Make Money Proofreading | Work From Home

Proofreading jobs are in high demand. That means You have an opportunity to make money proofreading from home.

In today’s market, having an online presence is vital to the success of many businesses and that means many people are creating more digital content. That content may be in the form of blogs, email marketing, social media posts, e-books or even posting ads on craigslist.

Regardless of how someone chooses to get their content in front of their audience, the creator wants to make sure it’s great content, and that it is free of grammatical and spelling errors. This is where you come in as a proofreader.

Keep in mind, these jobs aren’t for everyone. Although you don’t have to be an English professor, you do need to be competent in the correct word usage, punctuation, and spelling. If that sounds like you, a job in proofreading may be a perfect fit.

Proofreading jobs have a ton of great benefits.

You can make money proofreading to replace your full-time job or as a side hustle.
Work as much or as little as you want. You decide your income potential.
Proofreading jobs can be done from home, or anywhere with internet access.
You can work as a proofreader from anywhere in the world.
You can choose to work as a freelance proofreader or work for a company.
Whether you are a beginner or an experienced proofreader, you can do this work.

I have done a ton of research to help you get started, so read on for all the details.

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. This means I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through one of my links. This is at no additional cost to you. Please read my full disclosure for more information.

What does a proofreader Do?

Simply put, a proofreader is tasked with reading somebody else’s written or printed word and marking or correcting any errors. Proofreaders take that final look at a piece of writing to make sure it is perfect.

Thanks to technological advancements and available software, many basic spelling and grammatical errors can be caught during the writing process but it still cannot replace the human component. Check out these two examples:

My son was at there house.
My son was at thier house.

The first sentence is incorrect. The second sentence had the correct use of their but it was spelled incorrectly. My basic software recognized that I had misspelled the word their in the second sentence but it could not differentiate between which their, there or they’re I should be using.

I am sure that someday when we are all in our flying cars, we will have perfected computer software that will be able to proofread far better than any human. For now, the human eye is what’s needed in order to make sure that people’s content is perfected before they put it out for the world to see.

How much money can you make as a proofreader?

According to the latest statistics from the to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual wage for a proofreader is $39,140 and that varies up to $63,080. That is an hourly wage of $18.82 – $30.33. This just confirms you really can make money as a proofreader.

If you would like to read more statistical data on careers as a proofreader, you can check out the full details at the Bureau of Labor Statistics website here.

Working as a Freelance Proofreader

Aside from working as a freelance proofreader for a company, you can offer proofreading services as a freelancer on sites such as Fiverr or Upwork. There are many bloggers and students who use these sites to hire people to proofread their essays and blog posts prior to publishing them. This is a great side hustle you can do to pick up some extra cash.

Professional freelance proofreaders often charge $50 – $100 per hour for their services. If you are interested in taking a course to learn all the ins and outs of becoming a professional freelance proofreader, Caitlin Pyle offers a course called Proofread Anywhere that is really good. You can check out her free webinar for all the details here.

Proofreading Jobs for Beginners

Below are a few good places you can make money as a proofreader if you are completely new to proofreading. These companies are beginner friendly and will help you gain the experience required for some of the larger, higher paying proofreading jobs listed below.

Clickworker: Clickworker hires proofreaders for a wide variety of tasks. These may include: descriptions of cities, hotels, products or software. These are typically shorter tasks and more beginner friendly. Payments are made weekly via PayPal or direct deposit to your bank account. Click here to get more information on getting started with Clickworker.

Babbletype: This is a great company to get in with but they are not always hiring so check back often. Babbletype requires you to be a native English speaker with basic grammar skills. They pay weekly via PayPal. Click here to get more information on getting started with Babbletype.

Proofreadingservices.com: Proofreadingservices.com accepts beginner proofreaders and they are always hiring. Pay ranges from $19 to $46 per hour. You can work as much or as little as you want, from anywhere in the world. You are required to take a 20-minute preliminary test to apply. Click here to get more information on getting started with Proofreadingservices.com.

Kirkus Media: Kirkus Media hires freelance book reviewers in English and Spanish. Reviews are about 350 words and are due two weeks after the book is assigned. To apply, simply email your resume and a writing sample. Click here to get more information on getting started with Kirkus Media.

Domainite: Applying with Domainite is simple. Aside from your name and email, you are required to edit a sample piece of writing for review. Click here to get more information on getting started with Domainite.

Companies Hiring Experienced Proofreaders

Gramlee: This company is always hiring but they do require experience. Click here to get more information on getting started with Gramlee.

Cambridge Proofreading & Editing LLC: Cambridge Proofreading & Editing LLC, is always looking for experienced proofreaders. Due to the academic nature of their work, this company requires you to be a native English speaker, that you hold a bachelor’s degree and that you can commit to at least 10,000 words of editing per week. Click here to get more information on getting started with Cambridge Proofreading & Editing LLC.

Cactus: Cactus offers full-time work-from-home careers or freelance work. Both options require a bachelor’s degree in the area of expertise you plan on editing for. Click here to get more information on getting started with Cactus.

Scribbr: Scribbr hires academic freelance editors in the following native languages: English, Dutch, German and French. Pay averages $22 – $27 per hour (based on the average editors completion of 1,700 words per hour). Click here to get more information on getting started withScribbr.

Wordy: Wordy is a great company to work with as a proofreader but they are pretty tough to get accepted into. At minimum, you will need to have a bachelor’s degree. Click here to get more information on getting started with Wordy.

Scribendi: This company pays in US dollars but offers freelance proofreading work for anyone in the world with internet access whose native language is English. There is a short test to gauge your proofreading and editing skills that must be completed as part of your application process. Click here to get more information on getting started with Scribendi.

Wordvice: Wordvice is an international English editing company. They are always looking for freelance editors to join their team. This is a great company to get in with but they do require completion of a graduate degree program and a minimum of two years of professional editing experience. You are required to complete an application including your resume and a completed editing sample. Click here to get more information on getting started with Wordvice.

Editor World: Getting started with Editor World will require a degree and some experience. Currently, Editor World is only hiring editors with a PhD and/or science background. This is not always the case, it depends on their current demands. Check back often as this changes. Click here to get more information on getting started with Editor World.

Polished Paper: Polished Paper is always looking for exceptional editors. To be considered for an editing opportunity, you’ll need to register for an account, upload your resume and complete a 35-question editor test. Click here to get more information on getting started with Polished Paper.

Wordfirm Inc. : Wordfirm Inc. hires editors to work as independent contractors on an as-needed basis. Editors are required to have a college degree and prior editing experience. Although they are not always hiring, they are always taking applications so that they can contact you when work becomes available. Click here to get more information on getting started with Wordfirm Inc.

Finding Proofreading Jobs on Job Boards

There are several job boards you can use to search for work-from-home jobs, including proofreading jobs. The most common job boards you are probably familiar with are indeed.com, monster.com, careerbuilder.com and flexjobs.com.

You can use any of these job boards to search for remote jobs but flexjobs.com is the only online job board specific to remote jobs. The downside, Flexjobs charges $14.95 a month for a membership. I would suggest you start with the list above and see if you find something that fits your needs there, if not, you can check out Flexjobs for more options.

If you have found some good work-from-home proofreading jobs that are not on this list, I would love to hear about them in the comments.

Until next time,