SPA Girls Podcast – EP155 – Self Editing for Authors

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

This week we talk about self editing, and how to get your manuscript to the highest possible standard before sending it to your professional editor.

Everyone will have a different style, focus and ideas on the best way to do self editing, and it’s the kind of thing that’s different for different people. No one does it the same, and that’s okay.

But as always, we give a load of tips and advice on how we do it, what works and what doesn’t.

Find your own style
Don’t get stuck self-editing first chapter over and over – finish your book first.

1) Read your work aloud, or use a text to speech programme on your computer. You’ll pick up awkward phrases and sentences.

2) Use a grammar programme such as Grammarly, ProWriting Aid or AutoCrit

3) Put your manuscript into a programme that creates a word cloud to see your most used words.

4) If you know you overuse certain words or phrases do a “find” search for that particular word, to assess it through the document.

5) Read your book in a different format. If you’ve been working on it in word or scrivener, consider printing it off, or putting it onto your kindle to read in a different format. You’ll be amazed how much more you pick up.

6) Read difficult pages backwards. By reading backwards, you pick up the words by themselves, and make sure they’re spelled correctly, rather than relying on your brain to skim over the words and correct them in your head instead of on paper.

7) Show others – you can swap with friends or other authors or find some BETA readers (they will pick up some stuff, but they won’t be as good as a professional editor.)