I've just started marking my first draft with red ink. One thing I worry about, as a frugal person, is how much paper and printer ink I'll go through as I print drafts to edit by hand until I submit a final manuscript. For those of you who are far along, how much extra money do you spend on ink, paper, and other necessary materials? What can I expect?
Printing Drafts for Editing Versus Saving Money
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I don't. My eyes are so shot I can't do any heavy reading without huge font sizes. That means computer or nothing. Changing fonts and zooming in larger or smaller or changing window size to change line length is just as good as paper-waste, for my money (and I have very little of that too).
When I printed out my newest mss for editing over Christmas vacation, I edited them several times on the same pages, with a different colored pen for each pass. That saves you a little money....
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I've killed several small forests, but I've planted a tree in my backyard to compensate. Buy a laser printer. You can get them for about 100 bucks if you look around. The consumables are expensive, but less so than ink in the long run.
Nicole
Nicole
I have to read it on paper, so printing it out is the only way to go.
Too bad each draft costs around 40$ to make on my printer. Yeesh.
Too bad each draft costs around 40$ to make on my printer. Yeesh.
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I weaned myself off having to read the printed word. Even though I didn't like it at first, I made myself edit using my laptop. I'm not as wise as Sage. I used one colour only to cross out and draw balloons with long arrows to make changes. I couldn't use the same edited pages more than twice. So I made myself sit in a reclining lounge chair with cup of tea at hand - and read from the screen.
If you really can't do this, how about using your own blood instead of red ink. In a few days the body will have replenished your blood supply, even after a bout of very heavy editing. Save a fortune in ink.
Note: keep the emergency number of your hospital handy, just in case!
If you really can't do this, how about using your own blood instead of red ink. In a few days the body will have replenished your blood supply, even after a bout of very heavy editing. Save a fortune in ink.
Note: keep the emergency number of your hospital handy, just in case!
Nope!
Printing out is the best way to edit, take UJ's and many other well published writers' advice.
Printing out is the best way to edit, take UJ's and many other well published writers' advice.
I don't edit on hard copy for every draft. I print out twice:
Once for an edit prior to submitting to my writer's critique group.
Once for an edit prior to submitting to an editor or agent.
Two copies isn't too bad. It is expensive, but I look at how much people spend on professional editors to whip their work into shape and I figure I'm not doing so bad.
Once for an edit prior to submitting to my writer's critique group.
Once for an edit prior to submitting to an editor or agent.
Two copies isn't too bad. It is expensive, but I look at how much people spend on professional editors to whip their work into shape and I figure I'm not doing so bad.
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I agree, once in awhile you may just have to print it out. I'm pretty computer-comfortable. But every once in awhile, I just have to hold my baby in my hands. I like the idea of doing multiple passes in different colors but have never tried it. I think I write too much on drafts to have room for that though.
Hi,
I'm a frugal (tight, in my case?
) person myself and computers save you so much money (and the blasted ink is so prohibitively expensive!). No, seriously, I find it pointless to print out every draft in process because all of those printouts get chucked out, anyway. I only print a draft out when I can't see anything left to change or edit and lliterally start shifting a comma around the page. Then, after I print it out, I find so many things that still need fixing! After that, I consider it done.
Even more important, there's no evidence of those humiliating first drafts... especially in summer, when the fireplace is off
I'm a frugal (tight, in my case?
) person myself and computers save you so much money (and the blasted ink is so prohibitively expensive!). No, seriously, I find it pointless to print out every draft in process because all of those printouts get chucked out, anyway. I only print a draft out when I can't see anything left to change or edit and lliterally start shifting a comma around the page. Then, after I print it out, I find so many things that still need fixing! After that, I consider it done.Even more important, there's no evidence of those humiliating first drafts... especially in summer, when the fireplace is off
A ream of paper of 8.5x 11" is what 8-10$, black ink refills 20-25$ and they can cover 150-200 pages at 1.5 line spacing, 10 pt. Printing at low resolution: 300dpi or less will save on ink, doing both sides will save on paper--are your eyes up reading small grey print?
Alt: put your MS in another font, and another color, and to catch spelling, grammar etc--read last page, last Pp-last word first and work your way back. it's tedious because it takes you out of the normal mode--which is how you catch the nitpicky errors easier. :}
Alt: put your MS in another font, and another color, and to catch spelling, grammar etc--read last page, last Pp-last word first and work your way back. it's tedious because it takes you out of the normal mode--which is how you catch the nitpicky errors easier. :}
I can get printouts for free but I feel guilty about a) wasting paper and b) costing the campus for my waste of paper.
So I print stuff out for local writer's group meetings, or group members print stuff out and I scribble in my edits over theirs in a different color. Which ends up being slightly less wasteful.
But I don't really have a sense of my writing till I see it on a written page. Not sure why.
So I print stuff out for local writer's group meetings, or group members print stuff out and I scribble in my edits over theirs in a different color. Which ends up being slightly less wasteful.
But I don't really have a sense of my writing till I see it on a written page. Not sure why.
After I finish the first draft, I go back (on the computer) and plug in any notes. I no longer write with an outline, so as I'm writing the draft, I keep a list of things that have changed since the early chapters, places I need to add foreshadowing (things like that). Once those notes are finished, I'll print it out.
I heartily recommend that folks look into a laser printer. The cost of the printer v. buying new ink refills for inkjet printers is so worth it. My printer retails for about $120, and the toner it came with is good for 5000 pages. Toner refills cost about $85. It more than pays for itself.
I also save money/ink/paper by reducing the font to Size 9 and printing 1.5 spaced, rather than double. My eyes can take it, and I still have room for editing notes (I have tiny handwriting). It makes a 380 page document a more accessible 210 pages.
I heartily recommend that folks look into a laser printer. The cost of the printer v. buying new ink refills for inkjet printers is so worth it. My printer retails for about $120, and the toner it came with is good for 5000 pages. Toner refills cost about $85. It more than pays for itself.
I also save money/ink/paper by reducing the font to Size 9 and printing 1.5 spaced, rather than double. My eyes can take it, and I still have room for editing notes (I have tiny handwriting). It makes a 380 page document a more accessible 210 pages.
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I do pretty much the same thing as Sage does. I revise using different colored ink pens so I can keep track of revision 1,2 etc. I only reprint when it's such a mess I'm in danger of losing my train of thought. I don't seem to be able to write any other way. I do my first draft in longhand and print it up after each chapter. Because I revise as I go along I usually only need one really messed up printed copy and a final clean copy. All I do after that is go over it with a magnifying glass to make sure there are no typos or glaring punctuation mistakes and then I begin submitting.
Linnea
Linnea
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I spend hundreds of dollars printing but I don't do each draft- I send it out to be printed and spiral bound several times in the editing process...you have to do what works for you whatever the cost...
For printing a full draft - upload it to Lulu, mark it private, and order a bound copy. Not only is it cheaper, but you can see what it looks like in book format!
You will definitely see more in a printed format than simply going over and over the computer screen. For one thing it makes it look different.
I completely understand the cost dilema. For that for the first few drafts I simply change the font. If I wrote it in courier, I switch it to TNR, and vice versa. It helps me to look at it closer because it looks different.
I completely understand the cost dilema. For that for the first few drafts I simply change the font. If I wrote it in courier, I switch it to TNR, and vice versa. It helps me to look at it closer because it looks different.
Changing the font and size will also help you catch things that are invisible unless you did that. Like a hard return in the middle of a paragraph that happens to fall at the end of a line so you can't tell or extra spaces in between two lines that were at the bottom of the page.
I also have a font/size/margin/spacing preference for reading, so I change from the Courier New 12, 25pt exactly to TNR 11, 1.5 spacing and prefer to edit that way.
I also have a font/size/margin/spacing preference for reading, so I change from the Courier New 12, 25pt exactly to TNR 11, 1.5 spacing and prefer to edit that way.
I'm in the market for a laser printer because of this very thing. It just makes sense if you're serious about writing. The ink cartridge for my printer can handle about 500-550 pages....that's ONE draft of an epic fantasy!
I edit yesterday's stuff on the screen each day...
...but when I finish each chapter I print it out and walk around the house with pen in hand reading it aloud. This means I often crash into furniture, but it's a small price to pay.
Things look different on the page than on the screen, and they look different once again when they are printed as galleys.
When I finish my current WIP, I'm going to use something like Lulu's typesetting template and print it out single-spaced and looking like a book. I'm sure the change in font and format will make me see fifty things I want to alter.
...but when I finish each chapter I print it out and walk around the house with pen in hand reading it aloud. This means I often crash into furniture, but it's a small price to pay.
Things look different on the page than on the screen, and they look different once again when they are printed as galleys.
When I finish my current WIP, I'm going to use something like Lulu's typesetting template and print it out single-spaced and looking like a book. I'm sure the change in font and format will make me see fifty things I want to alter.
I print out the 'finished' MS in order to have a hard copy for the editing. There's something special about reading from paper.
Sten
Sten
I must be super frugal. A ream of paper (500 pages) costs under $3.00 ($2.97 at local Wal-Mart). I refill my ink cartridges ($2.50 per refill) so a complete print of my manuscript is less than $5.00 (it's less than 500 pages long).
You can re-use ink cartridges lots of times. My first one lasted 16 months and at least a dozen refills.
You can re-use ink cartridges lots of times. My first one lasted 16 months and at least a dozen refills.
It sounds like the ink and paper won't cost too much per book, even if I were to print every draft. And it's not like I print each draft double spaced. All the text in my drafts are single-spaced with margins for editing. Only the final will be in the standard MS format.
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