Which Tips Work Best for Book Proofreading?

I was told to give my book to someone who had no knowledge of it. You cannot proof read your own work

Just upload the document to ChatGPT (AI) and it will proofread it for you.

An amusing story. DH and I both read our son’s books before he sends them to his editor to be checked by a professional checker.

This particular book was published and a fan wrote to my son asking him why he had used ‘once’ the name of the hero from another totally different series he had written 😳.

So in total 4 of us had read the book and none of us noticed the name of the main character from another book.

The fan was sent a signed wall poster to thank him for being so eagle-eyed.

When I first started work many years ago if it was an important contractual letter I’d written the secretary would read back to me what she’d typed and I’d check from the original. So having the computer “read” is a good suggestion from Oldnproud.

One simple thing you could start with is to have your computer 'read' your work to you. Listening can be a good way of spotting small words that you might have missed out misspelled or repeated while writing, the sort of errors that your eyes can easily fail to spot as you read through. It can also help to highlight some accidental punctuation mistakes.

As a retired editor I absolutely agree with what others have said: do not proofread your own work. A professional proofreader will just check the original against the publishers /printers proofs. A good copy editor will pick up the errors in spelling, grammar, continuity, etc that will protect the work against all sorts of errors.

I agree with those who suggest that someone else is the best advice. In your own work, it's easy to add, subtract, or miss a word because the text is so familiar to you.
I proofread my daughter's thesis.

I proofread my husband's work.
He proofread my daughter's.
I think that's the best advice petra.

In the printing trade it was always said that you never read anything you had set ( or written yourself.

As a separate exercise, read slowly line by line with a ruler.
Don’t do this too early - mistakes easily creep in where alterations are made.
For an audio book pay special attention to punctuation.