Every writer knows that once the story decides to flow onto the canvas, nothing else matters. Not typos, not grammar errors, nothing. At that moment, the writer does not even notice that these mistakes are happening. It is not that they do not know the correct spellings or appropriate grammatical applications. They just cannot be bothered at that moment. Hence the need for book copyediting. Once a story starts to birth itself, there is no stopping it.
The above responsibilities make them seem like they are human spellcheckers but the duties run deeper than that. They also check for technicalities and inconsistencies. They ensure the work is not libelous or prone to cause legal battles. If it is a non-fiction, they do fact checking. They also stay up to date with standard publishing practice. The author should be satisfied that their work is reader ready by the time this professional is done.
A manuscript does not go from the author straight to this stage. It has to pass through manuscript critique first. This is a step that looks at the bigger picture. The writer may be asked to change some things about the story. This is a very general stage. Then the manuscript will move on to a line by line critique where every line is inspected for proper placement among other qualities. Once the manuscript passes through these steps, it can then go forward to production preparation which is scrutiny of every aspect.
The best thing is to hire a professional. The chief reason is a phenomenon called typo blindness. It is said that one can be blind to their own mistakes because their mind already knows the message. The mind already knows what was meant. There are tips to reduce the severity or chances of this phenomenon but a professional will be ultimately better for the work. A professional will be better for the readers as they will enjoy the book. It will also be a good move for the peace of mind of the author.
However, for one reason or other one is able to get a professional there are tips to ensure DIY is still good enough. First of all, take a little break from the manuscript once it is complete. Take a vacation or go do things that went ignored when the story had taken over. Once this break is over, the typo blindness will be very close to non-existent. One will be able to easier notice own errors.
Just a few tips that one may already know. No harm in reiterating. Passive sentences are hard to read. Put vivid action verbs in place of those. Use as little adverbs and adjectives as possible. Instead, use descriptive language. This will color the story better. It paints a better image in the mind of the reader.
Find sentences that seem too long and shorten them. Find sentences that seem too short and ensure they make sense otherwise add a little something until they do. Too much emphasis by way of italics or exclamation marks is for less serious works. Get rid of those.
Take time on this process. It makes or break. Read the manuscript from beginning to end after the corrections are affected. Another trick to finding misspellings and errors is to read each page backward. For instance start from the bottom this way the brain does not autofill and will, therefore, see exactly what is on the page. Again family and friends can be used at this stage too.
The above responsibilities make them seem like they are human spellcheckers but the duties run deeper than that. They also check for technicalities and inconsistencies. They ensure the work is not libelous or prone to cause legal battles. If it is a non-fiction, they do fact checking. They also stay up to date with standard publishing practice. The author should be satisfied that their work is reader ready by the time this professional is done.
A manuscript does not go from the author straight to this stage. It has to pass through manuscript critique first. This is a step that looks at the bigger picture. The writer may be asked to change some things about the story. This is a very general stage. Then the manuscript will move on to a line by line critique where every line is inspected for proper placement among other qualities. Once the manuscript passes through these steps, it can then go forward to production preparation which is scrutiny of every aspect.
The best thing is to hire a professional. The chief reason is a phenomenon called typo blindness. It is said that one can be blind to their own mistakes because their mind already knows the message. The mind already knows what was meant. There are tips to reduce the severity or chances of this phenomenon but a professional will be ultimately better for the work. A professional will be better for the readers as they will enjoy the book. It will also be a good move for the peace of mind of the author.
However, for one reason or other one is able to get a professional there are tips to ensure DIY is still good enough. First of all, take a little break from the manuscript once it is complete. Take a vacation or go do things that went ignored when the story had taken over. Once this break is over, the typo blindness will be very close to non-existent. One will be able to easier notice own errors.
Just a few tips that one may already know. No harm in reiterating. Passive sentences are hard to read. Put vivid action verbs in place of those. Use as little adverbs and adjectives as possible. Instead, use descriptive language. This will color the story better. It paints a better image in the mind of the reader.
Find sentences that seem too long and shorten them. Find sentences that seem too short and ensure they make sense otherwise add a little something until they do. Too much emphasis by way of italics or exclamation marks is for less serious works. Get rid of those.
Take time on this process. It makes or break. Read the manuscript from beginning to end after the corrections are affected. Another trick to finding misspellings and errors is to read each page backward. For instance start from the bottom this way the brain does not autofill and will, therefore, see exactly what is on the page. Again family and friends can be used at this stage too.
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You can find complete details about the advantages you get when you use professional book copyediting services at http://www.hcnediting.com/services-and-fees right now.
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