One of the best ways to get a real grasp of your book comes with self-editing, but what to do after that?
I'm going to tell you a little bit about my own process and what led me to make this choice. In the future, I will also explain different editing processes you can explore.
Looking back on my career, I have probably made every mistake possible, that includes having no editor and a poor editor. I've written plenty of poor manuscripts and done my self-edit only to find more mistakes in the next edit and the next. But what I learnt is that having your own poor edit can be better than having an edit done by a poor professional, why? Because it stands out more than your own writing.
Let's get to the real-world stuff. When I first started out I had £4.18 in my bank account, 3 weeks before payday, 2 kids to support, and my husband wasn't making a lot at the time. We were in holes I never knew existed, looking back, it was bleak. So, I couldn't afford an edit, it was just that simple. Instead, I worked hard, I would read every line of The Hangman's Turn, in detail, leave it for a week, and come back to it when it wasn't as fresh in my mind. After that, I used the MS Word read-aloud option and caught more mistakes. It was just after the 9th edit, I had a birthday coming and asked my parents to help invest in Pro Writing Aid and they did, which helped massively. After that, I did a read-aloud, made my own cover, and pressed that publish button.
At first, it was received well, the cover was a massive let down but I was new to all of this and didn't know the impact of a poor cover. Moving forwards a few years, I was finally able to get that edit done. I had some samples sent to me and I was happy with the work to begin with. When I received the final copy, I paid and went from there. But then it happened, colour became color, realised was spelt with a Z. The editor had taken my English manuscript and turned it American, I couldn't publish it. The Hangman's Turn is set in Nottingham, England, having something like that would not work for a reader. Not only that, the grammar didn't look right at all. By now, I had built a small mailing list, and I reached out, I asked for help with the manuscripts, to help identify which was more readable. They all chose that first one and before I knew it, I realised I had wasted nearly £2k, guttered, I wrote The Rose of Nottingham and sent it to a few people on my mailing list before having it edited. To my amazement, they didn't know.
In my younger years, my mum worked as a touch typist and an editor, she would constantly teach me small details related to grammar and style, but most of it I thought I'd forgotten. There are a sizeable amount of grammar errors in this, but guess what, if something is written well, if it's informative and captivating enough, your readers will forgive you.
Trusting your readers is the best thing you can do when it comes to editing. Having a good team of beta readers you can pick up on your mailing list will help save you thousands.
So what is my process and how do I make it work?
My process won't work for everyone, and yes my books are probably littered with mistakes, but, I trust my readers and they trust me.
1) The Break. Once my manuscript is ready, it's break time. I will take a week to recover, reading whatever is in front of me, watching lots of TV, and drinking dangerous amounts of tea. Having a break is a vital part of the process. It allows you to forget most of what you've written. Lots of walking often helps clear the mind as well. PWS - post writing syndrome, as my family calls it, gives me time to really reflect on my next project as well.
2) The PWA. There is a strong argument at the moment about the use of AI. Pro Writing Aid is one of those tools I actually agree with. It helps pick up on common grammar mistakes that word often misses. The part you have to be really careful with is not accepting everything it says. Sometimes, the bot is wrong, having a decent internet connection so you can look up the correct spelling or punctuation can help with this. It isn't the longest part but it can be the most tedious.
3) The Re-read. This is the part you'll hear most authors talking about. It can be a pain, you start to see sentences that could've been better written by a 7-year-old. Your PWA edit will help with this as well, offering style tips and a built-in thesaurus. I will always take my time with this, as most authors do.
4) The Bot Voice. MS Word has a variety of different tools to help with editing, one of them is the read-aloud option. Having a robotic voice read to you helps pick up on more mistakes, and if a robot voice can keep you engaged after you've read the manuscript 5 times already you're doing great.
5) The Second Readthrough. This is part of the process some authors miss and they go straight to step 6, however, I like to challenge myself, to read the entire book without making a single change. Some authors also do this by printing the book off and reading it from paper, something I'm considering for the future.
6) The Readaloud. The cringe part. I've heard this is done differently also, but my approach is to read the book aloud, to myself, while recording it at the same time. At the end of each chapter, I listen back. Like many people, I'm not overly keen on the sound of my own voice so that's why it's cringe. This is where you pick up on a lot of style errors.
7) The Final. It is a step not many take, this is the part where most authors send it to their editors before sending it to beta readers. I send it to my beta readers and ask for their honest feedback, and they always do.
8) Getting it right the first time. So, this is a piece of advice I can often take myself. Having joined Byran Cohen's Ad School I now know the importance of a really good, relevant, and relatable book cover. Something that blends in, but stands out as well. The cover I made for The Hangman's Turn let it down massively, and I'm currently in the process of researching different covers in that genre and updating the cover for the third time. There is always something new to learn with publishing, I only hope something here can help you in the future.
To summarise, if you trust your writing, if others can read it and enjoy it, a professional edit can be nice, but it isn't always needed. Trust your readers, they will be brutally honest, but it is almost always with your growth as an author in mind.
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