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Tag: copyediting

5 Hidden Problems Copyeditors Fix

“My manuscript is pretty clean. Probably won’t take you long. As a matter of fact, I’m pretty sure it just needs a proofread, not a whole edit.” Like other copyeditors, I get this a lot.

The biggest problem is writers don’t see their own mistakes. Then, an editor like me comes along and surprises the author with red lines and corrections on their story. The sheer number of them makes their manuscript look like it’s getting ready for Valentine’s Day.

This inability to see the mistakes in your writing can be called author blindness. Author blindness can be lessened with some time away from your story but never fully cured. It is a condition caused by overfamiliarity with your words. You’ve seen them many, many times, even in your head before they were formed on the paper or the screen. Once they’re out there, you see what you expect to see on the page—your vision of the story—instead of what is actually there. Often, these issues exist even after you’ve self-edited.

When author blindness kicks in, you see what you expect to see on the page—your vision of the story—instead of what is actually there. Click To Tweet

An Aside on Self-Editing

And you should self-edit before you send your book to your editor. Think of it this way. You have the choice of giving your editor an unshaped lump of clay or a mostly sculpted piece that still needs some polishing. Given time and money constraints, which one could she most likely refine into something that is both a superb work of art and on par with your vision?

If you don’t believe me, watch this video by Garret Robinson.
You have the choice of giving your editor an unshaped lump of clay or a mostly sculpted piece. Which one could she most likely refine into a superb work of art that is on par with your vision? Click To Tweet

Mistakes Copyeditors Catch

Self-editing aside, here are some very common problems copyeditors fix while editing. In fact, I see them in nearly every manuscript I edit. Are they hidden in yours?

copyeditors, fix, problems, mistakes

 

Related Resources

The Process of Copyediting Fiction

Past or Present? Using Tense Effectively in Fiction

The Importance of Point of View: Part I: The Types of POV

Head Hopping and POV Slips

Resources for Fiction Writers: Read, Watch, and Listen

Free Self-Editing Checklist

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Ask the Editor Episode 1: What Kind of Editor Do I Need?

A New Feature

Welcome to the first episode of Ask the Editor, a feature where I—the editor, of course—answer your questions on writing, editing, and self-publishing. I’ll be doing this via YouTube but will be posting all of the videos here on the Wordy Speculations blog as well.

Our First Question: What Kind of Editor Do I Need?

Do you ever get confused about all of the different kinds of fiction editing that are available? Do you wonder where in your process you need each kind, if at all? I answer those questions and more in this episode. Enjoy!

Have an Ask the Editor Question?

You can send me your questions and comments in several ways.

  1. Comment on this post.
  2. Comment on the YouTube video.
  3. Contact me on my contact form.
  4. Email me at janell@speculationsediting.com.

I can’t wait to hear from you!

Episode Transcript [a.k.a. Not Grammatically Correct. I think I need a Speech Editor. ☺]

Hey, writers! My name is Janell, and welcome to Ask the Editor!

I am a fiction editor, and I am here to answer your questions about writing, editing and self-publishing.

Today, we’re going to start out with a very common question among writers and that is: What kind of editor do I need? Everybody tells me I have to get an editor, but what do they mean? I see a billion names out there for editors, so I don’t know where to start.

And did you know that edit is a very hard word to say? Especially editor and editing.

Anyway, let’s get to the point. There are three main types of fiction editor you’re going to be looking for.

The first one is a developmental or structural editor, and they all have a second name, so just forgive me. Sometimes a third name because one of the issues in editing is that a lot of times people can’t decide which name should be which.

So bear with me, and when you’re looking for an editor, always check their web page or even send them an email or a message through their Facebook page and say “What does your developmental editing include?” That way, you’re always clear, and you don’t get back something you didn’t expect.

So, we have developmental editing, we have line or copy editing, and we have proofreading, so let’s get into each one of those.

#1:  Developmental or structural editing. This is story editing. It’s big picture editing. It’s saying, does my story work, are my characters flat, is the ending believable or does it feel contrived? And what can I do about it? “My timing is all off.” “My readers hate my flashbacks.”

So those are the kind of questions that a developmental or structural editor will approach, and they will give you suggestions. They should give you resources. They cover pacing, chronology, characterization, plotting, all of those things, theme, if those are the problems in in your book or your short story. (Editors edit short stories too.) If those are your problems, then you need a developmental editor.

So the second kind of editor is what most people think of when they think of editing, and they think, “It’s the grammar police!” They’re talking about copy editing. Line editing is often wrapped in with copy editing, and it’s sort of a more deep sort of copy editing, but I’ll get into that.

So, copy editing is grammar, punctuation, style, things like that. A lot of people use the Chicago Manual of style as their guide because they give you answers to questions like “Should I capitalize captain here?” and they’ll say, yes, capitalize captain if it’s in front of a name like “Captain Murphy” but not when it’s all by itself. So that’s copy editing.

Now line editing is a little deeper because it includes fixing sentences, not because there’s something

technically wrong but because they sound better, so fixing flow. [Making sure that every] like maybe this sentence would go better at the top of this paragraph than in the middle.

So those are things that a line editor would cover.

And lot of editors, including myself, usually do them together because it just works, you know. But you should definitely ask your editor, so you know if you just want copy editing: you only want the very—you like your sentences just the way they are, that you don’t care what they think about your flow—and you just want to make sure that you don’t have typos or actual errors in there.

Okay, so not to get too deep into that, but the third kind of editing (3) is proofreading. Proofreading is probably the most misunderstood type of editing. This is a good way to remember: proofreading actually means reading the proof, and the proof is your formatted book. It is formatted for ebook, or it is formatted for print, and it is almost ready to go. You know, you have a cover ready and everything.

So proofreading is reading that proof to check for last-minute errors like, you know, maybe the copy editor missed something. It does happen.  Because your copy editor can make twenty thousand, a hundred thousand changes to your manuscript because we’re talking about commas and spaces and all kinds of things, but they might miss one, or maybe [errors were introduced] when you were putting corrections in from the editor because you should always have a choice whether you accept a change or not.

That’s why I always use track changes. So maybe you’re putting in those changes, and you make another mistake. It happens to the best of us, so proofreading catches those kind of things. They should be last-minute light edits.

So, if you ask somebody, if you finish your first draft, you haven’t done any revisions, you never sent it to a beta reader or anything, and then you send it to somebody, and say “I need a proofread.” And they’re thinking of what I was just talking about, but you’re thinking of actual copy editing or even story editing, then you’re probably gonna get it back with a note about “Excuse me, but you really need a copy editor, not a proofreader.” That’s what they mean. Yeah, it’ll catch little things like, you know, typos.

So, those are the three types of editing you’re most going to commonly see for fiction books or short stories and even memoirs. They pretty much cover creative nonfiction as well. So there’s developmental and structural editing, line or copy editing, and proofreading.

So, I hope that helps you to clarify what the stages are. Often, people will have all three; sometimes they’ll just have one. Sometimes, they feel like most of the edits were caught during copy editing. They can’t afford another stage, or you know. Sometimes people have all three. Some people just have one. It’s up to you, really, and where you want your story to go.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this video and to find out more about me please see the links in the description. And also you can find out more about my own book because you know, we all have one. We’re writers; that’s why we’re here, right?

But my nonfiction book is Saving Money on Editing & Choosing the Best Editor. It’s actually one of my nonfiction books, but the other one does not apply to writing, so this book will help you clean up your manuscript, just make it a better manuscript before you send it to the editor. Because we all want our books to be the best they can but also how to find an editor without getting scammed because, in the age of the internet, you know, [we’re] there’s a lot of people out there hanging up their shingle and saying “I’m an editor,” which means/translates into “I got an A in English,” which, you know, does not mean that they’ve been working for publishers and authors for 20 years or something like that. You really need to find out who your editor is, and this book is a great guide for that.

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below or send me an email or hit my contact page or send me a question on Twitter or Facebook.  I will leave all those links below. Thanks for watching! Bye-bye.

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My First Draft Is Done! What’s Next? A Manuscript Guide for Indie Authors

When you finish the first draft of your book, you might feel lost. What are the next steps? How long it will be before you can publish it? Here is a handy guide to getting your book polished and ready for publication.*

    1. Let it rest. Really. Put the manuscript away for a while. Maybe you can start a new project or work on a different one. Get some distance so that when you come back to it, you won’t be blind to your own mistakes. Six or eight weeks should do the trick.
    2. Self-edit. Now you can start self-editing and rewriting. The self-editing process varies for everyone. As great guides to this process, I recommend the books Self-Editing for Fiction Writers and Manuscript Makeover.
    3. Breathe. When you’re done, take a few days to breathe. Make sure you’re really finished with the second draft. It’s easy to get impatient and throw your manuscript at people the second it’s done. Your patience will pay off in the end.
      first draft, breathe, manuscript, indie author, editor, writer, writing, editing
    4. Send it to beta readers. Send your manuscript to several beta readers. Beta readers can be friends and family. However, the best ones are people who read regularly in your genre and who like to talk about it. Get more beta readers than you need. Reading and commenting on a whole book is a big commitment. Some readers will never finish. You can find free beta readers through critique groups or social media groups. You can also pay for professional beta readers. Paid readers have a good incentive to complete the job! Self-editing and using beta readers will also save you money at editing time. Editors charge on the basis of how much work is needed on your manuscript. (For more details, see my blog series on Saving Money on Editing.) If you are thorough and willing to learn as you go, you may be able to skip structural editing and lower your copyediting costs. In any case, your book will be better off for it! Don’t skip these steps! beta reader; first draft
    5. Revise again. Take your beta readers’ suggestions into careful consideration, but feel free to ignore some of them. Pay special attention to issues that have been flagged by multiple readers! If most of your readers are telling you the same thing, it would be unwise to ignore it. Repeat steps 2 through 5 as needed until you feel that you can’t do anything more with your manuscript on your own.
    6. Consult a professional editor. Many editors offer a free sample edit. During this time, the editor will go through a sample of your manuscript and make a recommendation about what kind of editing it needs. Feel free to get several sample edits. Go with the editor who is the right combination of fit and affordability for you. You will often pay more for a better editor, but get that sample edit to be sure that your editor is worth her price. (See my post on vetting editors.)
    7. Get developmental editing/make revisions. At this stage, you will be working with your editor on big-picture issues such as plot, theme, character, and structure. Don’t worry about grammar, spelling, or punctuation just yet. Don’t need developmental editing? Hurray! Skip ahead to step 8!
    8. Get copyediting/make revisions. Time to fix all the grammar and spelling mistakes and inconsistencies. Time to improve the flow of your sentences. Just as with beta readers, you can and should choose which edits you keep and which edits you toss. Just be thoughtful. Ask questions. Your editor should want your book to shine as much as you do, and it will make you a better writer.
      red pencil, editing, first draft, editor, editing, writer, writing, indie author, author
    9. Lay out your book. Hire a book formatter or design and lay out your book yourself if you know how. Don’t forget to add front matter and a table of contents (a linked one for ebooks)!
    10. Get a cover designed. You can start this step earlier if you’d like. However, if you are self-publishing a paperback or hardcover version of your book, your cover designer will need to know the final page count to determine the spine width for the design. Yes, you can design your cover yourself. However, I only recommend this if you have graphic design experience and really know what you are doing. The cover is the first thing that a potential reader sees. Investing in a good cover designer will boost those original sales before reviews start to come in.
    11. Write your back cover copy and get publicity blurbs. While your cover is being designed, write and edit your back cover copy and use your formatted manuscript to solicit blurbs (good quotes!) for your back cover. If you’re not selling hard copies of your book, you still need good descriptive copy for your book’s sales page, so don’t skip this step.
    12. Get proofreading. You can complete this stage during cover design. Once your pages are laid out, have a proofreader check them to catch typos that might have slipped through or been introduced during corrections (yes, this happens). This is not the time for big changes or rewrites. They will only cause you to have to redo or fix the formatting. Get each format (ebook and hardcopy) proofread because there can be minor differences.
      proofreading, first draft
    13. Publish. Upload your files and publish at the vendor of your choice! There are many more choices and steps during this stage, but I’ll leave that for another post!
Note

This post is a slightly more detailed update to an infographic I posted earlier.

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Editors versus Beta Readers

I recently listened to a podcast about beta readers on The Journeyman Writer at Storywonk. It got me thinking about the differences between beta readers and editors and why a lot of writers think that they don’t need an editor when they have beta readers.

Certainly, there will be writers that make use of neither before self-publishing. For traditional publishing, it is rare (or should be!) that a book will be published without at least being copyedited. There will also be some overlap between the services provided by beta readers and editors. However, here are some differences that stand out.

Differences between Beta Readers and Editors

  1. Cost: Beta readers generally provide their services for free or as a quid pro quo. As trained professionals, editors charge a fee, depending on the work and their experience.
  2. Perspective: A beta reader sees things from the perspective of a book consumer. This is an essential viewpoint to be sure. Consumers/readers are your audience! Editors, on the other hand, can also be consumers. However, they are also part of the production team. They are more likely to have a handle on what isn’t working, why it isn’t working, and/or why it won’t work for your particular audience. They can also provide some hand-holding through the publishing process. Most beta readers would be out of their depth when it comes to the ins and outs of publishing.
  3. Experience: A beta reader’s experience will vary widely. However, any good editor will have spent years working with words day in and day out. They have probably taken courses to update their existing skills and learn new ones. They go out of their way to keep up with the profession and current books and trends in their sector of the publishing industry.
  4. Professionalism: When you hand your manuscript off to a beta reader, you usually just have to sit back, wait, and hope that they get it back to you and that they do so within a reasonable amount of time (believe me, I know). Maybe you’ll start writing your next book while you wait. Then, they may or may not hit on the points where you need feedback. With a good editor, you will get a schedule and a systematic point-by-point review of your manuscript, depending on which kind of editing (developmental editing, substantive editing, or copyediting) that you choose.

beta readers

Editor or beta reader? My advice? Once your manuscript is finished, start with a few beta readers. Then, polish up your manuscript on the basis of their feedback. Once that is done, seek out an editor. You will likely find that he or she has a lot to offer in bringing your manuscript up to a professional level. In this day and age of self-publishing, that edge is essential in giving your story the attention it deserves. If you are going the traditional publishing route, you can be sure that editors and agents will appreciate a well-developed, edited manuscript more than a rough first draft.

 

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The Process of Copyediting Fiction

I want to take you through the process of copyediting fiction. In the traditional life of a manuscript, this is one of the last types of editing that it will go through. The structure, plot, and characterization of the story at this point should have been finalized. This happens during writing and developmental editing. If there are few problems with overall consistency, your manuscript at this stage might go straight to copyediting instead of to substantive editing.

When I am copyediting fiction, my main goals are to ensure that all errors in grammar, punctuation, capitalization, word use, and style have been corrected. I also check for awkward phrasing and make or suggest edits to correct this. During this time, I also make sure that I don’t make changes that will alter your voice as the author. If I am in doubt, I will query you either directly in the manuscript file or in an email. During this stage, I will also do a little bit of basic formatting. How much depends on where the manuscript is going next. For example, if your agent or the publisher requires a certain format, I will help you ensure that the manuscript meets those requirements. Mostly, I want to make sure that your formatting (capitalization, boldface, etc.) is consistent.

When I begin to go over a manuscript for copyediting, I will look over the file that I receive from you to ensure that I have received everything in complete, working order. I will print a customized fiction copyediting checklist for your story that will help me to ensure that I have covered everything by the time I am done.

Copyediting Fiction; checklis

Once I have checked the files, I usually save the manuscript with a new name so that I always have a copy of the original at my disposal in case there are problems. Before I begin reading the manuscript, I use tools and run searches on certain items and terms. Some of these tools and searches include the following:

  • PerfectIt/Macros: PerfectIt is a Microsoft Word plugin that searches the manuscript file and help to ensure proper usage and consistency (for example, you capitalized Ice Cream Bar in three places and did not capitalize it in another; is this correct?). It does not make automatic changes but instead allows the editor to choose which changes are correct and which are not. I will also use Word macros that I have written myself to catch certain errors and inconsistencies.
  • Hyphenation: I will search for all hyphens throughout your manuscript. Here, I am looking for correct hyphenation (follow up vs. follow-up), consistency, and accuracy. Sometimes a hyphen needs to be deleted or replaced with a space. In other places, it might need to be replaced with an en dash (–) or em dash (—).
  • Spelling: At this point, I will run a spell check. I always check each word or phrase that is highlighted by the spell checker, never using the Replace All feature. I may use the Ignore or Ignore All feature for words (such as proper names or the names of fantastical creatures) that I can double-check as I read. However, the Replace All feature tends to cause problems instead of increasing quality.

Once I’ve gone through these time-saving methods, I will then read your manuscript, page by page, word by word. I will double-check the items above as I read. In addition, some of the things that I will check and correct during this read include the following:

  • Capitalization
  • Grammar
  • Spelling
  • Punctuation
  • Subject–Verb Agreement
  • Word Usage: For example, did you use affect when you should have used effect?
  • Clarity
  • Flow
  • Point of View (POV): Most of this will have been covered during developmental or substantive editing, but I will check here for jarring shifts in POV or instances of “head hopping,” where the POV switches often and in a confusing manner.

Once I have finished the full read-through and run one more spell check, I will send a copy of the manuscript back to you. The edits will be highlighted by Track Changes and will be easy for you to see. You can then accept the changes as you go through the manuscript and answer or deal with any queries that I have written. During this stage, you can also contact me if you have any questions or are confused about certain changes. Then, you send the manuscript file back to me for one last round of editing.

During this round, I will read the manuscript a final time to check for anything that was missed and for errors that might have been introduced. Yes, editors and authors are human, and this happens, so a second read-through is always a good idea.

Then, I will return the clean and finalized manuscript back to you, all polished up and ready to continue to the next stage on its journey, whether that be an agent, a publisher, or right into print or digital format.

Copyediting is highly detailed work, but the end results are extremely satisfying for both the editor and author. You will have a manuscript that reads well without distracting errors, and I will be happy knowing that I helped to get it to that point!

 

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