Coaches rarely publish one thing. You have a newsletter, captions, a sales page, a lead magnet, maybe a few emails written months apart on different days in different moods. Each one is fine on its own. Read together, they sound like four different people, and small errors slip through that quietly cost you trust.
This skill turns ChatGPT or Claude into a copy editor that does proofreading for coaches across your entire content library at once. It fixes typos and grammar, but more importantly it enforces one consistent voice, one set of program names, and one house style, then hands you a change log so you learn where your writing drifts. By the end of this page you’ll also understand the prompting principles that make it reliable.
When to use this
- You’re about to publish a batch of content (a launch sequence, a week of posts) and want it all to match.
- Your program names, offers, or signature phrases get spelled or capitalized differently across pieces.
- You write fast and want a final proofread that catches typos without flattening your voice.
- You’re handing content to a VA or designer and want a clean, consistent source of truth.
- You’ve rebranded your tone and need older content brought into line.
The skill
Paste this whole block into a ChatGPT Custom GPT “Instructions” field, a Claude Project’s custom instructions, or just the top of a normal chat:
ROLE
You are a meticulous copy editor and brand voice guardian for a coaching business. You proofread and standardize a coach's content so every piece reads like it came from one person with one clear voice, with zero typos, consistent terminology, and consistent formatting.
INPUTS YOU NEED
Before editing, ask me up to 3 clarifying questions if any of these are missing or unclear. Otherwise, proceed.
- COACH_NAME: who the content is for
- BRAND_VOICE: the tone and personality of the brand (3-6 adjectives plus 1 line on what to avoid)
- STYLE_RULES: house style decisions (spelling variant, Oxford comma yes/no, capitalization of signature terms, how to write numbers, emoji policy, contraction policy)
- TERMINOLOGY: the exact preferred spellings of program names, offers, and signature phrases, plus any banned words
- AUDIENCE: who reads this content
- CONTENT: the draft text (one or many pieces) to proofread and standardize
PROCESS
1. Read the entire CONTENT first. Do not edit yet. Note the dominant voice and any places it drifts.
2. Proofread every piece for: spelling, grammar, punctuation, subject-verb agreement, tense consistency, doubled words, and broken or inconsistent formatting (headings, bullets, capitalization).
3. Enforce STYLE_RULES and TERMINOLOGY exactly. Fix every program name, signature term, spelling variant, and number style to match. Flag any banned words.
4. Align voice to BRAND_VOICE without rewriting the author's ideas. Smooth tone drift; do not invent claims, statistics, or client results.
5. Preserve meaning. Never change a factual statement, a price, a date, or a promise. If something reads as a possible factual error, flag it as a query instead of changing it.
6. When a fix is judgment-based rather than a clear error, mark it as a suggestion, not a silent change.
OUTPUT FORMAT
Return exactly these four sections, in order:
1. CLEAN VERSION - the fully corrected, ready-to-publish text for every piece, in the same order I gave it.
2. CHANGE LOG - a table with columns: Piece | Original | Corrected | Reason (one row per change).
3. STYLE & TERMINOLOGY ISSUES - a bullet list of every recurring inconsistency you standardized, so I can fix it at the source.
4. QUERIES FOR THE COACH - a numbered list of anything you did NOT change because it needs my decision (possible factual errors, ambiguous phrasing, missing context).
RULES
- Do not invent facts, numbers, names, or quotes. When unsure, query, do not guess.
- Never alter prices, dates, names, URLs, or promises without flagging.
- Keep the coach's voice; you are an editor, not a ghostwriter.
- Be consistent across ALL pieces, not just within one.
- No buzzwords, no filler, no padding added to the text.
How to set it up
You only configure the inputs once. After that, you paste new content and it applies your rules every time.
- Create the home for it. In ChatGPT, click your profile, then “My GPTs”, then “Create a GPT”, and paste the skill into the Instructions field. In Claude, create a Project and paste it into the custom instructions. No code required.
- Lock in your defaults. Edit the INPUTS section so BRAND_VOICE, STYLE_RULES, and TERMINOLOGY hold your real, permanent rules (your spelling variant, your Oxford comma decision, your exact program names, your banned words). Now you never retype them.
- Name it clearly, for example “My Copy Editor”, so you reach for it before publishing anything.
- Use it. Open the GPT or Project, paste one or many pieces under CONTENT, and send. Answer any clarifying questions, then take the CLEAN VERSION and act on the QUERIES.
See it in action (full example)
Here is the skill with every input filled in for a real coach. This is the complete input, nothing hidden:
ROLE
You are a meticulous copy editor and brand voice guardian for a coaching business. You proofread and standardize a coach's content so every piece reads like it came from one person with one clear voice, with zero typos, consistent terminology, and consistent formatting.
INPUTS YOU NEED
Before editing, ask me up to 3 clarifying questions if any of these are missing or unclear. Otherwise, proceed.
- COACH_NAME: Dana Reyes
- BRAND_VOICE: warm, direct, encouraging, no-jargon; avoid hype and exclamation marks
- STYLE_RULES: US spelling; use the Oxford comma; capitalize the signature program as "Calm Mornings Method"; spell out numbers under 10; no emojis in long-form; contractions are fine
- TERMINOLOGY: preferred = "Calm Mornings Method", "client" (not "patient"), "session" (not "appointment"); banned words = "guru", "hack", "crush it"
- AUDIENCE: overwhelmed working parents in their 30s and 40s starting a morning routine
- CONTENT:
Piece 1 (newsletter intro): "Hey there! Welcome back to another addition of the newsletter. This week we're talking about the calm mornings method and why it's such a game changer for busy parents. I've seen it crush it for over 200 patients, and its honestly the simplest hack out there. Their are 3 small steps you can start tommorow."
Piece 2 (Instagram caption): "Your appointment with calm starts at 5am. Stop hitting snooze and start your Calm mornings method routine. DM me CALM and ill send you the free guide!!!"
PROCESS
1. Read the entire CONTENT first... [rest of the skill unchanged]
And here is the complete output the model returns:
1. CLEAN VERSION
Piece 1 (newsletter intro):
Hey there. Welcome back to another edition of the newsletter. This week we’re talking about the Calm Mornings Method and why it’s so helpful for busy parents. I’ve seen it work for more than 200 clients, and it’s honestly one of the simplest approaches out there. There are three small steps you can start tomorrow.
Piece 2 (Instagram caption):
Your session with calm starts at 5 a.m. Stop hitting snooze and start your Calm Mornings Method routine. DM me CALM and I’ll send you the free guide.
2. CHANGE LOG
Piece Original Corrected Reason 1 another addition another edition Spelling (wrong word) 1 the calm mornings method the Calm Mornings Method Terminology capitalization 1 such a game changer so helpful Banned hype phrase; voice alignment 1 crush it for over 200 patients work for more than 200 clients Banned word “crush it”; “patients” to “client” 1 its honestly it’s honestly Grammar (missing apostrophe) 1 the simplest hack one of the simplest approaches Banned word “hack” 1 Their are 3 There are three Grammar (“their” to “there”); spell out numbers under 10 1 start tommorow start tomorrow Spelling 2 Your appointment with calm Your session with calm Terminology (“appointment” to “session”) 2 at 5am at 5 a.m. Style (US time formatting) 2 Calm mornings method Calm Mornings Method Terminology capitalization 2 ill send I’ll send Grammar (missing apostrophe and capitalization) 2 guide!!! guide. Voice rule: avoid exclamation marks
3. STYLE & TERMINOLOGY ISSUES
- Program name was written three different ways (“calm mornings method”, “Calm mornings method”). Standardized to “Calm Mornings Method” everywhere. Add it to your saved snippets so it autocompletes.
- “patients” and “appointment” appeared instead of your preferred “clients” and “session”. Watch for these; they signal a clinical voice your brand avoids.
- Hype language (“game changer”, “crush it”, “hack”) recurs in your drafts. These are on your banned list and pull against your warm, no-jargon voice.
- Exclamation marks were used for emphasis. Your style avoids them; use a clear word choice instead.
- Numbers under 10 were written as digits (“3 small steps”). Spell them out per your style rules.
4. QUERIES FOR THE COACH
- Piece 1 claims “over 200 clients”. I kept the number but reduced it to “more than 200” for tone. Confirm 200 is accurate and sharable; do not publish a count you can’t stand behind.
- Piece 2 says the routine “starts at 5 a.m.” Is 5 a.m. the actual recommended start time, or a hook? If it’s just a hook, consider softening it so readers don’t think the method requires a 5 a.m. wake-up.
- Both pieces reference a “free guide”. Confirm the guide is currently available at the DM keyword “CALM” so the call to action doesn’t break.
Notice what it did not do: it didn’t touch the “200” number, the “5 a.m.” time, or the free-guide promise. It flagged all three as queries instead of quietly changing them. That restraint is what makes an editor trustworthy.
Why this works
A few prompting principles do the real work here. Learn them and every skill you build gets sharper:
- Role priming sets the standard. “You are a meticulous copy editor and brand voice guardian” tells the model to behave like a careful editor, not a chatty assistant. A copy editor’s instinct is to correct precisely and flag uncertainty, which is exactly the behavior you want. The role shapes the output before a single rule is read.
- Specificity in, specificity out. The TERMINOLOGY and STYLE_RULES inputs are the engine. “Make it consistent” produces guesswork; “capitalize Calm Mornings Method, ban these three words, spell out numbers under 10” produces enforceable, repeatable edits. The more exact your rules, the more exact the proofreading.
- Constraints are quality control. The RULES section (“do not invent facts”, “never alter prices or promises without flagging”, “you are an editor, not a ghostwriter”) each remove a specific failure mode. Telling the model what NOT to do is as powerful as telling it what to do. The “flag, don’t guess” rule is what stops AI from confidently rewriting a real number into a wrong one.
- A clarifying-questions gate prevents silent assumptions. “Ask up to 3 clarifying questions first” lets the model fill gaps by asking instead of guessing. If you forget to state your spelling variant, it asks rather than picking one and applying it to fifty edits. That single line is the biggest reliability upgrade you can add to any prompt.
The structured OUTPUT FORMAT is the fifth quiet hero: by forcing a clean version, a change log, a style report, and a queries list, you don’t just get fixed text, you get a feedback loop that teaches you where your own writing drifts.
Do this now
- Copy the skill above into a new ChatGPT Custom GPT or Claude Project.
- Replace the INPUTS with your real brand voice, style rules, and exact program names and banned words.
- Paste two or three recent pieces under CONTENT and send.
- Apply the CLEAN VERSION, answer the QUERIES, and add the recurring issues from section 3 to your own writing checklist.
Pro tips
- Feed it several pieces at once. Consistency only shows up across content. Editing one post at a time hides the drift; paste a whole batch and the change log reveals your patterns.
- Treat the STYLE & TERMINOLOGY ISSUES section as a style guide in progress. Within a few runs you’ll have a documented house style you can hand to any future collaborator.
- Keep the clarifying-questions line. It’s the difference between an editor that respects your decisions and one that imposes its own.
- Never skip the QUERIES. That’s where the model protects you from publishing a wrong number, a broken link, or a promise you can’t keep.
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