Our Top 10 Insights into Book Editing

For indie authors, editing is one of the cornerstones of successful publishing and so we’ve put together this blog featuring the top ten things we think you should know about book editing.

1. Editing is Important

Although a beautifully designed front cover, top-tier marketing and a flawlessly produced book will help create a product that has the potential to sell well, book editing is just as fundamental to ensure your manuscript is well-crafted and that the content’s grammatical and structural integrity are of high quality. Editing ensures that the manuscript is free of grammatical mistakes, punctuation and spelling errors, inconsistencies in detail, style and tone, and any confusing or ‘clunky’ content.

These small tweaks go a long way in improving the readability of a book and help to convey your intended message. It may sound obvious, but it is so important and books that contain errors or inconsistencies can deter a reader. A good editor will seek to enhance your writing, never change it completely. Having someone who is completely removed from the author (who can be over-familiar with the manuscript) will resolve any queries about the clarity and comprehension of the writing.

2. Understand the Different levels of Book Editing 

Book editing isn’t a catch-all activity. No one can take a book from patchy to perfect in just one pass. Make sure you understand the different types and styles of edit, so that you can understand what is most appropriate for your manuscript.

• Developmental/structural editing – The shaping stage. Also known as an opinionated edit. Here, plot, characterisation and pacing decisions are made. Put simply, this is an overview of the book’s strengths and weaknesses. This edit will assist with laying the foundations and building the structure of the manuscript.
• Copy edit – The corrective stage. Where inconsistent punctuation, spelling and grammar are looked at and where book editors check for logic. Flaws are addressed on a technical level, such as tidying variable styles in language and formatting.
• Proof read – The quality-control stage. Any final errors and layout inaccuracies are flagged. Errors could have been introduced in previous rounds of editing or during typesetting (the layup) stage, so the proof read is considered the last line of defence. It is important to have a proof read to be able to identify these final imperfections before the book is sent to print. Common formatting errors that can be caught here include inconsistency in headings, paragraph styles, footnotes, page numbers, indents, as well as in the text itself.

3. Authors Can Be Too Close to Their Own Work

As a writer, you will have put in hours of effort and thought to your book. Concept planning, character development, writing and redrafting doesn’t happen overnight. By the time you might be considering having a professional book edit, you will undeniably know your manuscript inside and out. However, this over-familiarisation with your own writing can lead to an inability to see your own errors. You cannot catch mistakes in the text because you are reading what you think it says, rather than what it actually says. Outsourcing to a trained book editor will allow a fresh pair of eyes to comb through the manuscript and pick up on errors that have been unintentionally overlooked.

4. Choosing the Right Edit

When it comes to self-publishing, where the final editorial decision rests in your hands as the author, it’s important to consider which editorial service will suit your book’s needs best. If you’re questioning which of the edits mentioned above is right for your manuscript, here are a few pointers.

With a developmental/structural edit, the editor will deliver a broad edit at a macro level, as described earlier. This might best suit authors who will benefit from in-depth, personalised and independent feedback on the ‘big-picture’ aspects of their book.

If you are happy with the clarity and integrity of your pace, characterisation, plot and audience, your best bet is a copy edit. This will ensure the manuscript goes into production with as few errors in your text as possible, minimising the chance of any being left by the time the book is printed. A thorough copy edit can completely transform the readability of a manuscript.

In an ideal world, your book would undergo both a copy edit and a proofread, the final check for errors before printing. However, if you are self-publishing and your budget only allows for one of these services, I would urge you to prioritise the copy edit. This is because proofreading is carried out after typesetting (layup) and making changes at this stage can be more time-consuming.

It may be the case that a proof read is more suitable for you. It may be due to budget restrictions, it might be because you have had the manuscript checked elsewhere already, or you are confident your own checking has been thorough. Similarly, children’s picture books often suit a proof read better due to how the images can interact with the text.

Find out more about what you need to know when researching book editing services here.

5. What to Expect from a Book Edit

• Mark up – whether you have opted for a developmental/structural edit, a copy edit, or a proof read, expect to see your manuscript marked up with editing ‘symbols’ or queries upon its return to you. With digital copy edits, this mark-up will be done via the Track Changes tool, alongside any questions or comments in the ‘comment’ tool. Many editors will leave lengthier queries on a separate document with space for the author’s response. On paper edits, mark up is done using a red pen and accompanying queries too.
• Queries – usually, editors will be reluctant to change the content of your writing, which is why they leave any specific queries for the author’s attention. Typically, they would flag where a sentence needs to be restructured for improved flow or clarity, an unconventional word choice has been used, or if there is inconsistency in content matter that has been spotted.
• Empathy – book editors acknowledge the labour of love that has ultimately crafted and shaped your book; they have your book’s best interest in mind. It’s important to feel that they are on your team! In the end, you should feel that no matter which edit your document has undergone, it has resulted in a book with recognisable interior improvement to that of the original text.

6. Common Mistakes Writers Make with Book Editing

Besides the usual suspects (errors in spelling, punctuation and grammar), there are certain patterns in what we see authors consistently getting wrong:

• Dialogue structure
• Semi-colon usage
• Tense hopping
• Excessive or incorrect dialogue tagging
• Inconsistency in style (date/time/capitalisation)

These common errors have been looked at in more depth in this blog

7. Preparing your Manuscript for a Book Edit

• Ensure your manuscript is as ‘clean’ as possible before sending it to your book editor. Have a final read-through and undertake a check for any potentially (or accidental) offensive or libellous content.
• Convert the text into a Microsoft Word document if working in an alternative program. Most copy edits and developmental edits are completed digitally, and this is what most publishing houses will use; if this differs, they will usually let you know prior to submission.
• Back up. Always have a safely stored digital (and hard, if you like) copy of your manuscript. Although editors will likely save the original, unmarked-up version, it is a good idea that you have one too.

8. Timescales for Book Editing

Several factors determine the turnaround of your manuscript: word count, the complexity of the script, level of editing (developmental, copy edit, proofread), editor capacity and scheduling. For example, a proof read for a 50,000-word non-fiction manual will be quicker than the copy edit of a complex 120,000-word novel that requires a lot of markup and constructive intervention. Although you might see some generic word-per-hour timescales thrown around, timescale is often dependent on your publisher/editor.

9. Cost of Book Editing

If opting to self-publish, it is important to consider cost and budget. Some editors might have a list of rates based on difficulty and word count, much like how editing timescales might be calculated. Some companies prefer to charge by the word, some by the page and others prefer a flat fee. Of course, the cost will depend on which type of edit you opt to be undertaken on your book, due to differing levels of editorial intervention, but always get a cost upfront before committing to yourself.

10. How Troubador Can Help

If you choose to self-publish with Troubador, we offer a range of editorial services to help perfect your book. We have a team of in-house and professional freelance editors working on varied manuscripts daily. Details on the different editorial services offered by Troubador are detailed here. To submit your manuscript, visit our website. If you are interested in the ‘big-picture’ structural edit mentioned above, we offer an opinionated edit service through our sister company Indie-Go.