{"id":1022,"date":"2019-06-25T15:53:40","date_gmt":"2019-06-25T15:53:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/refiction.com\/?p=1022"},"modified":"2022-05-30T15:41:19","modified_gmt":"2022-05-30T15:41:19","slug":"editing-a-book","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/refiction.com\/articles\/editing-a-book","title":{"rendered":"The Ultimate Guide to Editing a Book"},"content":{"rendered":"

Congratulations! You\u2019ve finished your first (or second, or fourteenth) draft, and now your baby is ready for those polishing touches that will make it truly shine. It\u2019s time to edit your novel.<\/p>\n

Ah,\u00a0self-editing<\/a>. Some writers swear by it, some writers swear it will kill them first. Either way, it must be done. Or mustn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

Should I Bother Self-Editing My Book?<\/h2>\n

If you plan to\u00a0self-publish<\/a>, the answer is, absolutely.<\/p>\n

If you plan to\u00a0publish traditionally<\/a>, the answer is, definitely.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s why.<\/p>\n

Self-publishers:<\/strong>
\nNo one can truly edit their own work. Spare yourself the 1-star reviews, and have your novel edited professionally before you publish it. However, self-editing your book first helps cut down on rates. The more you do yourself, the better quote you\u2019ll receive.<\/p>\n

Submitters:<\/strong>
\nYes, you will likely be assigned an editor before publication. But in order to get there, you have to catch the publisher or agent\u2019s attention. To that end, your manuscript has to be as clean as you can make it on your own.<\/p>\n

Before we sit down to work, let\u2019s go over the different types of editing a book might require.<\/p>\n

Types of Editing<\/h2>\n

A lot of work falls under the word \u201cediting\u201d or \u201crevising,\u201d but it all comes down to three types:\u00a0developmental editing<\/strong>,\u00a0line editing<\/strong>\u00a0(also known as copyediting), and\u00a0proofreading<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to identify the types of editing your novel needs–and do them in the right order. Developmental editing, for example, will probably make you revise huge blocks of text. There\u2019s no point proofreading before you do that, because all your effort and time will go to waste.<\/p>\n

The correct order is as listed above: developmental editing first, then copyediting, and finally proofreading.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re self-publishing, you\u2019ll need all three. If you\u2019re submitting your manuscript, all three should be provided to you at no cost by the publishing house.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what each of them means.<\/p>\n

Developmental Editing<\/h4>\n

Developmental editors take a deep look at the novel structure. They look for plot holes, character development, pace and suspense, tight scenes, and other story-level details.<\/p>\n

Self-editing on this level is almost impossible. It\u2019s the Curse of Knowledge: you\u2019re too close to the narrative, you know the facts too well, and you can\u2019t imagine how new readers would perceive the story. Is it clear enough? Entertaining? Suspenseful? Engaging? You\u2019re the wrong person to answer these questions.<\/p>\n

You can find professional, hand-vetted developmental editors over at\u00a0Reedsy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If that option for editing your book is a bit too pricey for you, you can find developmental editors on non-vetted platforms such as\u00a0Guru<\/a>,\u00a0Upwork<\/a>, and\u00a0Fiverr<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Either way, be careful to interview your candidates and make sure they are masters of your genre.<\/p>\n

Developmental editing rates for fiction manuscripts run anywhere from $0.03\/word to $0.90\/word. Some editors quote by page. The standard page has 250 words, so costs are usually $7.50 to $22.50 per page.<\/p>\n

For example, a YA Fantasy manuscript usually runs about 60,000 words. Be prepared to spend at least $1800 on developmental edits.<\/p>\n

Pricey? Yes. Worth it? Oh yes. The right developmental editor can make or break your novel.<\/p>\n

Line Editing \/ Copyediting<\/h4>\n

At this level of editing the manuscript, story is no longer an issue. Language is. But not usage and spelling issues. Copywriters look at your\u00a0voice<\/a>,\u00a0word-choice<\/a>, paragraph and sentence structure, readability, and so on.<\/p>\n

This is something you can and should do on your own! Do it before you send your book to be professionally edited, and all the more before you submit your novel anywhere.<\/p>\n

Expect to pay $0.012\/word to $0.02\/word. Per page, the cost will be $3 to $5.<\/p>\n

For a 60,000-word manuscript, that\u2019s about $1,020.<\/p>\n

Proofreading<\/h4>\n

The last but not least editing pass will weed out grammar and spelling errors, typos, inconsistency in names, and the likes. It\u2019s a language-only pass.<\/p>\n

Expect to pay about $0.01\/word to $0.015\/word. That would be $2.50 to $3.75 per page.<\/p>\n

The same 60,000-word manuscript would cost about $720.<\/p>\n

Some professional editors will lump line editing and proofreading under the same service. This combined service should cost about $0.02\/word to $0.03\/word. That would be $5 to $7.5 per page.<\/p>\n

Getting Ready to Edit a Novel<\/h2>\n

Four more steps before we tackle the checklists.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Let your manuscript breathe.<\/strong>\u00a0Put it aside once you finish writing it (Stephen King recommends 6 weeks). This pause will let you come back to it with a clearer view. Instead of remembering what each word should say, you\u2019ll be more able to see what each word actually says. Then you can judge if it works or not.<\/li>\n
  2. Arm your vision.<\/strong>\u00a0Install\u00a0Grammarly<\/a>,\u00a0ProWritingAid<\/a>, or a similar piece of software to help you catch grammar and spelling issues. They\u2019re not enough, but they\u2019re absolutely a good beginning. (Both Grammarly and ProWritingAid have free versions, but ProWritingAid\u2019s is more limited.)<\/li>\n
  3. Arm your ears.\u00a0<\/strong>Install or bookmark a text-to-speech service to help you catch spelling errors, typos, repetitive sentence structure, overly long sentences, and so on.\u00a0Natural Reader<\/a>\u00a0is a good free choice, for example.<\/li>\n
  4. Pace yourself.<\/strong>\u00a0Don\u2019t attempt to edit huge blocks of text every day. The more tired you are, the more issues you\u2019ll miss. Then you\u2019ll just have to re-edit your work on the next day. Take frequent breaks to stretch, close your eyes, or do some deep breathing. This will boost your efficiency.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Now that you\u2019re ready, let\u2019s get to editing!<\/p>\n

    Self-Editing Checklist for Line Editing (Copyediting)<\/h2>\n
      \n
    1. In every scene, make sure the reader knows who the\u00a0POV character<\/a>\u00a0is, what characters are present, and where the characters are situated in relation to each other. Don\u2019t dump this information in bulk. Instead, sprinkle it over some\u00a0dialog<\/a>\u00a0and action.<\/li>\n
    2. If you\u2019re writing a limited POV (first person<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0third-person limited<\/a>), stop after every sentence and ask yourself: Can my POV character know\/hear\/think\/see these details? For example, a character cannot see the color of its own eyes or the expression on its own face. Edit out whatever your POV character can\u2019t perceive.<\/li>\n
    3. When you write a description, make sure it\u00a0plays on all five senses<\/a>\u00a0(unless your character can\u2019t sense that way). Go for the unusual details: the smell of dust in the air of a construction site; the cool, dry air of a well-maintained library; the explosive taste of sun sugar tomatoes on a pizza.<\/li>\n
    4. For limited POV, ask yourself after every description: Would my POV character notice these details? Would my POV character care about these details? Edit out or downplay whatever your POV character won\u2019t bother focusing on. For example, if your POV character is fashion-blind, he probably won\u2019t notice someone\u2019s blazer cut\u2014he might not even know it\u2019s a blazer rather than a jacket.<\/li>\n
    5. Also for limited POV, make sure you describe objects and places not the way they are, but the way your POV character would perceive them. For example, if someone at a caf\u00e9 is working on a new laptop, a poor character wouldn\u2019t describe its model and maker. She\u2019d describe it as a sleek laptop she could never afford herself.<\/li>\n
    6. Make sure each paragraph has a single key idea. If there\u2019s more than one idea in a paragraph, break it into as many paragraphs as needed.<\/li>\n
    7. Generally speaking, keep the page \u201cairy\u201d with white space. Huge blocks of text scare away readers. To avoid that, vary your paragraph length, and use large paragraphs sparingly.<\/li>\n
    8. In dialog, start a new paragraph whenever someone begins speaking. Different speakers should not be in the same paragraph unless they\u2019re talking at the same time, kind of like this: \u201cI know what you did,\u201d Jeremy said at the same moment that Louisa said, \u201cI don\u2019t care.\u201d<\/li>\n
    9. If your dialog runs long, break it up with action that reconnects the characters with their environment. Otherwise, you\u2019ll get the \u201cfloating head\u201d syndrome, where the reader loses all sense of the scene except for the dialog itself. Have your characters interact with objects around them as they talk. We humans rarely remain at complete rest during conversation.<\/li>\n
    10. Destroy all exclamation points outside of dialog. An exclamation point, as F. Scott Fitzgerald said, is like laughing at your own joke.<\/li>\n
    11. Use varying sentence lengths. Keep most of your sentences short-to-medium, with only the occasional long, winding sentence in between.<\/li>\n
    12. Use varying grammatical structures. \u201cHe verbed\u201d can only get you so far. But steer clear of the \u201cVerbing, he verbed\u201d structure (for example, \u201cSitting, he looked at\u2026\u201d). For one, it sounds amateurish. For another, if you use it a few times, it sounds conspicuously repetitive.<\/li>\n
    13. If you do use \u201cVerbing, he verbed,\u201d only do it when the two actions are supposed to happen at the same time. That\u2019s what this structure means. If one action is supposed to take place before the other, use a different structure.<\/li>\n
    14. In 99% of all cases, use the active voice: \u201cI ate the cookies,\u201d rather than, \u201cthe cookies were eaten.\u201d Apply the Zombie Test if you\u2019re not sure\u2014try adding \u201cby zombies!\u201d after the action. If it sounds right (albeit hilarious), that\u2019s the passive voice. Change it to the active.<\/li>\n
    15. Use a word frequency counter to weed out overused words. Readers will start noticing these after a while, and it will throw them off. You can use a free online counter such as\u00a0Word Counter<\/a>.<\/li>\n
    16. Weed out most adverbs and replace them with stronger verbs. If he talked loudly, he\u00a0shouted<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0called out<\/em>. If she walked quickly, she\u00a0strode<\/em>. If he ate fast, he gobbled down the food<\/em>. In addition to manually catching adverbs, run a search for \u201cly\u201d and double-check those words.<\/li>\n
    17. Weed out weak words such as very, almost, nearly, suddenly, started to, began to, really. \u00a0They add little to the narrative.<\/li>\n
    18. Weed out weak sentence structures. Watch out especially for sentences that begin with \u201cThere was,\u201d \u201cThere is,\u201d \u201cIt was,\u201d \u201cIt is,\u201d etc. Use them sparingly.<\/li>\n
    19. Weed out filter words, such as \u201cthink,\u201d \u201csee,\u201d \u201chear,\u201d etc. when they are outside of dialog. Instead of \u201cJohnny heard her scream,\u201d use simply, \u201cShe screamed.\u201d The fact that you mention it implies that Johnny is hearing it.<\/li>\n
    20. Weed out 99% of \u201cthat,\u201d \u201cthings,\u201d and \u201cstuff.\u201d Use precise words instead, unless you deliberately want to sound vague.<\/li>\n
    21. Watch out for \u201cSaidism<\/a>,\u201d the excessive use of \u201csaid\u201d synonyms. Use \u201csaid\u201d or action tags most of the time. Only when the tone cannot be inferred from the words, consider using a different verb. For example, Nicky can say, \u201cTo hell with you!\u201d \u00a0There\u2019s no need to shout it, because the exclamation mark is enough of a shout.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Self-Editing Checklist for Proofreading<\/h2>\n
        \n
      1. Start by running your manuscript through Grammarly, ProWritingAid, or the like. Don\u2019t automatically accept every suggestion, but do consider every suggestion to see what\u2019s unclear about your phrasing.<\/li>\n
      2. Next, run your manuscript through the text-to-voice software of your choice. Listen to the narrator closely. If you find it hard to focus on sounds while you read, put away the manuscript and just listen. If there\u2019s anything that sounds even a bit off, pause the narrator and check your manuscript. Keep an ear out for overly long sentences, too.<\/li>\n
      3. Search for known trouble-makers:\n