Word processors are GREAT for editing. Don\u2019t you love the ease with which you can make corrections and additions? I started my writing career using a borrowed manual typewriter. It was a glorious day when I was able to purchase an electric typewriter. Whoo hooo! For those of you too young to remember these antiquated pieces of machinery, editing was quite a different process. You typed it. You edited and made corrections on the printout using a red pencil. Then you retyped it. The first few drafts of your manuscript often looked like the work of a deranged scholar with all of the notes, arrows and other marks all over it. <\/p>\n
Once you typed in the changes, it was time to edit again. The process of fine-tuning a 1,500-word article might take days. Often, the end product still didn\u2019t look that good. If you found a typo after the final go around, you used liquid white out, let it dry and then typed or wrote the correction in.<\/p>\n
In time, someone invented correction tape. Some typewriters had correction tape built into the typewriter. So when you wanted to make a change, you typed over the mistake with the tape and then retyped to correct.<\/p>\n
Now, we can correct mistakes and make changes easily on the screen\u2014before ever printing our manuscript or letter out or sending it to anyone. And we have all kinds of help from built-in spell-check and grammar programs. What many freelance writers and authors forget, however, is the importance of their astute, alert attention to what\u2019s happening to their manuscripts during the self-editing and correction phase.<\/p>\n
I can\u2019t tell you how many manuscripts I receive for editing that have obviously gone through boo coo incarnations and are possessed by many boo boos as a result. For example:
\n\u2022\tThe author changes the name of a character midstream and neglects to make the changes throughout. (Very common!) She might be Cindy throughout, except on pages 113, 143 and 220.<\/p>\n
\u2022\tWords are erroneously left in or removed in the process of editing. For example, instead of typing, \u201cHe went straight to the store,\u201d it might read, \u201cHe went to straight the store.\u201d Or rather than, \u201cShe sat in the saddle with confidence,\u201d you might inadvertently create this, \u201cShe sat in the saddle horse confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022\tAuthors use the wrong words. For example, \u201cShe stocked her prey.\u201d It should be, \u201cShe stalked her prey.\u201d Or \u201cI can\u2019t belief what she sad,\u201d when it should read, \u201cI can\u2019t believe what she said.\u201d Or \u201cTheir he goes right past there house,\u201d of course, this should be, \u201cThere he goes, right past their house.\u201d And what about this, \u201cShe past the bakery without taking a second look.\u201d It should be, \u201cShe passed the bakery without taking a second look.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022\tLetters are left off of or out of words. This can happen through the course of editing. You intend to say, \u201cSteve was the driver and George sat beside him,\u201d but you end up with, \u201cSteve was the drive an George sat beside him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022\tInconsistencies are a huge problem with many of the manuscripts I see. Authors can\u2019t decide whether to use capitalization with certain words or not, so they shift back and forth. They capitalize \u201cearth,\u201d \u201cphantom planet,\u201d \u201cangel,\u201d half of the time and, half of the time, they don\u2019t. <\/p>\n
\u2022\tAuthors use curly quotes sometimes and straight quotes the rest of the time. This drives me crazy. And sometimes the quotation marks are backwards. This is also often a result of having made changes to the text. <\/p>\n
The more manuscripts I see, the more adamant I am that authors need at least one extra set of eyes to scrutinize their work BEFORE publication. And then they absolutely should hire a qualified book editor to do the final tuning. I strongly advise authors to save up for an editor as soon as he or she decides to write a book for publication. If you plan to write a 60,000 to 90,000-word manuscript, you\u2019ll probably need anywhere from $1,200 to $3,500. If the manuscript is in really rough shape, you\u2019ll need to come up with more. If it is very, very clean, you won\u2019t pay as much. <\/p>\n
I recently lost an editing job (and the author lost an opportunity to present a well-written book to the public). The author came to me with a gigantic, multi-thousand-word novel manuscript in very poor shape with a budget of only a fraction of what it would cost for me to edit the work. He decided to do the editing himself. I could not convince this author that the mistakes in his manuscript were created by him\u2014through his ignorance of the English language as well as grammar, punctuation, etc. He obviously had a knack for storytelling, but his writing was atrocious. He is not qualified to fix the problems in his manuscript. <\/p>\n
But there is nothing to stop him from doing his own editing or from getting his book published. Such a shame. I hate to see authors publish and attempt to sell garbage. Yet, more and more people are doing so.<\/p>\n
For more about editing, self-editing, publishing (all options), freelance article writing, book promotion, writing a book proposal, building on your platform and more, check out the archives for this blog. And visit my websites:<\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.matilijapress.com<\/a> Word processors are GREAT for editing. Don\u2019t you love the ease with which you can make corrections and additions? I started my writing career using a borrowed manual typewriter. It was a glorious day when I was able to purchase an electric typewriter. Whoo hooo! For those of you too young to remember these antiquated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16,4],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t
\n http:\/\/www.patriciafry.com<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"