How do big-name writers manage to get their work almost error-free (at least to the layman reader)? I've had a number of people read my manuscript and mark it for errors (one professional editor, the rest were friends and family). Even after fixing what I could of those errors, readers are still finding a lot of mistakes in spelling (Not so much misspelled words, but words that are wrong for the sentence and don't trigger warnings in word processors. For instance,"chocked" when I mean "choked", "sheik" when I mean "shriek"). Is paying for multiple professional spelling/grammar edits for a manuscript par for the course, or is there a better way to go about it?
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Basic Writing questions is not a crit forum. All crits belong in Share Your Work
Editing Advice (spelling and grammar)
- Thread starter gduber
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Publishers have an editorial staff. My stuff went through at least two editors, possibly three: it had a few rounds of developmental edits, and a few of line edits. (Your line editor is your best friend. I had one find a big fat continuity error my developmental editor had missed.)
If you're self-publishing, hire an editor. If you're trade publishing, the publisher will do that.
It seems what you are really asking is how self-pubbed writers get the errors out of their manuscripts.
I can't speak for everyone, but I can discuss my process.
First of all, it's important to have an excellent command of the English language. I understand things like what participial phrases are and how to use commas correctly with introductory phrases. Initially, my knowledge was a bit fuzzy around the edges in places, so I actually studied things like commas and apostrophes until I could write intelligent blog posts about them. I'd recommend polishing your skills in this area. Even though I felt I was quite competent going into this process, I learned a lot doing it. If you can't clearly articulate why you do something, grammatically speaking, then it's possible to benefit from study in this area.
Secondly, it doesn't sound as though you're reading your words aloud. I do mine at a whisper to save my voice, and then I have Word read back the entire manuscript as well. That covers a multitude of errors. You'll also catch things like unintended rhymes this way.
Then I do beta swaps with extremely talented people, most of whom I met on AW in Share Your Work. They usually spend their time on line edits and cutting things like excess world building, but an occasional proofreading blart gets fixed this way as well. I do this multiple times for every book.
Then I always buy a kindle copy as soon as I publish and read it. It's amazing how a change of format can help you catch things.
And then I get my initial book reviews on goodreads, swapping in the moderated author review forum, and if any errors have made it through to there, usually a reviewer is kind enough to point them out privately.
Now and again I'll see someone on AW advocate paying for a full-on trade process, and I think that's a way to go deep in the red. My process works well for me, and many SP authors do something similar.
Do what works for you, but in general, I'd say it's better to build skills than to pay money. Beta swaps are an intense skill-building endeavor. If it weren't for my beta friends, there's no way I'd have ever had the courage to self-publish. Thank you again to everyone who's helped with this. : )
I can't speak for everyone, but I can discuss my process.
First of all, it's important to have an excellent command of the English language. I understand things like what participial phrases are and how to use commas correctly with introductory phrases. Initially, my knowledge was a bit fuzzy around the edges in places, so I actually studied things like commas and apostrophes until I could write intelligent blog posts about them. I'd recommend polishing your skills in this area. Even though I felt I was quite competent going into this process, I learned a lot doing it. If you can't clearly articulate why you do something, grammatically speaking, then it's possible to benefit from study in this area.
Secondly, it doesn't sound as though you're reading your words aloud. I do mine at a whisper to save my voice, and then I have Word read back the entire manuscript as well. That covers a multitude of errors. You'll also catch things like unintended rhymes this way.
Then I do beta swaps with extremely talented people, most of whom I met on AW in Share Your Work. They usually spend their time on line edits and cutting things like excess world building, but an occasional proofreading blart gets fixed this way as well. I do this multiple times for every book.
Then I always buy a kindle copy as soon as I publish and read it. It's amazing how a change of format can help you catch things.
And then I get my initial book reviews on goodreads, swapping in the moderated author review forum, and if any errors have made it through to there, usually a reviewer is kind enough to point them out privately.
Now and again I'll see someone on AW advocate paying for a full-on trade process, and I think that's a way to go deep in the red. My process works well for me, and many SP authors do something similar.
Do what works for you, but in general, I'd say it's better to build skills than to pay money. Beta swaps are an intense skill-building endeavor. If it weren't for my beta friends, there's no way I'd have ever had the courage to self-publish. Thank you again to everyone who's helped with this. : )
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Yeah, it appears as though three distinct editors at minimal is the way to go. I'm really not looking forward to that expense. Thank you for the helpful info, I didn't know there were that many versions of editing.
Wow, a lot of helpful info there CathleenT, thanks so much! I've tried reading out loud, but my stupid brain still automatically smooths over the errors. I'll admit that I've been too bashful of getting many strangers to read my manuscript, but I got a review recently that really dinged me on the spelling/grammar more than anything else. I'm going to use your suggestions, thanks again.
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Uh, gduber, if your editor is missing things like chocked/choked and shriek/sheik, I don't think he/she is worth paying. Or at least not worth paying very much. Just a thought.
For the purpose of reading or proofreading your works, you do not have to pay Amazon. It has a free software called 'Send to Kindle' (https://www.amazon.com/gp/sendtokindle) that you can install and use it to send any supported documents (eg M$ Word) to any of your Kindle devices (formats are converted in the process).
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For self-publishing, hiring an editor is wise, but there are a few tricks to try and minimize on your own.
1. Different programs have different spellcheckers with different things they're good at. I like Google Docs because it can be good at catching those "did you mean there instead of their" kind of things where a words is a word but not the right word. Word often catches things that Docs missed.
2. Another trick: change your font and color on a reread. It helps trick your brain into not skipping over words.
1. Different programs have different spellcheckers with different things they're good at. I like Google Docs because it can be good at catching those "did you mean there instead of their" kind of things where a words is a word but not the right word. Word often catches things that Docs missed.
2. Another trick: change your font and color on a reread. It helps trick your brain into not skipping over words.
Not that I've used this on fiction yet (just my academic work) but I really like Grammarly which you can download for free or pay about $75 for more in-depth reports. https://app.grammarly.com/.
The reason I started using this is that my archaeology and ancient history tutors were telling me that my grammar and punctuation issues were detracting from my academic argument. So I give this a go, and you know what? I learnt so much about grammar and punctuation and my grade average shot up. The only real issues for me now is with Greek and Latin terms that it doesn't like.
By the way, my English was already good enough to hold a degree in the subject. But I think as writers we can be blind to the building blocks (and as I wrote this reply Grammarly told me I wrote 'in-depth' wrong!).
The reason I started using this is that my archaeology and ancient history tutors were telling me that my grammar and punctuation issues were detracting from my academic argument. So I give this a go, and you know what? I learnt so much about grammar and punctuation and my grade average shot up. The only real issues for me now is with Greek and Latin terms that it doesn't like.
By the way, my English was already good enough to hold a degree in the subject. But I think as writers we can be blind to the building blocks (and as I wrote this reply Grammarly told me I wrote 'in-depth' wrong!).
@CathleenT -- I think you're right.
@Bing Z -- Thanks!
@ Maggie Maxwell -- Nice, I'll try that out before trying a human editor again.
@gothicangel -- I'm trying Grammarly out now and it's catching a lot of things. I had to disable it here until I can figure out a way to prevent the red marks obscuring the text (I hope there's a way, maybe it's something wonky with firefox). Yeah, professors usually get tripped up by things regular people wouldn't notice. I took a writing course and my professor had a heart attack because I used periods instead of commas in my quotations before 'said'.
Example:
I wrote:
"Pull my finger." said Trudy.
When the correct way to write that is:
"Pull my finger," said Trudy.
My brain exploded all over my desk when I learned that. All my life I was taught that commas never ended a sentence. I'd been a fool for at least 25 years. In my defense, even with my glasses, I can barely notice the difference between a period and a comma. In most cases, it's a fraction of a millimeter, but I lost points on my papers until I got out of the habit of doing that.
@Bing Z -- Thanks!
@ Maggie Maxwell -- Nice, I'll try that out before trying a human editor again.
@gothicangel -- I'm trying Grammarly out now and it's catching a lot of things. I had to disable it here until I can figure out a way to prevent the red marks obscuring the text (I hope there's a way, maybe it's something wonky with firefox). Yeah, professors usually get tripped up by things regular people wouldn't notice. I took a writing course and my professor had a heart attack because I used periods instead of commas in my quotations before 'said'.
Example:
I wrote:
"Pull my finger." said Trudy.
When the correct way to write that is:
"Pull my finger," said Trudy.
My brain exploded all over my desk when I learned that. All my life I was taught that commas never ended a sentence. I'd been a fool for at least 25 years. In my defense, even with my glasses, I can barely notice the difference between a period and a comma. In most cases, it's a fraction of a millimeter, but I lost points on my papers until I got out of the habit of doing that.