How to Write Your Book, Step 3: Final Edits
People often compare their book to a baby. If you’re working on a book now, you know what that means. You “birth” and “raise” your book for months and sometimes years, worrying over the right phrases and other readers’ remarks as you watch it grow. Then one day, all your writing and rewriting finally pays off. Your work resembles an actual book with real chapters!
Congratulations! You’re ready to publish!
Publishing involves sending your “baby” off to college. That means it needs a professional edit (or two) and a professional proofread before it’s ready for press. Yes, it needs more editing, even if you had a developmental and/or structural editor look at your drafts. You want the final product as good as it can be!
Many publishers and even self-publishing companies have in-house or contracted editors and proofreaders. If not, or if you’re taking the DIY self-publishing route, you’ll have to hire your own.
This is NOT a step you can skip. A published book without proper editing will look amateur and can detract from sales, not to mention your credibility. As a ghostwriter, I always hire an outside editor and a proofreader to make sure they catch what both the author and I missed.
Keep in mind, these are final edits. “Copy editing or proofreading a manuscript that has not yet gone through a structural or line edit is a waste of time and money” says Claudia Suzanne in This Business of Books (p. 28). Below are the three final edits you should consider.
Line editing is an optional step, though I highly recommend it. A great line editor can really make your manuscript “sing,” especially if you’re writing your first book or don’t consider yourself a writer (and even if you do). A line editor will look at every sentence and paragraph for optimal clarity and flow to ensure your readers keep turning the page. (This is another service I offer.)
Copy editing is a must-have edit that also looks at clarity and flow, though not in nearly as much detail as line editors. Copy editors mostly check for punctuation, spelling, grammatical structure, POV/tense usage and inconsistencies, word usage and repetition, and style-guide adherence.
Proofreading is often overlooked, and many copy editors claim they can do both. But in my experience, it’s best to have a professional proofreader do a final check. When publishing an entire book, that manuscript goes through a lot of changes where mistakes can easily be made and overlooked. Two sets of eyes are always better than one. Furthermore, proofreaders have special training in various style guides. Their hawk-like eyes will correct grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and word usage that others miss as well as typographical, mechanical, and coding errors.
Speaking of style, The Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) is the default style for books published in the United States. Good to know, especially if you’re self-publishing. Unfortunately, they don’t teach CMS in school, and the online guide requires a subscription (totally worth it, though). If you don’t want to subscribe, a Google search for “CMS” and your specific grammar/style question will usually help. Some publishers have their own internal style (usually based on CMS), which their editors and proofreaders will follow.
Whether you want to hire your own editors and proofreaders or have a publisher do it will depend on how you publish and how much money you want to spend. Before we move on to publishing, we’ll go over your author rights and some book business basics, which will help you wisely choose the best publishing path for you and your book.
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