Category: Editing & Revising

How I Became an Editor (and What I’ve Learned)

How I Became an Editor (and What I’ve Learned)

As I open my freelance editing services for the year, I wanted to talk a bit about how that branch of my business got started, some of the things I’ve learned along the way, and my values as an editor.

Over the years, I’ve had people ask me about how I got started because they’re interested in starting freelance editing businesses of their own, so I thought it would be helpful to put all of that information together in one place and touch on some details I haven’t always brought up in those discussions.

I’ve also talked to authors who don’t have much experience in finding editors who are a good fit for their work (and I’ve been that author, myself), and I hope that this post gives insight into what to look for (and what to avoid).

So without further ado, let’s get into it.

Reading with an Editor’s Eye

I’ve been asked whether Continue reading “How I Became an Editor (and What I’ve Learned)”

Crafting Emotional Resonance – Example Critique

In my series on crafting your stories to resonate with your readers’ emotions, I asked for excerpt submissions that I could take and apply those concepts to in order to provide an example of what I’ve been talking about. So today I’ll be showing you a piece of Grace A. Johnson‘s writing which she submitted, along with my commentary!

In case you missed it:

Crafting Emotional Resonance: Part 1 – Character-Driven Description

Crafting Emotional Resonance: Part 2 – Character Reactions

Crafting Emotional Resonance: Part 3 – Repressed Emotion

Crafting Emotional Resonance: Part 4 – Precise Prose

Critique Structure

I’ve never done a critique for a blog post before, so you’ll have to bear with me as I develop a layout for it.

First, I want to lay out Continue reading “Crafting Emotional Resonance – Example Critique”

Alpha-Readers vs. Beta-Readers

Alpha-Readers vs. Beta-Readers

A question that comes up a lot in the writing groups I’m part of is the question of what alpha-readers and beta-readers do. What’s the difference? What is the purpose of each? Today, I wanted to tackle those questions and help you understand how best to work with each group. Continue reading “Alpha-Readers vs. Beta-Readers”

Why to Invest in Copy-Edits

Why to Invest in Copy-Edits

This month I’m writing about why indie authors should invest in edits. I started out talking about developmental edits, then I discussed line edits, and this week I’m wrapping up with copy-edits.

Copy-edits focus on a story’s grammatical issues, and I believe every indie author should get a good copy-editor. I could give you a long list of indie books that were excellent in content, but didn’t Continue reading “Why to Invest in Copy-Edits”

Why to Invest in Line Edits

Why to Invest in Line Edits

Welcome back to this three-part series on investing in novel edits! Last week we talked about what developmental editing is and why it’s important, and this week we get to talk about my favorite type of edits: line edits.

Line edits are edits that more-or-less focus on the sentence-level. These are edits that will Continue reading “Why to Invest in Line Edits”