Where To Start?
Step 1: Invest in an Editor
Is there anything worse than publishing a book and finding a typo? Yep, it’s finding two typos. Don’t let typos happen to you. And watch out for haphazard storytelling, uneven plots, and forgettable characters. These can all derail your book, and cause readers to lose faith in your storytelling.
Before you publish your book, get a professional reader to give you an honest critique of your work. While you should self-edit your book, remember that there are limits to self-editing. You’re too close to the material and you will miss both glaring and subtle mistakes. Not just typos, but also characterization, plot holes, perspective changes, and tiny details that you’ve gone blind too but will annoy your reader to no end.
There are 3 types of editing
A Manuscript Critique
A manuscript critique should always be the first step.
- Also known as developmental editing
- An entry level edit done first before tackling grammatical errors
- Looks at the big picture and asks the big questions
- Focuses on plot, pacing, people, point of view, perspective
- A broad, comprehensive assessment
- Concerned with overall theme and consistency
- Tackles weaknesses within your story
A Comprehensive Edit
A comprehensive edit is generally the second step.
- Also known as paragraph level editing
- Done after the manuscript critique
- A line by line analysis of your manuscript
- Deals with language of your story, including rhythm, transition, and wordiness
- Editor searches for clumsy or awkward sentences
- Editor focus on the elements and devices you can use to craft a more compelling story
- Editor meticulously scours your manuscript for any weakness, line by line
Copyediting
The copyedit should always be the last step.
- Also known as sentence level editing
- Focused on grammar, spelling, typos, syntax, and consistency errors (effect versus affect, and so on)
- Checks for potential legal liability
- Focuses on both the small details and the big picture
- Checks for technical consistency in spelling, capitalization, font usage, numerals, hyphenation
- Checks for continuity errors
- Checks for facts: incorrect statements and possible legal liability
