Once you have completed your manuscript, you will want to move on to the editing and proofreading process before shipping your manuscript to a professional editor.
Editing your manuscript can be overwhelming, but the following tips will make this task easy and achievable.
Keep reading!
Read Your Manuscript Out Loud
During the editing process, you will want to read the manuscript out loud or have it read out loud to you. When you silently read your manuscript repeatedly, you start to memorize the content, making it easier to skip over blatant mistakes.
Usually, this doesn’t happen when the manuscript is read out loud. Mistakes and clunky sentences stand out like a sore wound. And if you look at the goal of a solid editing process, you will see that it is exactly what you want during the self-editing process.
You need to hear your manuscript read aloud to fine-tune your style, address line edits, and fix typos. With that said, you will want your manuscript to be read out loud at least once during the self-edit process – but – the more times, the better the edits will be.
Hire Critique Partners
You might be an exceptionally talented writer – yet – you won’t know everything. So, when it comes to self-editing your manuscript, you will want to collect a pool of critique partners and combine your knowledge to create a team of super writers.
With your combined powers, nothing can stop you from the perfect editing sessions. You might want to use PDF to make the manuscript accessible to your critique partners so everyone is on the same page regarding the edits.
An editing tool, such as PDFescape, can make the editing process more efficient – especially if multiple people are accessing the manuscript. Make sure to protect your PDF file with a password so that only authorized people can make changes to the manuscript.
This way, the editing process will be kind of like light-handed editing before handing the manuscript to a professional editor. You will want your critique partners to read through your manuscript and point out any issues that you might have missed.
Critique partners can be helpful if you have writing quirks. For instance, you might have an over-reliance on filter words or characters with the same voice,
It is great to have critique partners skilled in areas where you might be weaker. Critique partners will let you know what you are doing wrong, so you can build off one another and improve together.
Hire Beta Readers
The job of beta readers is mostly to address the entertainment level of your manuscript. They will let you know whether your novel or book is interesting or not. They will let you know what they feel about the characters and whether the plot makes sense.
This information is crucial for the success of your book, and it does influence your editing. There is no point in publishing a book if no one likes it. The beta readers will help you understand whether or not the content is understandable the way you have intended.
This aspect will help you make the manuscript as clear and engaging as possible during your edits.