As any good book writing coach will tell you, after writing a book the next hardest thing to do is find a good editor. It is never a matter of sending your manuscript to several different publishers and hoping one of them will contract you. The same is true for online services. You can self publish a book, but without an experienced editor it probably will not get a lot of attention.
In short your editor will make your manuscript the best it can be and error free. This goes way beyond simple spelling and grammar checks. They also fact check all cited references. They go over the complete layout ensuring the chapters and headers are right. Most importantly, they often offer great ideas. Having read so many books they often have many ideas that can help make the manuscript a number one best seller.
Begin by deciding what type of book editing services you really need. Most manuscripts will need developmental type editing. Copy editing is going through the manuscript and trying to improve on it. The hard editing is going through it with a fine eye looking for any misspelled words or other out of place mistakes that will make it seem awkward in print form.
Check out their credentials. This is your work of art you are going to be handing to someone, never be afraid to ask as many questions as you need to be comfortable. Make sure they have a sound knowledge of what they are doing and understand the genre you are trying to break into. This knowledge and experience can be the difference between success and failing.
Most editors like to brag of their success stories. There is no real shame in this and should be expected. Look at any website they have to see a list of their successful publications. Keep this in mind though, it is very likely that 80 percent of these books are self published. See how many of their titles were actually published by traditional clearing houses.
Many good editors ask for a testimonial from the people they do work for. Just as you would check on anyone else you employed, take time to check up on them and always contact one or two to get some feedback. Search web-sites for reviews on them, and what people thought of the any books that have not been self published.
Find out if they have actually written any books themselves. This goes a long way to showing not only that they can point out issues, but have the knowledge to fix them as well. You will be surprised how many write on the side under various pseudonyms.
This will be one of the crucial decisions you will need to make. Finding a positive book writing coach and a good editor can affect any career in a big way. Be very patient and always take time to do it correctly. In 10 years you may also be sharing your success stories with other beginning writers.
In short your editor will make your manuscript the best it can be and error free. This goes way beyond simple spelling and grammar checks. They also fact check all cited references. They go over the complete layout ensuring the chapters and headers are right. Most importantly, they often offer great ideas. Having read so many books they often have many ideas that can help make the manuscript a number one best seller.
Begin by deciding what type of book editing services you really need. Most manuscripts will need developmental type editing. Copy editing is going through the manuscript and trying to improve on it. The hard editing is going through it with a fine eye looking for any misspelled words or other out of place mistakes that will make it seem awkward in print form.
Check out their credentials. This is your work of art you are going to be handing to someone, never be afraid to ask as many questions as you need to be comfortable. Make sure they have a sound knowledge of what they are doing and understand the genre you are trying to break into. This knowledge and experience can be the difference between success and failing.
Most editors like to brag of their success stories. There is no real shame in this and should be expected. Look at any website they have to see a list of their successful publications. Keep this in mind though, it is very likely that 80 percent of these books are self published. See how many of their titles were actually published by traditional clearing houses.
Many good editors ask for a testimonial from the people they do work for. Just as you would check on anyone else you employed, take time to check up on them and always contact one or two to get some feedback. Search web-sites for reviews on them, and what people thought of the any books that have not been self published.
Find out if they have actually written any books themselves. This goes a long way to showing not only that they can point out issues, but have the knowledge to fix them as well. You will be surprised how many write on the side under various pseudonyms.
This will be one of the crucial decisions you will need to make. Finding a positive book writing coach and a good editor can affect any career in a big way. Be very patient and always take time to do it correctly. In 10 years you may also be sharing your success stories with other beginning writers.
About the Author:
You can now appoint a book writing coach through www.carmenreneeberry.com. To get further info, visit our recommended website at http://www.carmenreneeberry.com.
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