Guest Blogger Linda Jay writes about self-editing and wordsmithing:<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve noticed a topic popping up more and more in books, workshops and seminars, even those offered by Writer\u2019s Digest. Targeted mostly toward indie authors (perhaps you\u2019re in that category), these books, workshops and seminars encourage writers to self-edit their own work before they self-publish.<\/p>\n
Now, self-editing is fine. Going through your manuscript\u2019s rough drafts several times over a period of weeks searching for errors and omissions, perhaps even reading the text aloud to catch awkward phrasing or redundancies or overcomplicated construction, is certainly not going to hurt\u2014and possibly might even improve\u2014your writing.<\/p>\n
But let\u2019s face it, there\u2019s only so much self-editing an author can do. Frankly, you as the author are too close to the subject matter to be objective, even if you take a break from the material and come back to it later.<\/p>\n
In my opinion\u2014and I\u2019m not just saying this because I happen to be an experienced book manuscript copyeditor<\/a>\u2014an author truly needs an editor\u2019s fresh perspective to make his or her writing as excellent and polished as it can possibly be.<\/p>\n Recently I made editorial suggestions to an author, pointing out missing information and details in her novel; of course, she hadn\u2019t left out facts intentionally. But on the other hand, she hadn\u2019t noticed that she needed to \u201cfill in the blanks\u201d in that particular section of text so that a reader could understand the characters in-depth.<\/p>\n I also offered specific ideas for improving the text that the author hadn\u2019t thought of, but was happy to implement immediately:<\/p>\n The Role of Traditional Publishers?<\/strong><\/p>\n Traditional publishers no longer pay for the routine editing of manuscripts, and self-publishers often believe that they cannot afford to hire a professional editor.<\/p>\n If you as an author have done your best self-editing but are still convinced that you want a professional editor to work with you, ask the editor to work on just a few chapters at a time. That way, it\u2019s within the realm of financial possibility.<\/p>\n Far beyond being merely a spell-checker, a good copyeditor is essentially able to \u201chear\u201d what an author has written, and sense how a piece of writing will be received by other readers. An experienced copyeditor will also notice if the writer has made unfounded assumptions about the subject matter or the intended audience.<\/p>\n In other words, self-editing is indeed useful, but it will never take the place of the opinions and comments of a professional wordsmith.<\/p>\n The two processes should be used in tandem.<\/p>\n Originally posted in Joel Friedlander’s blog, The Book Designer<\/a>, on October 5, 2012<\/p>\n\n