A great many novelists tend to be turned off by the idea of hiring someone proficient at book editing mainly because of the costs. They believe that they could perform the editing themselves for free, or ask family and pals for their feedback in exchange for a drink down the pub. While authors should really edit their own manuscript and check with others for suggestions, it simply isn't good enough if you're seriously interested in refining your manuscript; writers are too close to their work, and friends and family won't always own the abilities needed to pull their manuscript apart and pull it all back together again. Every recognised author will confirm that the price of an editor shouldn't actually be perceived as a 'cost', as not employing one may cost you if you're considering getting published. No literary agent or printing house will be happy with a manuscript that is not up to scratch, and for a writer to conform to the publishing world's expectations and quality of writing, you'll need an expert that specialises in proofreading that knows what's needed.

So just what do editors really do for your book? What would you expect for your money? Well, there are various services offered, and a lot of firms provide a great deal of proofreading and editing deals. If you just want to find someone to correct your spelling errors and typos, and tidy up your grammar, a simple proofreading service could be good enough for you. If, however, you expect more comprehensive editing, the price will be bigger but the advice will be invaluable. Deeper editing would include correcting errors (like with the proofreading), but it will also delve further into your work, looking at all kinds of things from the plot to the believability of your characters. This sort of editor examines the whole picture of your novel - the organisation, how well it flows, the pace of the scenes, just about any plot gaps that could have been missed - and sees how these areas of your book might be enhanced. They'll even examine the finer specifics of the manuscript, like characterisation, interaction between characters, detailed description, and anything else that will require more effort. They'll produce notes in the edge, querying points that don't add up or asking about loose ends that ought to be solved. They'll discuss which scenes are difficult to imagine or where the conversation doesn't seem to be accurate. In general, they'll dissect your manuscript apart - of course in the most beneficial approach.

If money is a huge concern, a lot of editors will let you distribute the price of editing, for instance sending and paying off one chapter of a book each time. As soon as you acquire the advice on your initial few parts, it's going to no doubt become apparent just how much an editor can help you to make positive changes to manuscript.

If you discover a reliable editor that you work with, it's well worth employing them again down the road. You already know their rates and be sure of their expertise, but they will also get accustomed to your style of writing after a while. Employing the same proofreader or editor is especially useful if you're crafting a series; they'll not merely have the ability to show plot holes and inconsistencies within that specific book, however if they've examined the preceding novels, they'll also be able to edit it with the overall series under consideration. Simply put, an outstanding editor is critical.

If perhaps you've put together a manuscript - or any type of book - and therefore are now wanting to know just how to go about having it published, stop! Did you even re-read your work, fixing mistakes and working on any weak sections in the wording? Your reply to this is most likely "for sure". But have you gone through it multiple times? Again, you'll probably say "for sure". But have you used a book editor to look at your book with a fine-toothed comb? The answer to this question for most writers is a no. If you are one of those authors and have at this point had no luck with your manuscript, it might be where you're making a mistake.

The simple truth is, you may well be the number one author on earth, but since you composed the draft, you are not really able to pick up on all of the mistakes within the text. You shouldn't simply count on software either; it may pick up on spelling slip-ups, however it doesn't know when you've left out a word, or put ideas in the wrong order, or accidentally deleted an entire sentence. The really difficult truth that many authors find hard to face is that they also can't depend on their own eyes to pick out these fundamental blunders: as a book writer, you're just too involved in your work to stand back and analyse it objectively. You can easily read a phrase through without noting that misplaced word, since your mind knows what has to be there and fills in the blanks for you. It's quite frustrating, yet it happens.

Then there's the big, horrendous, novel-destroying blunders that you may not detect - or not prefer to acknowledge you've detected: the yawning plot holes, the monotonous dialogue, the indisputable fact that your villain is utterly ill-matched for most of chapter five without having any explanation. Getting another person to go through your manuscript and make a note of anything they don't understand - or anything they think doesn't make sense - will likely be valuable for you.

Many writers go with friends and relations to 'proofread' their manuscript, but what normally happens is usually that the relative or friend comes back to the writer gushing about how exceptional the manuscript is, while not dealing with any of the problems in the book or providing any type of useful criticism. This could be simply because they don't want to upset you, but more often than not it's mainly because they don't really know exactly what they're in the hunt for - if they have never experienced editing previously, how can they know what direction to go?

The best way to solve this is to use an experienced proofreader to check your work for you - of course, they will cost money, however that investment won't be going to waste. The truth is, it might be the best money you spend on your novel, including everything else you invest in your promotional plan. A specialist should be able to check work without bias, be honest in their suggestions, and - above all - they'll know what is expected of drafts in the publishing business. They'll are aware of the grammar conventions you ought to be sticking with, they will have an understanding of plot as well as structure work, and they'll be able to recommend where you can improve that you may never have thought of on your own.

Shop on the web for skilled proofreaders and editors - many offer various solutions for different levels of editing, and you're likely to find one that is affordable.

Although completing the draft of your manuscript will be greatly gratifying, it's actually not the end. When your draft is done, the novel editing must begin - and book editing will be amongst the most significant elements of creating the finished work. We've most likely all read a badly edited book at one time or another and the experience of reading it will probably have been diminished because of this.

On the other hand, a book that has been edited well will probably be significantly better to read; it'll flow much better, the story or subject is likely to make sense and the experience is going to be a great deal more positive. So naturally manuscript editing is important. It really is something that all authors need to learn to do, but it may also be done by a professional novel editor, who will be able to cast their expert eye over the text and find aspects which could otherwise have gone unnoticed.

Finding Your Mistakes
Just one of the main reasons book editing is so essential is the fact that it is a great chance to find any mistakes in the text. As novelists, most of us get some things wrong, and when you're we're producing a very long book - whether it's non-fiction or fiction - it's pretty much guaranteed that there'll be at least a couple of errors in there, no matter the length of time we might have put in going through it ourselves. This is why skilled manuscript editing can be so valuable.

Not surprisingly, if you are intending to self-publish a book, it is imperative that you are sure there are no errors in it. That does not just involve looking at the punctuation, grammar and spelling, but additionally verifying that essential details are correct, that the right vocabulary is used when necessary, and also that there's consistency throughout the book.

Getting Ready For Publication
Another of the reasons manuscript editing can be so essential is that it is actually a significant aspect of getting a novel ready for publication. Of course, when you go down the conventional publishing path, publishers will probably have their own editors, however you may need to perform some initial manuscript editing to start with in order to get your book accepted for publication.

The reasons for this are understandable: if your manuscript is challenging to read as a result of inadequate editing or an inconsistency in your style, there will be much less chance of your pursuit of publication succeeding. Novel publishers receive thousands of manuscripts to consider, so yours needs to be in the best shape it can be before you submit it.

Improve Where You Can
Novel editing is not only about getting the book ready for publishing, however. Right at the very heart of editing should be the intention to enhance the manuscript. Nobody's very first draft is their best, and there's always the opportunity to improve. Whether you're doing the editing all by yourself or whether you have used the services of an expert editor, the aim should be simple: making it better.

We all would like to be the best authors we can possibly be, and it's most unlikely we're going to achieve that with our first draft. Books demand attention and time, and book editing will be a very important component of assisting you to realise your ultimate objective.