Proofreading From Home

In a Nutshell

If you have a keen eye and a good knowledge of the English language, you can provide proofreading services for other companies. You will receive the material either in print or, more likely, as a file, and will return a corrected version to your client.

The Longer Version

This is a great work from home business opportunity for retired teachers! You can join a company that finds the clients for you and all you have to do is dedicate some time everyday to proofreading pages of text.

This service is very valuable for the clients. Often these are webmasters who may be very good at putting together lines of computer code, but not necessarily have the best of abilities when it comes to spelling, punctuation or grammar. This is where you may have the advantage and can put it to good use!

Clients are also students and members of the academy who need a proofreader for dissertations and research papers, so the more qualified you are in certain areas the more chance you have of landing some good quality projects.

Fortunately, you don't have to find clients yourself. There are several websites that offer freelance market places. We chose one that focuses on proofreading, as it's often more accessible and more suitable for most people then translating or content writing - OnlineProofreaders.com.

Note: most freelance sites require a fee to get listed as a freelancer! You are also expected to pay a commission per project. In return, the site takes care of web promotion, to bring you more work opportunities. Whichever site you decide to register with, always favor one that works on commissions as well as a registration fee. This ensures the site itself has a vested interest in helping you succeed.


Of course proofreading from home requires some qualifications. The website in question does ask you to take a proficiency test and you have to get a minimal score of 75 before you’re accepted. Your score will reflect on your future projects, as it will be visible to potential clients.

What Do You Need?

Signing up with sites where you can find projects and post your availablity can cost up to $20-$50 per site. You should start with signing up for 2-3 of these sites at least and start actively looking for projects.

So... How Much will I Make?

There are projects out there, but you'll have to compete for them. If you have time on your hands and are willing to work hard, you should be able to make quite a lot of money working full time.