After self-editing, the first step of the editing process is an editorial review. There are several different types of edits and some manuscripts will need them all, but some won't, so this first step will help determine which edits would be most useful for your manuscript. Your editorial review should be returned within seven business days, but every editor is different, so you'll have to work out your agreement based on who you're working with.
There are common writing mistakes you should avoid at all costs, but there's also a time when you can make a case for your writing intuition to win out over structure. If your goal is to have a revenue stream from the sale of your book then, yes, you need an impartial and trusted editor. Many book editing services make a distinction between fiction and nonfiction editors with the editors further specializing in specific genres from there.
This is an important distinction. The initial goal when working with a book editing service is that your manuscript is paired with a specific editor during the editorial review. It's a bit like a dating site. You'll want to match your book project to an editor according to subject matter, genre, style, and timing. A style guide is a set of grammar rules and standards applied to manuscripts or published documents that allows for consistency among published works.
It's also one of the last stages of editing because many of these issues will have been corrected or improved throughout the process! So while this part is mostly a safeguard, it's worth checking over just in case. Again, if you've gotten this far, most of these issues have probably resolved themselves. But there are still a few easily missed points, such as clarifying when your POV character changes and tidying up patches of purple prose.
So take some time to scout for these things, even if you think you've got it covered. You've come so far — but there's still more to go! This final step in our process focuses on the nitty-gritty of your text: it's the copy edit. And the great thing about copy editing is that it's so cut-and-dried. If you spot a grammatical error, you know exactly how to fix it.
Replace passive voice with active voice where appropriate. Replace weak verbs and adverbs with stronger verbs. Check that all of your dialogue is formatted correctly. Once you've finished tinkering with the copy, your book should really be coming together. To find out more, check out our guide to professional editing , or sign up to our marketplace to browse the profiles of editors you could work with.
The best developmental editors, copy editors, and proofreaders are on Reedsy. Sign up for free and meet them. Learn how Reedsy can help you craft a beautiful book. Enjoy the process, learn from your mistakes, and take all this wonderful experience with you to your next book! Great post with lots of good information. I self published my first book of short stories, and went with a professional editor.
If you can afford it, I think that's the best route. I've currently got two novels in the works and I plan on getting a professional editor for both developmental and copy edits. Wow, third time I've tried to download this checklist. Amazing that all it does is connect me to a place to sign up for the newsletter You guys suck. If you enter the same email you've signed up with before, you won't be added to our list multiple times.
We've put some checks in place to prevent that. You can also use the 'unsubscribe' link at the bottom of the email as soon as you've downloaded the checklist. It's good to know that professional editors possess a lot of experience and are very accessible. My brother is interested in writing a book based on an experience he had last summer, but he is worried that he will make a mistake that he will not notice.
I'll let him know that a professional editor will be able to spot any problems with his book so that the entire story is concise. In this post, we reveal the seven essential story elements and show you how they work together. Whether you're working on a story, an essay, or an article, here's how to write better with these 5 tips.
Try them on for size! Editing your novel is a fundamental part of the writing process, and yet so many authors find it intimidating and overwhelming. I admit, it lacks glamour. To find gaps and holes and work out solutions and rewrite scenes that took a long time to write in the first place? I loved working closely with authors, posing questions and offering advice and support, as they honed their ideas and characters over multiple edits, getting closer with each draft to the vision in their mind.
And I think they enjoyed the process too. A metaphor I draw on frequently is that of a lump of marble. Only by taking a hammer and chisel and chipping away at the rock, carving out a clearer shape, smoothing the edges, adding some fine detail and polishing the surface, will you attain perfection. In short, editing is a craft: it requires technique and dedication and practice.
Over time, you will discover what works best for you, but for writers grappling with an unwieldy first draft, this is my method. Put it away for a little while but not too long. You might like to print out your manuscript and go and sit somewhere quiet where you can work through it, page by page.
A change of scene can be good. If you wrote it at the kitchen table, you could take it to a library, or the park. Arm yourself with a pen and highlighters and post-it notes. It helps to set aside a chunk of time of editing — at least a few hours rather than twenty minutes snatched here and there — so you can focus on the novel as a whole.
Think about your original intention, the heart of your book, the question you want to answer. Perhaps write it at the top of the first page of your manuscript. Keep this in your mind while reading through. Have you achieved your objective, and if not, why not?
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