Writing Process #3
How an author obtains edits of their work prior to publishing the final Manuscript.
All authors need to hire a professional editor prior to publishing their work. If the author is working for a book publisher this is done at the expense of that publisher. If like me, the author is an indie publisher then they will have to pay for the expense of an editor.
So, you ask what do edits entail? Isn’t editing just finding all the misspelled words?
For this book, I spent quite a bit of time researching editors. Since self-publishing my first two books I’ve learned a bit about the costs of self-publishing. There are many people that will gladly take your money and not provide the best return on your investment.
When an author is both writing the book and publishing it they need to think like a business professional about each step of the process.
In researching copy editors you usually pay the editor by the word. These rates vary greatly depending on who you hire and a more expensive editor doesn’t always guarantee that they’ll do a better job.
Most good editors offer a sample edit where the author sends them 1,000 words from somewhere in the middle of their book, and the editor edits those 4 pages and returns them to the author.
Copy Editing entails reviewing the manuscript and checking for consistency and accuracy. The editor will point out and correct errors in spelling, grammar, punctuation, word use, and sentence structure. A good editor will oftentimes just make suggestions and let the author decide how to fix the section of their writing.
Other areas they look at are poor structure, awkward wording, and unnecessary words. The entire time they are editing they ensure that they stay true to the voice of the author’s work. There are many more things that they will point out to the author about their work all in an effort to make the finished product shine.
Here’s an example of some edits that Nia Quinn has provided for my latest book THE INTRUSION:
How many times can I use the word small? OK, that’s been fixed.
Once I’m done incorporating all of the edits. I’ll read through the completed manuscript one more time. Then I’ll send it to my editor, Nia for her final proofread.
Once that’s done it will be time to format the manuscript for both the ebook and paperback versions. This time I will do this myself rather than incurring additional expense. Then I’ll pick out the book cover and purchase that. I could buy the ebook version of the cover now but will wait since the paperback version requires the exact page count so that it will fit the pages properly.
When that time comes I’ll share some of the covers I’m considering with all of you.
Until then get out and enjoy your summer. As always feel free to comment on this post with any questions or thoughts you have.
Take care!