Proofread Anywhere Review: Is It Worth It? (Student Review)

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If you’re trying to decide on a proofreading course, you may have discovered Proofread Anywhere and wondered if it’s worth the investment. I’ve taken Proofread Anywhere’s general proofreading class, so I can help you answer that question.

Proofread Anywhere is well worth the investment. Whether you choose the general or transcript course, you’ll learn everything you need to know to become a successful proofreader. You’ll be taught up-to-date skills, how to set up an online proofreading business, and how to find clients.

Let’s see what Proofread Anywhere offers, who its classes are for, and whether one of them makes sense for you.

Proofread Anywhere Review: Hitting the Highlights

THE COURSES AND THEIR PRICES

PROS

• lifetime access to course (including updates) and a private Facebook group
• teaches you how to build an online proofreading business and market yourself
• guidance for integrating AI (artificial intelligence) into your proofreading work
• engaging user interface and valuable bonus materials

CONS

• limited access to support from staff (you have to pay extra for tutoring)
• no work placement after course
• doesn’t teach you how to proofread typeset documents (only applicable to general course)

KEY TAKEAWAY

Proofread Anywhere’s courses are the most well-rounded proofreading classes on the market. They teach you proofreading skills and how to build an online business and market yourself. Proofread Anywhere is worth the investment for anyone who wants to learn everything you need to know to become a freelance proofreader.

Who Are These Courses For?

These classes are for anyone who wants to become a proofreader.

They’re suitable for beginners and those wanting to refine or refresh their proofreading skills.

And they’re ideal for the following:

• people wanting to start a side hustle
• those wishing to change jobs
• digital nomads
• retirees
• stay-at-home parents
• caregivers
• recent college grads

The classes are taught in US English, but you don’t need to be from the US to take them.

However, in my opinion, only native English speakers or those with native-level fluency should take them.

I also recommend you have an eye for detail and love to read, of course! 😊 I published a post that will help you gauge your aptitude for proofreading.

Finally, these courses are for people who are self-motivated.

Learning new skills and growing a business takes time and hard work.

The classes teach you everything you need to know, but it’s up to you to put in the time and effort to learn the skills.

An Overview of the General and Transcript Courses

Proofread Anywhere offers two classes:

1. General Proofreading: Theory and Practice™ 
2. Transcript Proofreading: Theory and Practice™

Key Details of the General Class

Let’s discover some important information about the general course.

What You Learn

The general proofreading class teaches students how to proofread a wide variety of writing, including the following:

• print media documents (e.g., books, e-books, magazines, screenplays)
• academic texts (e.g., research papers, essays, theses, journal articles)
• business copy (e.g., reports, newsletters, emails, résumés)

Proofreading is the process of carefully reading the final draft of a document to identify and correct errors and inconsistencies in five main areas: grammar, capitalization, punctuation, spelling, and formatting.

Proofreading is not editing, so proofreaders don’t change a document’s content or structure significantly.

Ignite vs. Ignite Plus: What’s the Difference?

As mentioned, Proofread Anywhere offers two versions of the general proofreading class:

1. General Proofreading: Theory and Practice™ (Ignite)
2. General Proofreading: Theory and Practice™ (Ignite Plus)

The Ignite Plus version includes everything in the Ignite course and a final exam (graded by hand).

If you pass the exam with a grade of 90% or higher, you’ll receive the following:

• a certificate of completion (noting that you passed the exam)
• membership in a private marketing mastermind Facebook group
• one year of free access to the new Hire a Proofreader Directory, where you can add your profile and look for work on the job dashboard

Required Texts

The transcript class teaches you how to proofread one specific type of document:

• court transcripts

Court transcripts are official documents containing what was said during a legal proceeding. Court reporting professionals hire transcript proofreaders.

Required Texts

What Students Are Saying about the Classes

Let’s see students’ opinions by looking at reviews on Trustpilot—a customer review platform.

Proofread Anywhere has an excellent 4.6/5.0 rating (from over 200 reviews) on Trustpilot.

Most reviews are for the general course since it’s more popular.

Let’s look at two relevant reviews on Trustpilot.

Refund Policy, Free Trial, and Customer Service

What Is Proofread Anywhere’s Refund Policy?

If you’re not satisfied with your investment, here’s Proofread Anywhere’s refund policy:

“We want you to love your purchase, and that’s why your investment comes with our Worry-Free Guarantee. We guarantee you’ll enjoy our offers, but if you are less than satisfied with your investment, we’ll give you a full refund for any reason within 14 days of purchase.

Please note that our Worry-Free Guarantee applies only to our full course programs which are all versions of General Proofreading: Theory and Practice and Transcript Proofreading: Theory and Practice.”

– Proofread Anywhere

Do They Offer a Free Trial?

A free 76-minute workshop is available for the general course. In the webinar, Caitlin discusses five signs proofreading could be a good fit for you and how to find your ideal proofreading clients.

You’ll be given a discount—a $100 scholarship—for either version of the course if you stay until the end of the workshop. However, you’ll only have one hour to use the scholarship after the webinar ends.

Caitlin will also give you a digital copy of her book, The Work-at-Home Survival Guide. 

A free 7-day e-course is available for the transcript course—it teaches you about what’s required to be a transcript proofreader.

Is Customer Service Responsive?

Although I never had to contact customer support during my training, I needed their help twice afterward.

Once, I inadvertently deleted the email with my certificate of completion. The team sent the certificate again within 24 hours.

The other time, I couldn’t log in after they had updated the course. They fixed that glitch within hours.

The support team was friendly, and their help was timely.

The Pros and Cons of Proofread Anywhere

Let’s review Proofread Anywhere’s benefits and disadvantages as we learn more about it. Since I’ve seen its value firsthand, I have a lot of good things to say about it.

But we’ll delve into the drawbacks too.

9 Pros of the Training

1) Proofread Anywhere is a legitimate and well-respected company.

The rapid growth of Proofread Anywhere is a testament to its success; it’s now a respected name in the proofreading industry.

If you take a well-known course, your clients will have more confidence in you from the get-go—and obtaining clients’ trust is essential in the proofreading industry.

Furthermore, 90% of Proofread Anywhere’s team members have graduated from at least one of its classes. The business’s practice of hiring its grads shows how strongly it believes in its training.  

2) An effective and experienced instructor created the classes.

Caitlin Pyle began proofreading in 2007 and has experience with both general and transcript proofreading.

I appreciate the practical teaching methodology Caitlin employs.

She doesn’t spoon-feed material to her students.

“Spoon feeding, in the long run, teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon.”

– E.M. Forster

Instead, Caitlin shows you how to get the answers you need. For example, she teaches you how to navigate The Chicago Manual Style when you’re unsure how to correct a document.

She also inspires you through motivating videos and emails, reminding you now and then that “you’ve got this!” I’m grateful for Caitlin’s encouragement.

3) You learn how to build an online business and find clients.

When I decided to become a proofreader, I had no practical knowledge about setting up an online proofreading company or marketing my services. That sounded intimidating!

Proofread Anywhere teaches you how to build a business and where and how to find clients.

It emphasizes leveraging social media to attract potential customers.

I created a post about finding proofreading clients for general proofreading if you’re interested.

Getting clients through your own company is ideal since you keep all the profits.

However, you can find work through other avenues.

I wrote an article about proofreading jobs for beginner general proofreaders if you’d like to check it out.

4) You have lifetime access to course materials and updates.

Proofread Anywhere provides lifetime access to all class materials and updates so you can learn at your own pace, brush up on material when needed, and keep your skills up to date.

The difficulty level of the material is appropriate to prepare you well.

Since I have experience working as a general proofreader, I can say that the training is appropriately challenging but doesn’t overwhelm you with material you won’t need.

5) It provides plenty of real-world practice.

The quality and quantity of realistic practice are essential considerations when learning to become a proofreader.

The bulk of the learning involves practicing your skills with a wide range of real-life practice documents.

The general course provides over 40 practice documents that resemble jobs you’d receive in the field.

The practice texts are divided into three sets. The first two sets contain nonfiction documents; the last includes fictional texts.

Although I wasn’t a fan of proofreading the fictional texts since they were tricky, it was well worth it to build my confidence and competence.

The transcript course contains 50 practice jobs that vary in difficulty and topic.

The practice documents in both classes include an annotated (edited) version so you can check your work against that of a trained proofreader.

6) You have access to a private and supportive Facebook group.

You can join a private Facebook group to ask questions and assist members with their queries.

If the group can’t answer your question, a staff member will step in to guide you.

Students have asked so many questions that using the search function turns up a myriad of insightful responses.

Many students say the private Facebook group is the best part of Proofread Anywhere.

I agree that this interactive student community is invaluable! The camaraderie and support I found there helped keep me motivated during my training.

Top-Notch Tip: If you decide to take this course, I think being an active member of the Facebook group is the best way to get the most out of your training. By answering members’ questions, you’ll help others and reinforce your learning by teaching them. And by asking questions, you’ll get the answers and insights you need.

7) It offers excellent value for your money.

In addition to comprehensive training, you’ll receive four resource guides:

1. Look Better in Writing™ Handbook of Commonly Misused (and Abused!) Words
2. The Ultimate Freelancer Tax Guide
3. The Mindset Mastery Guide
4. 5 Mindset Shifts for Goal-Crushing Confidence

These guides are useful for proofreading work, and some of the info can be applied to other kinds of freelance jobs.

8) You can earn a certificate.

Although the opportunity to receive a proofreading certificate isn’t important to everyone, it was to me. 

I wanted a way to show potential clients that I have verified skills.

Note: Many people wonder if getting a professional certification in proofreading is possible. For general proofreading, the answer is yes. Editors Canada offers the exam to become a certified proofreader. The exam costs $550 for nonmembers, and they recommend that you’ve been a full-time proofreader for at least five years before taking it.

Okay, back to Proofread Anywhere. 😊

With a lot of hard work and perseverance, I passed the general proofreading exam and obtained a certificate.

The exam in the general class is only available to Ignite Plus students.

I like how you can scan this certificate (issued through Accredible) to ensure its validity.

Please know that it’s not necessary to have a proofreading certificate to become a proofreader.

You can prove your skills in other ways, such as providing a sample edit for a client or passing a proofreading test.

Nonetheless, a certificate is a way for potential clients to see that you’ve received formal training, and it will help you stand out from the competition.

9) The business continually improves its courses based on student feedback.

When I took the general class, it had 10 modules; it now has 14.

Here are the five newest modules:

1. Grammar Refresher
2. Sentence Structure
3. Spelling and Word Use for Proofreaders
4. Punctuation Principles
5. Understanding AI

They created the first four modules because students wanted more grammar, spelling, and punctuation material.

Furthermore, they added a module about understanding AI to both courses.

The module provides instructions for increasing efficiency using AI tools (including ChatGPT). It also discusses the advantages and drawbacks of utilizing AI.

Finally, they updated the course platform to provide a more modern and refined user interface. Navigating the course is seamless.

Now, on to the cons.

3 Cons of the Training

1) No work placement after the course.

Although few courses of any kind provide a work placement, this would be an ideal feature to include.

A work placement is when someone works for a business for a certain time to gain experience in the field.

This would afford students a smoother entry into the proofreading field.

Then, they could leverage that experience to attract clients more quickly through their own proofreading business.

2) You have limited access to support from staff.

In other proofreading courses, you receive more support from tutors.

Getting feedback from an industry expert is helpful if you need individualized attention.

Proofread Anywhere offers tutoring, but it’s not cheap.

It costs $50 per 30-minute session. I tried a session and found it helpful.

It would be nice to include one free tutoring session in the course cost. However, considering the value already provided, that’s a big ask.

Nevertheless, if you think you may need one-on-one support while training, this is something to bear in mind.

3) It doesn’t teach you how to proofread typeset documents.

This disadvantage only applies to the general proofreading class.

If you plan to work for a publishing company, you’ll benefit from knowing how to work with typeset texts.

Jobs at publishing houses are highly competitive, but this is something to consider if you want to work for one in the future.

The course will teach you how to proofread book manuscripts produced by self-publishing authors since they’re seldom typeset when you work with them.

Also, the class doesn’t teach you how to use proofreading symbols because you’ll probably never need to know them unless you work for certain publishing houses.

The General Proofreading: Theory and Practice™ Course

Let’s see what you learn in the general class.

Content and Organization

The general proofreading class contains 14 modules with 92 lessons. Many modules have a quiz at the end to check your understanding.

Most of the course material is text based, which makes sense since proofreading is text based. 😊

However, the class contains video tutorials that teach how to proofread in MS Word using Track Changes and in Google Docs using the Suggesting feature. MS Word and Google Docs are the most commonly used software for proofreaders.

Now, I’ll highlight what’s taught in each module.

Module 1: Introduction to General Proofreading (comes with a downloadable course workbook)

• the importance of proofreading and the skills you need to be successful
• what proofreaders do and who hires proofreaders

Module 2: Grammar Refresher

• includes a 71-page downloadable skills workbook (with 22 grammar and punctuation worksheets)
• types of errors, grammar myths, and common grammar mistakes

Module 3: Sentence Structure

• subjects and predicates and subject/verb agreement
• sentence fragments, run-on sentences, and dangling modifiers

Module 4: Spelling and Word Use for Proofreaders

• misused words and US vs. UK spelling variations
• common typos, capitalization, and numbers

Module 5: Punctuation Principles

• common punctuation mistakes and US vs. UK punctuation differences
• contains a 100-question vocabulary quiz

Module 6: Proofreading Methods

• working in MS Word and Google Docs; proofreading PDFs
• advanced formatting in MS Word and style in proofreading

Module 7: Proofreading Practice (the meat and potatoes of the class and my favorite module 😊)

• 40 real-life example jobs to complete (self-checking)
• a link to numerous valuable CMOS-related quizzes

Note: The abbreviation CMOS stands for The Chicago Manual of Style—one of the four major style guides and the go-to guide in the US book publishing industry.

Module 8: Types of Proofreading

• proofreading academic, creative, and business writing
• proofreading blog/podcast show notes

Module 9: Turning Proofreading into a Business

• setting up your business website, setting your rates, and writing your résumé
• taxes and incorporating your business (includes a video chat with a CPA)

Module 10: Finding Clients

• proofreading and freelance associations
• social media basics and finding work on online marketplaces

Module 11: Marketing Basics

• blogging and effective proposal writing
• avoiding scammers and active vs. passive marketing

Module 12: Understanding AI

• explanation of AI and the AI tools proofreaders can use to increase efficiency
• pros and cons of using AI and an FAQ

Module 13: Your Workflow

• working with client preferences
• billing clients and developing your reputation

Module 14: Getting the Most out of the Freelancing Life

• organizing your time, avoiding burnout, and gaining confidence
• case studies of successful proofreaders

Ignite Plus Exam (only available to Ignite Plus students)

• includes an exam graded by hand

Bonus: Introduction to Transcript Proofreading

Finally, if you score 90% or higher on the Ignite Plus exam, you’ll receive a few brief lessons about how to make the most of being a Proofread Anywhere graduate.

How the General Class Compares to Other Courses

I’m only comfortable recommending this class and three others for training to become a professional proofreader.

I authored an in-depth article comparing the four classes if you’d like to check it out.

Let’s briefly compare them now.

Cost Comparison of the Best Proofreading Courses

Name of Company	Name of Course	Price
Proofread Anywhere	General Proofreading: Theory and Practice™	$597 for Ignite version / $697 for Ignite Plus version*
Knowadays	Becoming a Proofreader	$499
The Publishing Training Centre (PTC)	Essential Proofreading: Editorial Skills One	£345 (roughly $450)
The Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP)	It’s a series of three classes: Proofreading 1: Introduction Proofreading 2: Headway Proofreading 3: Progress	£870 for nonmembers (roughly $1,140)

*$100 scholarship available

The table below shows a few other significant differences.

Summary of the Main Differences between Proofreading Classes

Company	Price	Certificate Given	Special Course Feature
Proofread Anywhere	$$	see*	training in building a business and marketing
Knowadays	$$	yes	work guarantee possibility in conjunction with Knowadays’ editing course
PTC	$$	yes	personally assigned tutor to guide you
CIEP	$$$$	yes	most prestigious training program

*You earn a certificate from Proofread Anywhere if you purchase the Ignite Plus version of the class and score 90% or above on the final exam.

I penned a post comparing Proofread Anywhere to Knowadays since they’re the two most popular online proofreading courses. Both are solid options.

If you want to check out Proofread Anywhere’s free webinar, you can do so here.

The Transcript Proofreading: Theory and Practice™ Course

Let’s find out what you learn in the transcript class.

Content and Organization

The transcript proofreading class is divided into two sections: Theory and Practice.

Section One: Theory

Module 1: Introduction to Transcript Proofreading

• get a comprehensive understanding of what court reporters, scopists, and proofreaders do
• see how the steno language works
• learn the skills you need to be a successful transcript proofreader

Module 2: The Nuts and Bolts of Transcripts

• be aware of the multitude of errors that can be found in transcripts
• become familiar with the vocabulary found in various kinds of proceedings
• gain in-depth knowledge of transcript-specific punctuation and formatting rules using industry-approved references

Section Two: Practice

Modules 3 and 4: Marking Up Transcripts (Four Methods)

• learn four methods for properly correcting transcripts
• learn how to use an iPad with iAnnotate (a PDF annotation app)

Module 5: Simulation Transcripts (over 3,000 pages in 50 simulation transcripts)

• learn how to research correct spellings of many elements within transcripts
• perform a comprehensive read on each simulation job using an extensive proofreading checklist
• be aware of areas where you need more practice
• take a punctuation and short transcript quiz (100% score required to continue)

Module 6: Corresponding within the Court Reporting Profession

• understand how to communicate effectively with court reporters and agencies
• know what it takes to meet court reporting professionals’ expectations

Module 7: Billing and Accounting Procedures, Final Examinations

• learn about billing procedures, setting rates, and dealing with taxes as a freelancer
• be evaluated for aptitude and competence in the theory and practice of transcript proofreading

Module 8: Marketing (you can only access this module after passing both final exams with a minimum score of 90%)

• learn genuine, personalized marketing methods to connect with potential clients
• understand how to exceed expectations as a proofreader
• discover how to craft an effective, professional résumé
• take a 25-question marketing concepts quiz

Module 9: Concluding Lesson

• build confidence in your new skills and learn about the elements of a successful freelance business

The Tests and the Certificate of Completion

The class includes six tests.

Students must take and pass all six tests to qualify for a certificate of completion.

Four tests are automated and contain multiple-choice questions; the other two are graded by hand.

How the Transcript Course Compares to Other Courses

In my research, Proofread Anywhere’s transcript course appears to be the best online class of its kind. Transcript proofreading is a relatively niche industry, so few courses have been created to teach it.

You can learn more about the transcript proofreading class here.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are proofreading courses worth it?

Proofreading courses are worth it if you’d like to become a professional proofreader. A comprehensive class will enable you to increase your confidence, protect your reputation, and get more clients.

You’ll learn many new skills, including how to use style guides, set rates, query authors, mark up clients’ documents with software, and stay up to date with changes in language.

How much do beginner proofreaders make?

As a beginner (general) proofreader, you can expect to make about $12–$18 per hour. However, this depends primarily on whether you work for yourself or someone else, the genre of the documents, and your proofreading speed.

For example, you’ll earn more money proofreading business documents you receive through your own clients than by polishing uncomplicated blog posts from customers on Fiverr.

As you gain more experience and client testimonials, you can increase your rates.

I hope this article has answered all your questions and helped you decide if one of the Proofread Anywhere courses makes sense for you.

I wish you the best with whatever comes next for you!

Best wishes to you!

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”

– Oscar Wilde