Today’s post is by publishing industry expert, Cheri Breeding.
Your book published. Your family and friends have bought it. You’re excited…until they call you to tell you there were so many grammatical errors in the book that it was difficult to finish reading. “Oh no, I should have paid for copyediting”. Now you run the risk of “looking” unprofessional in the author community.
Too often authors are faced with the decision to either save their pennies or invest in editing services. They decide to bypass the editing. Fast forward to publication and many authors wish they would have made the extra investment. Even if you have gone through your manuscript with a fine tooth comb and had friends or family look it over, you’re almost guaranteed to find mistakes at publication. As a matter of fact, when you pay for professional copyediting services, the editor normally still has a 5% margin for error. With that margin of error from fresh and professionally trained eyes, imagine the level of error from amateur and familiar eyes.
When asked what they would have done differently when self-publishing their book, most authors agree they would have invested more money into professional copyediting and customizing their book cover.
So, I’m sold on the need for copyediting service, what do I need to know about working with an editor? Here are a few tips/things to keep in mind when you hire an editor:
- Proofread and spell-check your work before sending it to an editor.
- Remember that Editors are human and many work with about a 5% margin of error.
- There are different levels of editing intensity: basic, moderate, and extensive.
- Basic copyediting typically catches about 70% of errors in a manuscript.
- As a self-publishing author, don’t focus on what the editor didn’t find, but rather what WAS found.
- Review your manuscript again after you receive it from the editor to check for errors they may have missed.
If you want to be a successful author, it is important that you take the publishing process very seriously. That includes investing extra money into creating a polished product.
 |
ABOUT CHERI BREEDING: Since 2005 Cheri Breeding has been working as the Director of Production for Outskirts Press. In that time, she has been an instrumental component of every aspect of the Production Department, performing the roles of an Author Representative, Book Designer, Customer Service Representative, Title Production Supervisor, Production Manager and, Director of Production. She brings all that experience and knowledge, along with an unparalleled customer-service focus, to help self-publishing authors reach high-quality book publication more efficiently, professionally, and affordably. |
DISCUSSION: Did you have a professional edit your book? If not, do you wish you did?
Self Publishing Advisor 
It seems books published in the last few years have more copy-writing errors like wrong punctuation, miss-placed words, miss-spelled words, completely used words, transposed words, sentences out of place, etc. Do professional editors just rely on spell check now days?
Maybe I should start a re-editing business for future editions…
Hi, Rick:
That’s a great idea about starting your own business!
As far as the books published with errors, etc., it MAY be possible that they used an editor for their book, but I seriously doubt it. Many authors think that letting a friend or family member read over their work is sufficient, but unless they are a professional copywriter, that’s just not good enough. Food for thought, though…