Oops Detection® Final Pass Service

You’re almost ready to go.

Your manuscript’s been through edits and copyediting, and you feel like you’ve read it so many times you can recite it by heart. But… you’d feel better with just one more set of eyes on your book before it goes live.

Oops Detection

“Oops Detection,” often called a cold read or proofreading, is affordable and it’s great for:

  • Putting that last bit of polish on your book.
  • Giving yourself peace of mind that it’s ready already.
  • Evaluating your editor / proofreader.
  • Fixing Optical Character Recognition (OCR) conversions – That’s when a print document is scanned in preparation to convert it to digital format. OCR software can, will, and does do wonky stuff to text, such as replacing letters with numbers, dropping punctuation, and changing some words completely (wife to with, for instance).

Please note:

  • Oops Detection is not meant to be a shortcut around editing, nor is it even meant to replace proofreading. It is a LAST check, meant to catch that pesky handful of “oopses” that always manages to slip through. For more information about the production process, I invite you to read Courtney Milan’s excellent article about the subject.
  • Oops Detection is a service that I and an assistant provide in our spare time – our free time. That is why I am able to keep my rates low. I make no secret about the fact that I am a very small shop. It’s just me and a couple of assistants. Depending upon my own work schedule (i.e. manuscript editing), our collective family obligations, and how many books are in the queue, turnaround time on Oops Detection may vary.
  • If we feel your book needs proofreading, I’ll do my best to notify you as soon as possible. I’ll generally write up an Oops Report on the part of your manuscript that did get marked up, but, again–Oops Detection isn’t meant to replace other parts of the editorial process.
  • If you’re a new Oops Detection client, please refer to my Oops Detection FAQ.

Pricing & Scope

We look for errors such as missing words, double words, misspellings, homophones and usage errors (loose instead of lose, for example), and obvious punctuation errors (such as a missing period, a question mark instead of a period, missing dialog tags, etc.). We also point out any really strange formatting issues that we spot, though we don’t necessarily look for chapter breaks and such.

Hyphenation issues: We won’t flag hyphenation problems with compound adjectives, but will flag words that should be hyphenated (or one word, or open) according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.


  • $.00315 / word (minimum is $25, regardless of word count)
Manuscripts line edited or proofread by Victory Editing will be discounted.

Get Started


Priority Status (Optional)

Got a deadline and need a quick turnaround? We may be able to bump you to the head of the line.

Note: This service may not be necessary, even if your book is an add-on. It all depends on the current queue. I’m always happy to share projected timelines with you, so feel free to ask what the schedule looks like. On the flip side, during holidays and other peak times, Priority Status may not be available.


  • Plus 50%


Sample

Curious what an “Oops Detection” entails and what a report looks like? Debora Geary has kindly given me her permission to post her report for A Modern Witch.

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