Before the Edit

You've written your masterpiece and you're ready to publish it. Your next step is hiring an editor and formatter, right? Maybe. Editing, even for indie novelists, is not for making a bad manuscript good. It's for taking your art, your already great writing, and polishing it to make it better.

Some editors charge a flat fee, others charge for the time it takes to edit your manuscript. You want the turnaround time to be as quick as possible and the fees to be fair. They are giving you their time and wisdom, and you are handing over your masterpiece for them to do with what they will. It puts both of you in a bit of a vulnerable position. To get the most out of your editing experience, do some work on your own first. Here are some steps to take before you send your book to be edited.

1.) Do a spell and grammar check. There's a little button at the top of most writing programs that allow the program to check your spelling and grammar for you. They aren't always 100% accurate, but you might at least get a hint as to a few things you may have overlooked.

2.) Proofread. This one seems obvious, but many writers fail to complete this simple step. Reread everything you have written. After you're done writing. In one sitting. Imagine you're the age of your target audience. Does each sentence make sense? Do you get bored after a few paragraphs? If yes, fix it. A writer's work is never done.

3.) Check your tense and POVs. Many indie novels introduce new ways of story telling, like a point of view switch between characters for each chapter or a first-person, present-tense narrative. Make sure your tense-speak is consistent. For present-tense, your character is doing things and will be doing more later. A past-tense character did those things and remembers having done them. Thoughts are always in italics and are present-tense. An emphasized word is italicized. Don't switch between characters' points of views without letting your readers know somehow. You don't want them to be lost. It will take them out of the story, and they'll stop reading.

4.) Get a beta. A beta reader is a person who agrees to read your unedited manuscript for free, for the purpose of giving you honest feedback. This can be family members, friends, or strangers, but choose just a few at your best discretion (and know that there are some people who volunteer to do this all the time and are quite good at it). You can find good beta readers in writers' groups and on readers' forums such as Goodreads. They will typically point out plot holes you were blind to, major typos, and general inconsistencies. They are not editors, but their help can be invaluable. Every writer needs a few good betas to steer them in the right direction.

5.) Ask for a sample edit. Editors are human, subject to their own opinions and beliefs about how your manuscript should look. Shop around. Ask for sample edits so you know that you and your editor of choice "mesh well". Look for someone who tells you their fees up front, who has a turnaround time you can live with, and who does good work the first time around. There is nothing more annoying than paying an editor and then getting reviews that point out how many mistakes there are in your manuscript after publishing. When you do find that editor who is right for you, respect them by going through the above steps before sending them your work. Then respect their time and effort, tell everyone you know about them, and come back to them for your next book!

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