Writers' Treasure Editing and Proof Reading,Magnetic Writing How to professionally edit your book

How to professionally edit your book

This is a guest article by Jennifer Scott. If you are interested in submitting a guest article of your own, be sure to read the guest article guidelines.

Writing and completing a book is a process filled with seemingly infinite milestones. So, you’ve just finished writing out your first draft and a smile breaks across your face. Box ticked. However, an impending feeling then dawns on you that you’ve now got the laborious task editing your book to perfection.

One option would be to get an editor but if you’re on a budget, getting a good one is nearly impossible, so you’re going to need to do it yourself. To help you get started, here’s everything you need to know.

Take a break

The first thing you don’t want to do is jump straight into editing after you’ve just finished your first draft. Now is the time to rest and refresh your brain.

And this doesn’t just mean for an hour. This means leaving your manuscript aside for a couple of days, so you can clear your mind for productive editing.

Read aloud

It’s nice in thought to sit somewhere you find comfortable and read through your content in your head while watching the world go past. However, this is an extremely inefficient way to edit, and you’ll be prone to making mistakes.

“Instead, sit somewhere quiet but read your first draft aloud. Mistakes and problems in your work will become so much more obvious when you hear them aloud, especially for the first time,” shares Darren Lambert, a proofreader for Essay Writing Service.

Look for common mistakes

There is a tonne of common mistakes out there that you’ll potentially fall into the trap of getting wrong so make sure you keep a special eye out for these problems since even the most seasoned writers can make them.

For example, ‘a lot’ and ‘alot’ is a common mix up writers make. The same can be said for ‘affect’ and ‘effect’, ‘less’ and ‘fewer’, ‘who’ and ‘whom’. The list goes on and on so make sure you’re keeping your eyes open for these little issues.

Using online tools

Although you’re an aspiring or professional writer, working on the same piece of text day in, day out can take its toll on your brain, especially when it feels like you’re mindlessly editing.

However, there are multiple tools and resources out there on the internet that can help, such as Easy Word Count, Cite It In and Grammarix, which can help you set editing goals or make the process easier.

Additionally, blogs like Via Writing and Academadvisor are ideal since they contain multiple editing guides you can follow to make your editing process for effective.

Using proofreading services

As you draw to the close of your editing process, you might want to begin your proofreading process. This means scanning through your content to make sure it’s free from spelling mistakes and typos.

For this, you can do it yourself, hire a professional or use a proofreading service such as Best British Essays or UK Service Reviews. This can help you see the final copy of your book more clearly, helping you finalise the editing process.

About the authorJennifer works as online editor at Top Canadian Writers. Also, she is a business developer that works in different areas of education, technology, security and various types of online marketing. Prior to business developing Jennifer was consultant at Deloitte, and managed security services provider and developer of a wide range of security solutions.

 

6 thoughts on “How to professionally edit your book”

  1. You provided useful self-editing tips. I generally wait at least a day before proofreading my latest book. I take my time and usually proofread then make necessary edits to two or three pages a day.

Leave a Reply to LyricSoUp Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Post

The Need to Say More with Less – Concise Writing TipsThe Need to Say More with Less – Concise Writing Tips

As attention spans keep getting shorter, tight writing becomes more and more important. In recent years, people have shown a tendency to ignore and scan any content which does not appear to be written tight. But what is tight writing? Tight writing is a matter of survival, says Copyblogger Associate Editor Jon Morrow. There is another name for it – concise writing. Writing which cannot be any shorter or longer.

But it takes some time to use concise writing to your advantage. Ideally, you want your work to have as many readers as possible to judge its work. If your writing isn’t concise, however, you may get some readers who like your work. The majority, however, will scan a sentence or two (this is especially typical online) and then run away to the hills, never to come back.

In contrast, if your writing is concise and interesting, these people will not scan or go away. They will read. Of course their reading it doesn’t guarantee your success, but it is one step closer all the same. If your writing subject matter interests the readers and if there is something for them in it, then people tend to stay and think. And, if it is great, possibly spread the word as well.

(more…)

Proofreading: Catching Contextual Spelling ErrorsProofreading: Catching Contextual Spelling Errors

Before I start, check out my guest post on Daily Writing Tips: To Outline or Not to Outline, That is the Question. If you just came from there, welcome! Read Creative Writing 101, my beginner’s guide to creative writing. Or just read on…

We all know how annoying it is to catch typos. It’s just not cool. If you make one or two of them, you might get away without anyone pointing it out. If you make loads of them, your credibility suffers.

But this article is not about making typos. It’s about catching contextual typing errors, and if that name sounds too technical for you, don’t fear yet. That’s only a name assigned by Microsoft for a new function in Word 2007.

What does it do?

(more…)

Magnetic writing enemy: boredomMagnetic writing enemy: boredom

The epidemic of boredom has attacked nearly everything.

All the new things are boring these days. Innovation in all fields is now at record low levels. New scientific and technological devices may be impressive on a technical perspective, but for the average unimpressed consumer, they’re just more marketing nonsense.

They’ve even managed to make smartphones boring these days. The latest phones from Samsung, HTC, Apple, Nokia, LG, etc. may have new features and sky-high prices, but they offer astonishingly little in terms of actual benefits over older, cheaper handsets.

But what does this have to with magnetic writing, you ask? It’s because writing, by default, is boring. It’s not interactive like a video. It’s not even as interactive as audio. It’s the oldest and safest method of communication, but writing isn’t enough these days.

You could end up writing something which is useful for your readers, but most of them won’t even bother to fully read it.

Why? They’re bored. They need help to turn the page even because there is so much they can do, so many things demanding their attention. Market saturation? Yes. But we can still defeat boredom.

We can still make our writing magnetic by ensuring it isn’t boring first. To change the default condition of a piece of writing from boring to compelling, here are the things you should keep in mind for transformation:

(more…)