Q&A With Virginia Tesi Carey 

I love doing Q&As whether it’s with authors, publicists, agents, marketers, editors, & others in the publishing industry that help put amazing stories out into the world with their special gifts and talents! Today’s Q&A is with Virginia Tesi Carey who is an editor & proofreader!

Q: Virginia, what drew you into editing and proofreading authors’ books? How long have you been an editor and proofreader for?

A: I have been an editor and proofreader for 8.5 years. I absolutely love it! Before I started editing and proofreading, I was a blogger. People used to tell me I would be great at editing and proofreading and I decided to try it. So, I did it for a few authors as a favor and then started my own business. I loved that I would be able to help authors by making their books error free.

Q: What is the difference between proofreading & editing? What do you enjoy the most about doing both? What do you enjoy the least?

A: Editing comes before proofreading. Editing is taking the author’s manuscript and looking for any discrepancies or errors. It can be something with the plot, or it could be sentencing structure, grammar issues, spelling mistakes, punctuation, etc. Things like that. Proofreading is the final set of eyes on a manuscript. The proofreader should look for any things the editor may have missed. I do both- but not for the same book. It is always important to have the editor and proofreader be different people because it is very hard for one person to catch everything. I always recommend two sets of eyes.

What do I enjoy the most? I think it would be the sense of satisfaction I get when helping make a book shine. I get to read so many amazing stories and I love them. I love helping to make them be the best they can be.

I really enjoy all of it so I don’t think there is anything I enjoy the least.

Q: Did you go to college to become an editor & proofreader, or did you apply somewhere? What wisdom have you learned in your years doing editing and proofreading, would you like for everyone to know whether they go into editing and proofreading or not? 

A: I did not. I have a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology. I worked in Human Resources for years then became a stay-at-home mom. About 13 years ago I became involved in the online book community and my involvement grew. After being a blogger for a few years, I branched out to editing and proofreading. I started by putting my name out on Facebook and my business grew from there. I was very lucky.

I think I would want people to know that it’s not as easy as people think it is. People think you just find errors in books. But it is much more than that.

Q: You’ve edited and proofread many authors! Can you give a list of which authors you’ve edited and proofread their books? 

A: Sure! 

I edit for Esther Schmidt, JH Croix, CA Harms, NN Britt, Lisa Shelby, DL Darby, AR Rose, Leslie Pike, Kenya Goree- Bell, Kara Kendrick, and quite a few others.

I proofread for Lauren Blakely, Brittainy Cherry, Stacey Lynn, Sara Ney, Rachel Lyn Adams and Kimberly Knight, Ryan Taylor and Joshua Harwood, Claudia Burgoa, Leesa Bow, Danielle Allen, Bella J., Gina Azzi, Victoria Lum, Clara Pines, Sandra Jones, Scarlet Finn, and quite a few others.

Q: With your experience editing and proofreading, would you ever become an author yourself? If you were to write a book, what would your book be about? Would you edit and proofread your book, or would you have someone else do it for you?

A: I could never write a book!! I have no creativity or ideas for a book. But if I did, it would definitely be a romance. I would have someone else edit it and proofread it. It’s very hard to edit and proofread what you write. After looking at it and reading it over and over, it becomes easy to miss things. It is definitely best to have someone else work on it.