is too heavy for most people to
accept. As
far as possible we try to achieve a range of between 7 and 9 when
copyediting.
Fogfactor
offers proofreading,
copy-editing and writing services. A
group of proofreaders and editors
are dedicated to offer you freelance
proofreading,
copy-editing and various writing services at very
affordable
prices.
Our clients are located
mainly in Malaysia and the
Asean region, but we accept assignments and projects
from anywhere in the world, since
all of our undertakings can be accepted and delivered via the Internet.
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Well
constructed and error-free sales copies enhance marketing
strategies and help promote your business to both local and global
markets.
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The need for Proofreading and
Editing Services
 Proofreading And Editing.
Are proofreading and editing the same?
Proofreading
involves
checking a text for capitalization, punctuation, spelling,
tenses
and the correct use of different parts of speech. Although
many
people use the terms interchangeably, editing and proofreading are two
different facets of the revision process.
Proofreading presents a challenge mainly because we do not read each
letter, but whole words. Look at this sentence: "It's
amzanig taht you can raed a sentnece even thuogh almsot evrey word is
wrnogly splet." As long as the first and last letters are
correct, the word is 'readable.'
That's why a proofreader may charge what appears to be an exorbitant
price for proofreading a piece of text. She has to 'read' every letter,
not just the word.
The more familiar you are with a piece of writing the more difficult it
is to proofread. That's because your mind is forming the words and you
are not actually seeing them.
Proofreading
and editing
has to be split into in several short blocks of time. Because it needs
intense concentration, a proofreader needs a quiet environment and has
to make allowances for mental fatigue which can seriously affect
concentration. Proofreading is also broken into checking for
only
one kind of error at a time. Trying to identify and revise too many
things simultaneously dilutes focus and increases the risk of missed
errors.
Editing
or copy-editing
involves looking at sentence structure, word use, active/passive voice
construction, paragraphing, white space utilization, conciseness,
clarity, verb matching and a whole lot of items which determines the
quality of written work. The person doing the editing or copyediting
must have a strong command of the language.
Additionally, editing involves attention to the following:
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Does
the article have an appropriate introduction and conclusion?
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Does
each paragraph include a clear leading sentence, and stay within the
context of the subject?
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Have
important terms that might be unclear to the reader been defined? Is
each sentence clear?
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Is
the 'tone' appropriate? Is it meant to be instructive, formal,
informal, persuasive?
Proofreading is done after editing and is the concluding stage of
editing and proofreading services. It focuses on errors in
grammar and punctuation, and misspellings.
While all word processors include a spell-check function, they cannot
be depended on for professional proofreading, editing or copy-editing.
In this sentence for example, a spell-check will not flag any errors:
"The quack brown fix jumps over the last old god."
Grammar checkers can be even more baffling. Since they work with a
small number of pre-defined rules, their 'suggestions' can be hilarious
at times.
PROOFREADING
JOBS, COPY-EDITING and WRITING SERVICES
Proofreading your message
Do
you have a manuscript or an important business letter, catalogue, web
page or sales communiqué to revise or improve? Let
our proofreading service do it for you. Our freelance proofreaders will
edit
your written work or rough draft and propose the necessary corrections
and changes for
your approval.
Remove
any embarrassing errors
As part of our
proofreading services we also offer copy-editing
services. We will
not only correct errors in spelling,
capitalization, punctuation, and verb tenses, but also suggest
alternatives to
sentences that
are too long. We eliminate unnecessary repetition, and replace
passive with active
verbs where necessary, and suggest more appropriate
alternatives to
selected verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. Our objective is to
create more readable and attractive writing.
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Impress
your readers
Correct
construction and syntax are essential for impressive writing. Readers
appreciate
good prose that is easy to understand. The primary purpose of any
writing is to elicit a desired response from the reader, and the only
tool available is choosing words with the greatest impact. We can help
you to create the impression you want.
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Send
us your rough drafts and our freelance proofreaders will suggest
ways to a finished copy
that is fog-free, clear and concise. We will ensure
your message serves its objective…to inform, sell,
persuade, incite, excite or entertain.
We use the fog factor as our yardstick for proofreading jobs, to turn
out copies that are
easy to read, interesting and easily understood. You want your readers
to read your message quicker and act on it promptly. This should not be
a tiring, challenging or irritating task, and our copy-editing and
freelance proofreading services are primed to achieve this for you.
At
fogfactor, our proofreaders and copy-editors look at
your rough drafts with a critical eye, and pay
close attention mainly to:
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- Text
organization and presentation,
- Tone
- Fog
index {a
measure of multi-syllable words, words per sentence and sentences per
paragraph}
- Word
and verb choice,
- Transitions
- Redundancies
and tautology
- Grammar
- Sentence
& paragraph length
- Active
v/s passive structures.
- Effective
application of white space
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We
do not change your text content. We present it in a form and tone
that enhances its message with added clarity, form, organization and
refinement. There are no wasted words.
Quick response time.
We
will edit and return most small assignments within five business
days.
Our proofreading and
copy-editing
services are personalized.
We treat all proofreading services as confidential, and
all jobs are accepted by email. To maintain a fast
turn-around time, we only accept projects in soft copy.
Writing
Services:
If
you have need for:
-
A Basic Business Plan {excluding financial and
other proprietary data}
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White Paper
-
Instruction manuals, sales and
marketing material, or
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Training Manuals
we will be pleased to suggest
a fee after reviewing the project. Charges will depend on the
multiplicity of the task.
Reasonable fees.
You
only pay a nominal fee. The fees quoted are the maximum
applicable
and are adjusted according to the complexities and extent of revisions
required. Where revisions are minimal, we apply discounts of between
10% to 25%. Please send us an email with a typical sample of the
article,
so we can quote a specific fee.
(To
standardize the fees, independent of client location,
prices are quoted in US Dollars
as a base.)
| Proofreading
prose and generic
articles and manuscripts |
$
8.00 per page or
part, with
12-point font. |
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Copy-editing
services (non-legal, generic) |
$16.00
per A4 page or part. |
| Copy-editing
or
proofreading
services (specific or exclusive). Examples include, but are not limited
to, to handbooks, trade manuals, white papers, web pages and company
profiles. |
Quotation
after review of
sample. |
All
fees are payable in advance, in a tiered
structure as follows. (For total costs less than $100.00,
we
may request full payment in advance.)
| On
confirmation of the assignment |
50%
of total cost |
| On
delivery of the completed project |
40%
of total cost |
| On
acceptance by you |
Balance
10% |
We
have three payment methods for the convenience of our clients:
- By
direct transfer to a local bank account
- Through
PayPal to enquiry@fogfactor.com
- By
check, if you are sited within Malaysia
How
to contact us?
Send
your e-mail to us at enquiry@fogfactor.com,
or fill in the form
, being sure to provide us with all relevant information.
Please include sufficient details so we can contact you
easily. When
sending documents for proofreading by e-mail, please send
them as an
attachment in Microsoft Word or any equivalent processor such as
AbiWord
or Open Office.
Our
freelance proofreaders
usually try to complete an assignment within five (5)
working days. However, we may need more time for larger
and more complex assignments.
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