Lame business idea or not? Single-purpose website provides only a proofreading service

by tomcam
5 replies
I found this article claiming plausibly that many employers will reject applicants for typos on resumes and job apps.

CUT TO:

Me sitting in front of the laptop wishing I had a handy-dandy proofreading service. I'm doing a lot of written output these days. I daydream about obtaining with minimal trouble (say, a PayPal order button) a fast, reliable proofreader. I don't want to go posting on Craigslist or Guru or Rentacoder or whatever. These are general purpose sites and so require me to fill out a bunch of expository matter. I just want a streamlined, bespoke interface to upload the doc, quickly choose from a couple of combo boxes and maybe checkboxes describing the purpose of the doc, and get it back proofread the next day.

I have no idea how writers survive on $5 articles, but I have to assume they'll be willing to proofread an article of equivalent length for less than that. If so it seems like a good idea for a writer or team of them to provide such a service for pocket money. The key here is that it's a standalone website with a single purpose, so the work request is particularly straightforward.

Lame idea? If you'd like to consume such a service, chime in and encourage someone to startit. If you're a writer and you don't think so, please feel free to take it and run with it!
#business #idea #lame #proofreading #service #singlepurpose #website
  • Profile picture of the author Sam Smith
    I think the problem is... $5 articles are SEO fodder, and generally no quality requirement to speak of.

    Proofreading can require a much higher quality. If it's basic grammatical stuff only, then definitely people could provide this and probably would use this.

    However, if it's style, grammar and general readability then you probably need someone a little more skilled who will charge accordingly.


    It's all about the quality. I suppose editing would be a step above proofreading in the chain.


    (PS: I graduate on Friday from English Language and Literature degree; not that it's over-relevant, but this probably distorts my perspective to the high end of the quality spectrum.)
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  • Profile picture of the author Igor Kheifets
    Hey Tom,

    actually this is quite a nice idea.
    Alot of article submission directories usually
    reject articles because of misspeling and grammar
    erros.
    When I wrote my ebook, I had an issue with getting a
    quality proofreader. So, I'd say go for it!

    Igor
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  • Profile picture of the author ikontent
    I've been wrong more often than right, so take the following with a heap of salt...

    The problem with this business model, as I see it is

    > Customers who look for the $1-$5 articles accept crap anyway, and wouldn't pony up for an additional proofreading charge that makes it worth your while. Similarly, the kind of writer who'd do the low cost articles may not do a good proofreading job anyway.

    > Customers who do pay more for decent articles usually go to a good writer whose articles generally wouldn't need proofreading. Vice versa, a good writer capable of proofreading well wouldn't look for the low pay jobs.

    You might be better off looking for one person with decent english skills, who's looking for a part time activity (1-2 hours a day) to make some additional cash; I've seen some US based VA's who can do this (plus posting on blogs / article directories, attending to general correspondence etc.) and charge maybe $300-$500 per month.

    If you're looking for lower cost, check out some of the Filipino or Indian providers. Quality varies immensely; you'll need to dig through to find some of the better ones.
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  • Profile picture of the author marciayudkin
    There are two deadly problems with this idea.

    First, the people who will write an article for $1 or $5 will not make good proofreaders. Proofreading is much more difficult than writing or programming, especially when it needs to detect and correct nonsense, missing words and unnatural idioms.

    Second, the people who will buy an article for $1 or $5 might be forced by the article directories to recognize the need for proofreading, but they would not be able to recognize the difference between good and bad proofreading. Bad proofreading won't solve their problem. They will get really angry and badmouth this service if it doesn't get them the results they want.

    Marcia Yudkin
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  • Profile picture of the author tomcam
    @Marcia, I have made a living both as a technical writer and as a programmer. I can assure you writing well is no easier than programming well and vice versa. But you make a great point about writers not necessarily making copy editors. I didn't think that through.

    BTW your sig has been polluted by the new filters and now says "Where are the Women Marketing Goobers?"
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