Finally, you have completed your manuscript! Now comes the important self-editing step to polish your book and make it shine to others. Don’t panic; the art of self-editing is within your reach. Great writers must master storytelling, grow believable characters, and hold a reader’s attention from the first page. They must also learn the art of book editing, an important step in the publishing procedure.
Suppose you are a Canadian author and looking to opt for the traditional publishing route with your book. In that case, having a polished manuscript to present to publishers and agents is important to increase the chances of your acceptance. Even if you plan to get your book published on any other online platform, it is a good practice to get into.
If you are trying hard to self-edit your manuscript, make sure to check out why you need an editor. To learn more about the significance of editing and how to edit your document, keep scrolling.
Why Edit Your Book?
Whether you are self-publishing your book or planning to work with traditional publishing houses, your initial step to finish writing a manuscript is to edit your work. No literary composition becomes a published book after its initial draft. Every bestseller goes through several revisions and drafts. No matter where they are publishing, either Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) or any traditional platform.
Your readers are investing time in the world you have created for them. You need to give them a well-composed story that is engaging and entertaining with no structural problems that make your story outstanding. All you need to do is make every line clear, concise, and necessary. A reader will put down a novel too burdensome to read. In short, book editing means the difference between a great book and a good story.
Effective Ways to Edit Your Book
There are different ways to edit a book. If you are working with a publishing company, they will have a team of experts to do the job. If you are self-publishing, you will have a la carte editing procedure, which will allow you to pick and choose the editing methods that work great for you. Here we have mentioned three ways to edit your book:
- Self-editing
Self-editing, especially if this is your first book, will make you a better writer. You become proficient in grammatical rules and a perfect way to organize a story. Writers should at least have two self-editing rounds for their entire book. The first one should be to edit for big story elements like narrative arcs and story structure, and the second one should be to edit the details like punctuation and typos.
- Beta Readers
A beta reader is either any friend, family member, or professional who volunteers to thoroughly read your books and give feedback. They should explain to you what your book requires from an organized standpoint, like any inconsistencies in your character development, plot, or how climatic scenes played out.
- Professional Readers
A professional book editor can assist edit your content on different levels depending on their expertise. Your book may need both copy and developmental editing. A copy editor fixes the structure of your text, grammar, and choice of words. A developmental editor goes through the overall narrative arcs and story structure to make a seamless story.
How to Self-Edit Book in Simple Steps
Editing your book should be part of your writing procedure, even if you hire any professional editing services. Here are some simple steps to follow when editing your work.
- Take Breaks During Writing
When you have finished your manuscript, take a break before you start to edit. According to a famous author, Stephen King: After he finished writing his first draft, he put the story in a drawer for six weeks before taking it out to edit. Keeping some distance between you and your story lets you come back with a clear and fresh mind.
- Read Out Your Story Loud
Hearing a story aloud can reveal any mistake in a manuscript. Read your story to yourself or a friend. You can also record while reading and play it back to check for mistakes. Keep a copy of your book open on your desktop, revising any grammatical mistakes you hear or making story revision notes.
- Big Picture Pass
Your first self-editing pass must be a developmental edit. Look for any errors with the storyline. There must be a logical succession of plot points that makes the flow from start to end. Look for plot holes that need to be fixed. Ensure that your subplots match well with the main story. Your lead character and secondary characters are three-dimensional, with believable traits and clear motivations. While looking at character details, your point of view must be consistent throughout the story. Also, you need to make sure your cover design matches with the story.
- Divide Scenes And Edit
Make sure that your every scene has a purpose. For example, escalating the conflict, driving the plot forward, and aiding character development. As you divide the scenes, go over dialogue and cut any unnecessary banter. All you need to do is make your opening strong, and climatic scenes should be satisfying and tie up all your loose ends.
- Be Your Copy Editor
In this step, you need to check the structural integrity of your copy. Go step by step and fix the basic errors. You can also use a spell checker to make the first corrections. Your sentences should only have 1 space between spaces. Fix grammatical errors and punctuation errors. Also, find and replace words that you can repeat mostly in your story, known as crutch words. If you find lines written in passive voice, try to write them in active voice. Finally, check the structure of your sentence. The choice of words should be simple and easy to understand.
- Check For Accuracy
If you are writing a non-fiction or historical fiction book, you need to ensure that the information presented is accurate. Find authentic sources for every statistic, fact, or true story you have mentioned in your book to ensure you have it correct.
- Get A Proofreader
Once you are done editing, it’s time to hire a proofreader. It will never go to waste to have another eye to go through your story one last time. Proofreading can catch errors you may miss.
- Format Your Manuscript
Before you decide to send your manuscript to a literary agent, ensure it is in the correct format.
If you are not sure about how a specific publisher or agent prefers a manuscript, you can use industry-standard book formatting guidelines. It is a must to have your book in a Microsoft Word document, with Times New Roman font and 12 sizes, double space the entire page, page breaks between the chapters, and no indents on new paragraphs. For all this, you can also hire a professional editing service. eBook formatting. An expert will help you with perfect formatting.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How to become a better self-editor?
Below, we have mentioned some important tips that will help you in editing your work.
- Print your document.
- Read it out loud.
- Take breaks in between.
- Try to write in an active voice.
- Edit line by line.
- Get familiar with different style guidelines.
- Avoid clichés.
- Keep on re-reading your document.
- What is self-editing in writing?
Self-editing is when you enhance your writing by eliminating mistakes, correcting choice of words, and revising structure. It is better to have a professional editor to handle these areas, but most of us are on our own. Editing is important to the writing procedure.
- What is the final stage of editing?
Most of the time, people use words proofread and edit interchangeably. However, they are not the same things. Proofreading is almost the final stage of editing, so proofreading a text that has not gone through the previous stages won’t do much to enhance the writing.
- What is the best strategy you can use to edit your writing?
One of the best strategies to edit your document is to read it out loud as it helps a lot in the editing procedure. Reading aloud helps you say words loudly and listen to how they sound. It also helps in noticing awkward situations and run-on sentences.
Summing Up the Art of Self-Editing
It is also crucial to understand that at some point, you have to take a break. You will write a perfect story in one go. There will always be something that you will miss in the first draft.
Remember in the end it is your story. Portray it in your own way. If you want to make a change at any point, just do it by self-editing. Keep one thing in mind while writing: every genre has its own set of guidelines. Make sure you are following the writing rules of the genre you are working on. If you opt for experienced editors, they will help you edit according to your genre.