Intro
Having done writing a book is a general and must-do practice to go through the whole manuscript thoroughly. Since being humans it is fine to make mistakes but not rectifying those errors would probably fail to yield fruits from your hard work.
It is said that working fast is not worth it until it is done correctly. Similarly, writing a book at a good pace is ok but it increases the probability of errors in it. To remove those errors the writers proofread the document or hire a pro editor to get the book editing done.
Book Writing vs Editing
In the first place, we think that writing and editing are different fields. Well, that’s not true writing and editing are closely linked together and go parallel when it comes to composing any writing-based composition.
Writers are the ones that create any content from scratch whether it is fiction or non-fiction. However, editors rub it up. Generically, editors are the writers themselves but more established based on the time they have spent learning to write in a much better way.
Editors are responsible for reading the whole document once it is done and highlighting every mistake. Besides, there are two types of editors, the ones who look for any formatting and structural errors. While the others are responsible to rectify spelling and grammatical errors.
Why is it Important?
While writing you make up your mind that soon the readers will invest their precious time and money in purchasing your creation. But what would be the reaction of the reader when he comes across multiple basic errors making them quit reading at just the beginning of it.
Every good and professional writer will always be very keen on it. Book writing is not a child’s play and requires great effort. Therefore, if it is not your game you may appoint someone who is well versed in this niche. Make sure to grant this responsibility to someone pro and not the ones that seem even a bit unmatched for this job.
The reasons behind the rejection of some books after just two pages
Rejections can take place at any of the several stages. If you as a writer has done any writing-based errors, you’ll be able to correct them. But if the publisher or literary agent commits a mistake during the whole publishing process. It can cause much delay to get the work done.
Normally, these are possibilities in the case of paper books’ publication. However, when it comes to e-publications, it is not a big deal as anyone can quite easily get an e-book published and sell it online. The electronically supported internet world has made almost everything easy to approach.
You just have to post your composition online and get it produced without running after traditional publishers and printing presses.
How much does a Professional editor cost?
It depends upon the proficiency level, length, worth, and above all the total time it takes to edit a project. To stand out or build a good reputation and name among book writers, it is necessary to hire an established and experienced editor.
There’s a big difference between a pro and an average editor that you will notice. A professional editor will always put forward a complete plan of work. It is also called the scope of work that describes every step that will be carried out during the process of editing.
Ways to Edit a book
It is not required to always hand over your manuscript to an editor rather you can do it yourself as well. It is also suggested to many writers to become proficient enough to edit scripts of a complete book on their own.
This will not only beneficial in terms of monetary aspects but will hone your editing skills thereby making you a proficient writer and proofreader simultaneously. There are three ways a long-form document can be edited that are given below.
Do it yourself
Self-editing your document is a good deal. It not only opens the door to move towards betterment but will assist to avoid many mistakes (while writing shortly) you have already committed in the current book. A good editing practice includes going through the manuscript at least twice. The first time you have to highlight the structural fallacies and the second time need to sort out the core spelling and grammatical lapses.
Pro-Editor
If you have set aside a definite budget to hire a professional editor, go for it since professionalism always pays off. Whereas, it falls into two categories, copyediting, and developmental editing. The copyeditors are responsible for fixing the language rules. From poor or average punctuations to the overuse of jargons and heavy sentence structures.
Other than that, development editing belongs to the type that supervises the story arc and puts dialogues in the right order. The latter is conducted while editing a novel or a short story.
Via Readers
This is also called the beta editing technique. Asking your friends or close ones to read the first draft and let them mark the errors is another way to do editing. This may help save bucks.
Beta reading is deemed way more instrumental to look for the errors from the readers’ point of view. Besides, it is an unrewarded practice that also allows the audience to give reviews to the author before the book gets unleashed.
Coming to the Self Editing Techniques
Instead of negotiating with the pro-editors over the amount they usually charge, it is way better to become one. Think of it as a learning opportunity and not a hectic monotonous task. We know that you’ve spent valuable time bringing this whole bunch of words to the real world in the form of a book.
You can also do a favor to yourself by spending some more time editing it. Given below are some tricks and steps that are essential to consider if you are into conducting the proofreading stuff.
Go through the document
After you are done writing the last chapter of your book, put it in the book closet and forget about it. Why is that necessary? Well because before reopening it for the editing reason, you must have to have a renewed vision.
It is also common that after reopening and reading the document, it feels like it is written by some entirely different person. You can also take the help of your laptop’s built-in text-to-speech function to listen to the words written by you. This way the errors will be caught more easily.
Spell Check and Grammatical Errors
Go through the text keeping both the eyes open for technical errors. The grammatical mistakes tend to make the book much heavier and difficult for the readers to continue to read. Keep it simple and jargon free. Most of the novice writers try to incorporate rare vocabulary without thinking having an understanding this will burden the existing weight of the document.
Frustrating Punctuation marks
Repetition of unnecessary punctuation marks like the commas, exclamations, apostrophies, etc. may lead to the reader annoyance. Besdies, wrong usage also determines the quality of content of a book.
Try not to be over efficient when it comes to the utilization of punctuations marks. It will be better to learn about them beforehand.
Formatting
We can also name it the foundational blueprint that will determine the exact value of your text. There are different formatting styles and forms that can be followed while editing.
Writers generally maintain certain things such as:
The fonts are times new roman along with 12 font size. Also the line spacing is set on 1 or 1.5 for the text weheras, 2 for the headings.
Avoid editing excessively
The sole purpose of self-edit is to make one better in this task. On the other hand, writers get too much into it and move a step forward to overediting.
Keep on checking the first draft might frustrate you thereby shattering the well-built confidence that you haven’t written good enough to be published and sold. This is even worst than the Writer’s Block. Remember the time when you persuaded yourself to start writing your first or may be another book. Don’t allow overthinking to let lose all your confidence.
Just believe in your capabilities that you are far better writer that every reader would love to read the composition of.
Also Read: Write a Compelling Facebook Group Description
Closure
From book writing to editing, every stage is challenging and time taking. It is better to have enough patience till the first copy gets sold imparting you an enriched sense of achievement.
As long as you become an experienced writer and editor as well. You’ll be able enough to guide other junior or emerging writers in their journey of becoming professional writer. Additionally, You can also offer your services as an editor in-chief for any other project unlocking the doors of much exciting opportunities as a well known author/writer or editor.
