Welcome to my website. My name is Penny Heal and I am a professional freelance proofreader and copy editor, who trained and qualified in retirement. I was previously an information specialist and librarian within the National Health Service, in both academic and clinical settings, and in local government.
I specialise in providing proofreading solutions for clients wishing to put a final accurate polish on their work, whether it be fiction or non-fiction, printed or electronic. My clients include writers, website editors, advertisers, students, researchers and individuals.
I am a Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editors and Proofreaders (CIEP) and my directory entry can be found at https://www.ciep.uk/directory/penny-heal.
My subject specialties include medicine and the pharmaceutical sciences, children’s literature, self-help books, horticulture and canine pursuits, among others. I copy edit a lot of travelogues, biographies and spiritual works. I have excellent spelling skills and a knowledge of Latin nomenclature; I completed my education with a master’s degree.
During my career:
In retirement:
AUSTIN MACAULEY PUBLISHING
2014-2016 Proofreading/editing using Track Changes and following publisher’s brief.
Books on self-help, autobiography, law, travel, history and fiction.
TROUBADOR PUBLISHING
2016-present Proofreading/copy editing to publisher’s brief. Includes regular work for the Book Guild: titles include Fractures, Dreams and Second Chances by Anthony Brotherton, All Roams Lead to Rhodes by Ian Gretton and Combat Civilian by Gilbert Greenall.
I provide a range of services for publishers and others, including proofreading and proof-editing. Proper proofreading will enhance your writing. The text is examined line by line for errors of spelling, consistency, punctuation, grammar, layout, formatting and sense (in context).
Proof-editing provides a more in-depth review of your work, without a full copy-edit. It may include suggestions for improving flow and readability, or substitution of standard colloquialisms where English is a second language, as well as more substantial grammatical editing to improve the quality of the prose if necessary.
My services include but are not limited to;
Theses
Basic: I will look for sense and correct accuracy, consistency, punctuation, spelling and basic grammar.
For this level of work I charge £3 per 1,000 words.
Advanced: In addition to the criteria for the Basic level, I will check for style and readability in the English language.
For this level of work I charge £5 per 1,000 words.
A written report on changes is provided with the finished document.
Fiction
I will check for and correct incorrect grammar, punctuation, spelling, solecism and accuracy of general factual information.
I provide a written report explaining the changes I have made.
My aim is to assist and improve the quality of the finished product.
Based on Standard B Format book size (129mm by 198mm), 10.5pt Times New Roman, single spaced
Proofreading rate is £0.50 per page.
Please contact me for an individual quotation.
It has been a delight to work with Penny Heal for the last few years. She is conscientious and thorough and, best of all, she listens and then gets on with it.
Ellen Rocco | Owner
Agilitynet.com
Penny is a great proofreader: she pays close attention to the text, is thorough in her reading, and always returns proofs to our time schedule. We are consistently impressed with her queries, suggestions and the care she takes. She has an eagle eye for detail which is essential and we highly recommend her services. Added to this, she is a joy to work with.
Vinh Tran | Production Co-Ordinator
Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd
I engaged Penny to proofread Cold Gold, my first novel and a work of approximately 90,000 words. Working with Penny was a pleasure. Not only was she professional in every respect but her work was of a very high standard. Her approach was flexible and very much based on client needs. In my case it was agreed that instead of returning proofread chapters individually or waiting until the entire novel had been proofread, she would proofread a section at a time then return the work to me in batches. This worked very well. As work progressed I could rely on Penny to return the competently proofread chapters in a timely manner. Penny also suggested changes to the text where she felt a change was appropriate to improve the grammatical flow of the work. I was very happy with the results and can thoroughly recommend Penny as a competent, conscientious, totally reliable and most helpful proofreader.
Peter Wooton, author and photojournalist.
Member of the National Union of Journalists.