At the top of the list of the most common book production mistakes is: 1. The book was not edited! You should ALWAYS hire a professional book editor to edit your book. Find someone who specializes in your genre. Don’t ask your child’s English teacher! An expert editor will comb through your manuscript and will let you know if you should hire her for content editing, copy editing or both. To learn the difference, click this link to go to my blog post that explains the distinction. 2. The book does not have a professional cover design. Your book deserves an eye-catching cover…
Better writing skills: My team editor Barbara McNichol is passionate about teaching self-publishers how to write like a pro. During the summer months of June, July and August, I’ll post a 3-part series on helpful writing tips by Barbara. Have you ever wondered about the distinction between “like” or “such as” in your writing? Here are two phrases to consider: . . . the answers that so-called geniuses like / such as Newton seem to embody. . . . centuries of innovations like / such as the airplane and the space shuttle have resulted. In these examples, “such as” is preferred over “like” because the word…
Smart self-publishers have their manuscripts edited and proofread by professionals. To meet this need, we offer an assortment of editorial services, from content editing to proofreading. Our award-winning team of editors and proofreaders specializes in a wide range of genres with a variety of skill sets in both fiction and non-fiction. It’s so important to find the right fit for each client, and we feel it is our responsibility to educate our clients about the different types of editing and proofreading services. As a visual person, I like to make analogies with visual images. I think about editing from the…
The first impression a business often makes with prospective clients or customers comes from the written word. Your company can lose credibility by having just one typo in the volumes of words it sends out. Here’s how to improve your proofreading skills so you can improve the quality of your written or printed communications. Therefore, to minimize mistakes, be sure to proofread everything that gets written in your office—and this includes email. Use a guide to help you methodically check for errors. Avoid proofing your own copy in the final stages because it’s easy to become too familiar with it. If…
My guest writer today is award-winning writer and editor, Barbara McNichol. As writers, we can get caught up in an idea or feel particularly attached to a word or phrase. Our writing can suffer as a result. When editing your own manuscript, dare to be brutally honest with yourself. To help you, here’s a list of tips and techniques for steering clear of common pitfalls and strengthening your manuscript along the way. An editor will ask these questions: Is every word, phrase, sentence, paragraph, section, and chapter necessary? Is the message clearly understood? Can your ideas be expressed more simply? Miracles do…