Joanna K
London United Kingdom
“Your message, my quality.”
Specialist subjects:
Editing formats:
Education:
MA in Art History
University of Gdańsk
2003–2008
Favorite referencing style
Chicago footnotes or Oxford referencing are my favorite styles.
Why I became an editor
I’ve always loved learning, which has allowed me to develop a good level of knowledge on various topics. While I love art, my career took me in another direction and allowed me to build my business process and managerial skills. But one thing never changed – I was always finding errors in the materials I read!
To save the trees (and virtual ones) and the readers' eyes, I decided to solve the problem at its source and become a proofreader.
Background and experience
I dealt with many academic texts when I started work on my PhD. In the first company I worked for, I quickly became responsible for editing other people's work. Later in my career, I worked in data quality, and in more senior roles, I was often responsible for the final review of business documents before they were distributed to a wider audience. I always had to restrain myself from emailing the publisher of every book in which I found a typo.
Why I love proofreading and editing
I love being able to help people deliver their message in a perfect way, free of any distractions. I enjoy the variety that comes with proofreading texts across multiple areas and the opportunity to learn about them at the same time as I help share the knowledge.
Favorite book:
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller is my favorite book.
Hobbies:
When I'm not proofreading, I'm eating, reading a book, traveling, or learning something on yet another completely random subject...because curiosity killed the cat.
Editing tips:
Following the client's style sheet (as well as constructing my own) while working on a document helps me to build a checklist I can refer to throughout the process.