HOW TO EDIT YOUR BOOK IN 5 EASY STEPS

Have you ever been overwhelmed about how to edit your new book? If you have, then you are in good company. Many writers feel the same too.

One of the things I’ve come to realise is that editing has changed from what it used to be. Although, it is a whole lot of work right from time, it has gone beyond the conventional ways since the advent of technology. In fact, it is an underestimation to say that it is just about looking through misspellings and wrong punctuation marks. It is way more than that, and it will intrigue you to know that editors have been a major part of the success stories of many Best-Sellers today.

Trust me, they know better!

Think about it. They are the ones who know when a comma is never enough to get you through, when “you” is not meant to be a letter in a formal conversation, and when your writing tone needs to be honed.

Ranging from manuscript editors to copy editors and proofreaders, the essence of editing your work cannot be over-emphasised. However, as needful as it is to have a professional editor do your work, it is important that also know how to write and edit your posts, articles and other pieces of work, as the writer that you are. The truth is, it does not behoove you to write or post an article full of errors just because you think editing is for the editors.

One of the things that make you an effective writer is your ability to create consumable contents for your audience – something they can relate to, understand and easily read without error. As a result, you must be able to write and self-edit your work (even before submitting to a professional editor).

5 Hacks to Edit your Book

There are many things to consider when you are trying to look through what you wrote. The funny thing is, you may not get to see the errors or make all the necessary corrections because it is what you have written. However, it is still important to note these hacks to help you get past poorly written pieces.

Have Corrected Tenses

Don’t communicate informality in formal settings, and be careful to have your words in their correct tenses, be it past, present or future. So, when you are done writing, go through your work and look out for tenses you have constructed wrongly. You may not want to have your audience read your information about something that will happen as an event which already occurred just because your tense is incorrect.

Cut Away Excesses and Undue Words

I can relate well to writing so many words where only a few is needed. May I tell you that writing too many words does not guarantee your effectiveness in writing? No, it does not. Rather, it confirms your chances of making errors while writing. Learn to stay on the useful resources for your audience. Remove unnecessary additions and make use of omissions where needed. For example, you could write: “The boy went to the market because he was hungry and he ate his favourite food”, instead of, “The boy went to the market due to the fact that he was hungry. When he got there, he was able to eat his favourite food”.

I am sure you can tell the difference between the two. Writing articles that are not so wordy is a major hack to editing your work.

Check your Punctuations

The place of correct punctuations cannot be taken lightly. Get to know the different existing punctuations and ensure you use them appropriately in your work. Know when comma becomes insufficient to convey your thoughts. Work with punctuations that will translate your message and tone correctly.

Correct your Misspellings

You might have spelt a number of words wrongly. Look out for those words and correct them. Be sure not to have “breath” where you meant “breathe”. And be certain not to have “the” as “d”. Do a deliberate check to make this happen.

Take a Break and Read Through Again

The fifth hack I would share with you is to take a break. Personally, I ensure that I am done preparing my content one or two days before I am ready to post publicly. I do this to take away the content from my eyes so that I can give it a new pair of eyes the next time I see it before posting.

It is a method that has always worked for me because by the time I give another look before posting, it is a probability that I would notice quite some things to amend. This amendment could be on the title, tone, punctuation or tenses used in my work. You could try doing it too.

Are you Ready?

Editing is quite interesting. It challenges you to read more and find out the reasons for some literature rules. Basically, it makes you enlightened about what you are writing on and how best to convey them to your audience without passing the wrong information.

Are you ready to learn how to create error-free and consumable contents for your audience or you are willing to let us edit for you? We are more than willing to help you out. Visit here.