Editing

Yes, your book needs editing.

Sorry, but it’s true. Every author needs their work edited.

You can’t do it yourself due to the strange ways the human brain works. We read what we expect to see, not always what is actually written. The more familiar we are with the words on the page, the worse it gets. An editor has a fresh eye and no expectations.

Microsoft Word and other such products have spelling and grammar checkers. (We also like Grammarly.) But they don’t catch everything.

Here are some examples of errors that these products will not find.

  • The author copied large sections form Wikipedia.
    “Form” is spelled correctly, but you meant to write “from.”
  • The author was invited to dinner with president Obama.
    “President” should be capitalized when it precedes a proper name as part of a title.
  • The author went to the bank first thing on Monday.
    The spelling is good. The grammar is correct.
    However, your editor noticed that, given the actual dates you’ve used in the story so far, the Monday in question was a bank holiday.

That’s why it’s worth paying for an editor.

We can connect you with a professional editor.
By “professional” we mean, an editor who has a certificate in copy-editing from a reputable academic institution.

If you engage us for other services, we’re happy to work with any editor you choose. You don’t have to use one of ours. However, we will ask if your editor knows what a “style sheet” is, which edition of  Chicago Manual of Style they use, and if they know how to create a custom dictionary in Word.
(Did you notice that Oxford comma?)

Contact us to get a quote for editing.