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Idea I've had kicking around a while

by CDarklock
3 replies
So I was sitting here thinking the other day, there are a lot of people out there writing ebooks and reports, but they're not native English speakers. They can write pretty well, but their grammar is a little off - not bad, they just think in their native language (surprise!), and the rules of grammar are a little different there.

And I got to thinking, this really minor issue in their writing makes it really hard for them to get credibility with native English speaking audiences. It's not hard to fix, and all it really takes is a native English speaker to read through it and make some minor edits - but it's a tremendously valuable thing, and can really make the difference in being seen as an authority.

Would people be interested in a service like this? What seems like a fair price for it?
#idea #kicking
  • Profile picture of the author Shana_Adam
    I believe people would be very interested - those that are really serious about their brand called me. I am fairly proficient in a few languages french, german, arabic but ask me to write a paragraph and I would freeze.

    I was playing around with dragon naturally speaking today and I was actually quite surprised. The great ideas you have in your head sometimes just don't come out on paper the way you expect, or speaking in this case while dictating random musings!

    In terms of price that I would not know
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Oksa
    Hi C,

    Great idea!

    I've thought of doing this as well. The pricing has been my stumbling block. A lot of non-native speakers tend to charge low prices, that's their hook. Adding the proofreading would allow them to charge more, so it should be win-win.

    Selling the service could be tricky, as you'd have to overome some of the preconceived notions in the marketplace. Not impossible, just tricky.

    My guess is you could reasonably charge $1 - $2 per page.

    For the record, I have seen plenty of non-native pseakers who would put native English speakers to shame.

    All the best,
    Michael

    p.s. Maybe you could charge $100 per page to clean up Nigerian scam letters.

    LOL
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    "Ich bin en fuego!"
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    • Profile picture of the author MarkH45
      Originally Posted by Michael Oksa View Post


      My guess is you could reasonably charge $1 - $2 per page.
      I would go for that.

      English is my first language but you would have a hard time figuring that out based on my writing.

      The only thing I would be hesitant about is getting some really screwed up 40 page PDF and having to write the whole thing over again for very little money.

      But then again, I guess you could just give price ranges then quote the people an actual price after you receive the document.

      I think you should go for it...
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