This post is about my online volunteering experience between 2015 and 2020. During this period I proofed English texts for Distributed Proofreaders, a not-for-profit organization that digitizes books and converts them to e-books, which you can download for free from the Project Gutenberg website. Most of them are public domain books, and the rest are copyrighted texts distributed with permission in the United States.
(Unfortunately, Italy has blocked access to Project Gutenberg since May 2020, because its website was blacklisted as containing material that infringes copyright laws.)
Here’s what I did as a proofreader volunteer and why I loved contributing to creating free e-books for Distributed Proofreaders and Project Gutenberg.
How I became a proofreading volunteer
At the dawn of my career as a freelance editor and proofreader, I needed to hone my skills and gain experience, but few people wanted to hire a newbie. So, I decided I’d offer my services for free to not-for-profit organizations. But finding local charities that needed an English proofreader or editor proved impossible. Online volunteering was my only choice.
You would think that if you offered your proofreading services for free to NGOs, they would seize the opportunity, but to my dismay, none of those I approached did. At one point I would spend as much time looking for proofreading volunteer positions as I would spend seeking paid gigs. Many organizations, such as the United Nations, had so many applicants for a volunteer position that I stood no chance of being selected to proofread a report given my scarce experience.
Then one day I discovered Distributed Proofreaders. I’d been downloading free e-books from Project Gutenberg for many years, and had heard about Distributed Proofreaders, but I had no idea what the website’s volunteers did. When I discovered what they do, I created an account and became an online volunteer for DP.
What a proofreader volunteer does for Distributed Proofreaders
Distributed Proofreaders volunteers select, digitize, proofread, and format books, and create electronic versions of them. The texts they digitize are either public domain books or are used with permission.
Once the volunteers select a book to digitize, they scan its pages and then use optical character recognition programs to convert images to text. Next, the book project enters the first proofreading phase (P1). Proofreader volunteers check the OCR text against the scanned pages and correct the digitized versions according to the organization’s proofreading guidelines. In essence, they proofread against copy.
A volunteer who works in the P1 stage can proofread as few or as many pages as they like. Several volunteers can work on a project at the same time.
After the P1 stage, the text goes through two other proofreading rounds (P2 and P3) in which other volunteers check the previous volunteers’ work and correct it if necessary.
The proofed text is then formatted and post-processed to create the final e-book. This is sometimes made available for “smooth reading” by other volunteers before being uploaded to the Project Gutenberg archive.
Not all Distributed Proofreaders volunteers can work in all stages of a project. For example, to work in the P2 phase you have to complete a certain number of pages in the P1 phase. I enjoyed the work in the first two proofreading stages so much that I never applied to work in the other stages, though occasionally I offered to smooth-read an e-book before its release.
The P1 stage is the one I liked best, because it helped me sharpen my proofreading skills.
Why I helped create free e-books for Project Gutenberg
Working as a proofreader volunteer for DP was rewarding:
- This online volunteering position allowed me to give back to Project Gutenberg.
- There’s no minimum time one must commit to this volunteering position, so it didn’t interfere with my schedule. In fact, it was a productive way for me to spend as little as a few minutes a day proofreading.
- Volunteering for DP allowed me to keep my eyes trained during those times when I had few proofreading contracts.
- As a DP proofreader volunteer, I discovered some books that I would otherwise never have come across. I also rediscovered travel literature gems that I hadn’t read since high school.
- As a freelance proofreader, I don’t proofread against copy often—I usually do blind (or cold) proofreading—and it was fun to do something else for a change while not departing from my job too much.
Overall, for many years this online volunteering position was rewarding, fun, relevant for my career, and suitable for my schedule. As a lover of books, I can’t think of a better volunteering opportunity than contributing to the creation of free and legal e-books that anyone can download and enjoy.
Interested in online volunteering and have a passion for books? Become a proofreading volunteer
As of September 2022, Distributed Proofreaders has created almost 45000 e-books and posted them to Project Gutenberg. While the DP website has over 100000 registered volunteers from all over the world, only about 1–2 percent are active in a single month.
If you love reading or are a new freelance proofreader, I encourage you to proofread for DP. All you need to do is register on the website as a volunteer. After becoming familiar with DP’s proofreading guidelines, pick the projects you prefer from those available and start proofreading. How much time you dedicate to this online volunteering position is up to you, but any time you contribute matters!
Related posts:
- In short, what’s the difference between proofreading and revising?
- How much does proofreading cost?
- What’s the difference between editing and proofreading?
Last revised on 21 September 2022
