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Tools for Starving Authors

Proofing and Editing Tools that Make You Look More Professional

One of my author groups at Goodreads had a lively discussion about editing. Whether it is necessary. Why bother when other authors are successfully selling books without having used an editor's services. The need to write…which somehow translates to permission to publish without proofreading. The complaints about reviewers trashing their work because of the poor grammar and misspellings.

I do understand about money and not having the funds to pay a decent editor, proofreader, or copyeditor [from here on, I'll simply use some version of edit to refer to all three].

I know from my own experience (professional and recreational) that paying for editing must be a major problem for everyone. Yes, it's not just the beginning or never-been-published authors who have this problem!

I learned early on that a good writer is not necessarily a whiz with the mechanics of English.

When You Can't Afford an Editor

For those of you who simply have to write and get that story out there and you haven't the money to pay a professional editor, take the time to go over and over and over your manuscript to give yourself the best chance of presenting as professional-seeming a publication as possible. You do not serve yourself or your readers well to put this off. Yes, I've read the arguments that there are several authors out there who are writing and, obviously, not using an editor.

And it scares the crap out of me as people believe that if they see it in print, it must be accurate. One word. EEEEK!! People learn how to speak and write English from reading. Nahhh, it's not just in school that one learns this!

When proofing your own work, start by setting the words aside for a few hours, days, or weeks. Sometimes simply reading something completely different to relax your mind, force it into a different world helps you to distance yourself. Take a deep breath. Set yourself apart from the words. Think of yourself as a new reader to the work. Clear your mind. Take another deep breath! Simply read it for understanding. Read it for continuity; if the actions your characters take make sense. Do they flow logically or did they end up on the bed, nude, making love and no one ever actually got their clothes off? See if it makes sense, as if this were the first time you were reading it. Read it again for misspellings. Read it again looking at the punctuation. Read where the pauses should go…you've probably missed a comma! There's a rhythm to the sentences a writer creates. Reading out loud can make a difference. So can printing out a hard copy and reading it off paper. You are more likely to catch more problems reading it multiple times with each pass having a different purpose.

There have been a number of excellent suggestions on how to find free editing help including beta readers and joining critique groups. Maybe some editor would be interested in a barter of some sort?

Start with a good reputation. Edit. Proofread. Check it again. Before you publish. You will feel less defensive and a great deal prouder if you put the effort into creating a well-polished publication.

My Contribution…

With all the reading I do, I got this brainstorm about tracking the words that seem to be misused over and over again for my own amusement and 'cause I needed to let off steam somehow! It's a good example of how unreliable editing software is when it accepts break in place of brake for software cannot judge context.

Each of the following pages is a work-in-progress…it will forever be a work-in-progress as I will rely upon my own encounters and your input to add new issues!

  • Common Word Confusions looks at the confusion over the proper word to use whether it's brake or break; rain, reign, or rein; or, how to tell when it's better to use than or then, etc.
  • Punctuation is very new and will range from commas and semicolons to dialog and beyond. It also includes Formatting issues from italics to that pesky dialog again.
  • Grammar is a thought in the back of my head so far…

Using Microsoft Word's Markup Tool is a tutorial on using this fabulous editing tool—it leaves the original document intact while allowing both sides to make changes.

Too many authors don't understand how fabulous Microsoft Word's OR Apple's Pages is for the beauty of Styles. Styles allow you to create a set of commands that affect text in a document—I am so crossing my fingers hoping that one day the powers-that-be will consider allowing Styles to affect objects…sigh… You can create one style for paragraphs; another for numbered lists and ordered lists—I created a warning list style which I use rather religiously; set up a range of styles for headings; another set of styles for TOC headings—even better is that if you use heading styles, Word and Pages will use those styles to create an automatic Table of Contents. Word will also create a Table of Tables or Figures as well! Pages only allows for one TOC per file…silly buggers. If you are creating templates for your books to conform to requirements from a publisher, you want to use Styles.

For those authors who just can't face doing their own editing, I created a starving author rate—a one-time edit on your manuscript. Instead of my standard system in which a manuscript is submitted three times—an author/publisher/company/agency submits a file which I read through and edit, and send back for their approval and we repeat this process twice more (I find this is the best for finding those missing articles or catching continuity problems). I also create publication layouts which include the necessary styles and copyright page and/or setting up a template with its own set of Styles if you can't face it yourself or don't have the time to spare.

Hire a pro!
KD Did It will work with you.

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