As any good book writing coach will tell you, after writing a book the next hardest thing to do is find a good editor. It is never a matter of sending your manuscript to several different publishers and hoping one of them will contract you. The same is true for online services. You can self publish a book, but without an experienced editor it probably will not get a lot of attention.
In short your editor will make your manuscript the best it can be and error free. This goes way beyond simple spelling and grammar checks. They also fact check all cited references. They go over the complete layout ensuring the chapters and headers are right. Most importantly, they often offer great ideas. Having read so many books they often have many ideas that can help make the manuscript a number one best seller.
Begin by deciding what type of book editing services you really need. Most manuscripts will need developmental type editing. Copy editing is going through the manuscript and trying to improve on it. The hard editing is going through it with a fine eye looking for any misspelled words or other out of place mistakes that will make it seem awkward in print form.
Look over their credentials. This work of art you have created is something you will be be giving to somebody else, do not be so intimidated that you fail to ask difficult questions. Ensure they have the required knowledge of this occupation and understand the various genres you are writing. This experience and understanding may be the biggest difference between being successful and failing.
All editors like to tout their successes. There is no shame in this and is to be expected. Check out their website to see their list of successful publications. Keep in mind though that it is likely 80 percent or more of these are self published. Check how many of these titles were actually sold to traditional clearing houses. Doing your homework here can save you time and money later on.
A Good editor will always ask for positive testimonials from anyone they have worked for. Just like anybody else you hire take the time and effort to read through these and to possibly contact some to get any more information about them. Look at various web sites to see if they have information for them and what they really thought of the books that are not self published.
Find out if they have actually written any books themselves. This goes a long way to showing not only that they can point out issues, but have the knowledge to fix them as well. You will be surprised how many write on the side under various pseudonyms.
This will be one of the crucial decisions you will need to make. Finding a positive book writing coach and a good editor can affect any career in a big way. Be very patient and always take time to do it correctly. In 10 years you may also be sharing your success stories with other beginning writers.
In short your editor will make your manuscript the best it can be and error free. This goes way beyond simple spelling and grammar checks. They also fact check all cited references. They go over the complete layout ensuring the chapters and headers are right. Most importantly, they often offer great ideas. Having read so many books they often have many ideas that can help make the manuscript a number one best seller.
Begin by deciding what type of book editing services you really need. Most manuscripts will need developmental type editing. Copy editing is going through the manuscript and trying to improve on it. The hard editing is going through it with a fine eye looking for any misspelled words or other out of place mistakes that will make it seem awkward in print form.
Look over their credentials. This work of art you have created is something you will be be giving to somebody else, do not be so intimidated that you fail to ask difficult questions. Ensure they have the required knowledge of this occupation and understand the various genres you are writing. This experience and understanding may be the biggest difference between being successful and failing.
All editors like to tout their successes. There is no shame in this and is to be expected. Check out their website to see their list of successful publications. Keep in mind though that it is likely 80 percent or more of these are self published. Check how many of these titles were actually sold to traditional clearing houses. Doing your homework here can save you time and money later on.
A Good editor will always ask for positive testimonials from anyone they have worked for. Just like anybody else you hire take the time and effort to read through these and to possibly contact some to get any more information about them. Look at various web sites to see if they have information for them and what they really thought of the books that are not self published.
Find out if they have actually written any books themselves. This goes a long way to showing not only that they can point out issues, but have the knowledge to fix them as well. You will be surprised how many write on the side under various pseudonyms.
This will be one of the crucial decisions you will need to make. Finding a positive book writing coach and a good editor can affect any career in a big way. Be very patient and always take time to do it correctly. In 10 years you may also be sharing your success stories with other beginning writers.
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