Guest Post:Editing

Today we have with us a guest post from a dear friend of mine.  She is a talented editor and author. I wanted to showcase her talent.

Guest Post

Editing . . . Do I Really Need It?

As writers and authors, we all know editing is important. A couple of people will say that it’s really not needed, but come on now, you know that’s not true. If you want your books to shine, getting it polished and properly edited is a must.

There are some of us who don’t need extensive editing in order to get our work to the best standard it can be, while others need a couple passes before our book is ready to be unleashed to the world outside. There’s nothing more exciting than letting your baby go, and watching it take flight.

There are quite a few different options in which to edit a book. Basic editing allows you to take care of those pesky grammatical, typographical, and punctuation errors. Capitalization, spelling, vague wording, and missing words are also fixed during this phase of editing. Editors also look for repetition and awkward sentence structures.

If a more extensive edit is needed, an editor will look for all of the above, as well as fix inconsistencies, look for clarity in writing, and pay close attention to tone, tenses, and generalization. This will allow the editor to make changes based on what he or she feels is a must while still maintaining the author’s tone/voice throughout the edit itself.

There is also the option of a more developmental edit. Here, the editor will make revisions as he/she sees fit. If something needs to be rewritten, the editor will do so, and make note of the change for you. The editor will also take a look at development of your character, story, plot, setting, and facts. The story’s pacing/flow is also scrutinized in order to make sure that action moves along, and doesn’t stall in certain places. Dialogue/proper word usage is also examined, and fixed accordingly.

We mustn’t forget about proofreading. This is definitely a must in order to ensure that nothing was left to chance with the edit itself. This is the final step before sending your book out for publishing.

There are times that with certain changes made, the story itself will change. Keep in mind that the changes an editor makes are just that – changes. An author doesn’t have to keep every change an editor suggests. If you feel that something suggested doesn’t mesh with the message you tried to convey, that’s fine. You don’t have to accept it. You can keep what you’ve written as is, and move on to the next portion of the edit itself.

Most of us assume that keeping most of the changes made by editor in your work is crucial. It’s not. View the changes made as a guideline, of sorts. Sometimes, an editor’s suggestions will allow you to take a look at what you’ve written, and view it in a different light. It’ll open up a slew of possibilities that you didn’t see before. Often-times, this will lead you to fix what you thought was wrong in the first place, and make it better than before.

Editing is needed in order to make your work better than it was before. Be it basic or extensive, it’ll definitely benefit you in the long run. Don’t disregard the option just because you might think you don’t need it. Take a leap of faith, and let a second set of eyes peruse your work before letting it loose in front of your intended audience. Sometimes, that extra step is all that’s needed in order to give your book that little polish and oomph so that it’ll shine in your reader’s eyes.

Bio:

S. H. Books Editing Services was established in March 2013.

Our goal is to provide you with quality editing, book formatting, and proofreading services.

Authors know that it’s imperative to have a clear, concise manuscript when it comes to submitting their work to a publishing company. Those pesky errors/typos are sometimes hard to miss. A fresh pair of eyes in catching what you didn’t see before allows you to mold your manuscript just the way you want it to be.

That’s what we’re here for. We’ll avidly work with you to get your manuscript to where it should be, polishing your book to the best of our ability as we go along.

Links:

Website:http://www.shbooks.org/editingservices
Blog:http://www.shbooks.org/esblog
Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/shbookseditingservices
Twitter:https://twitter.com/SHBooksEditing
Google +:https://plus.google.com/b/100015188036335706104/100015188036335706104
Email:contact@shbooks.org

Pen Names

 

How many of us as writers have pen names?  A fellow writer friend who has done rather well for herself with her ebooks has several, one for each series she writes. As I am starting to get some of my work out there I wonder about the pros and cons to having a different name. Researching this online I came across the basic good and bad points from other authors.

Pros

-If your name is hard to spell

-You are shy and it is a way to hide behind a new name

-You are trying a different genre that is outside of your comfort zone thus giving you freedom

-Privacy

-You can write about any topic

Cons

-No one will know it is you

-You can get lost in the shuffle between social medias of your pen name versus your real name

-Less credibility as an author

-Confusion between the pen name and your name for family and friends. Especially if you have more than one.

These seemed to be the main reasons to have or not have a pen name.  When I approached one of my writing groups about it one of them said it plainly.

“You are just starting out. No one knows you or your work yet.”

But now that I think on it that could be in the pro list. As I go about the edits and book covers I realized though once they are released I would either have to inform people it is me through the social platform I have in place or start from scratch. But in doing that I might lose the contacts I have made over the last two years.  I am truly not sure what I am going to do. The thought of a pen name excites me it’s just so cool in my mind. I have even played around with what names I would use if it ever came to that.

I will have to think hard on this for I am honestly not sure at the moment.

My Online Platform

Writer’s Digest is a magazine I inhale. About a year and a half ago I was reading this article where the writer in her following credits listed her twitter name. The article was on online platform and how one can use it to further one’s works. That one little name got me started on establishing my presence.

A lot of people have told me well I don’t have a book out we should wait. That is the opposite of what you should do. No matter what magazine you read that is on writing or webinar you have seen the topic of online platform is bound to be talked about.

This is a tool that indie writers use to promote their works. But it is not just for indie writers, traditional houses are now following suit.

When you are a new author you need all the help you can get in promoting your works. This is done in a variety of ways from Twitter, FB, Goodreads and other forms of publicity.

In March of 2011 I made the move to getting my name out there. What I had to my credit was a number of complete books, short stories and my soon to be 2011 NaNo book but nothing in print. But that was okay. You want to start ahead before you release a book. You want people to know who you are and what you are about.

Doing it when you have a book out and then shouting, “ Hey hey look at me! I wrote a book come check it out” will get you some looks but not as much if you had planned ahead and started working on your platform.

By doing this in advance I have gotten a lot of positive feed back. One major woohoo was a small indie publishing company wanting to include two of my short stories in their anthology e-book. Something I am still pretty proud of for now I can say I been published. From that I met my current editor who is a dream and worth her weight in gold. It continues to meeting a publisher who helped me with my query letter that got my MS to being read by a few publishing houses. This all done before I had one single book out in print or in e-book format.

Pretty cool right? By doing all this people are starting to know me and what kind of stuff I write about. When I have up and down days they are there to help me with encouragement, suggestions and tips to help me along the way. I have a circle of publishers, editors, authors and bloggers to turn to in time of need. To say they are incredible is a gross understatement. These are people who are well established but take the time to help me out. Why? Because they know me from the various mediums we belong too. People who are making it in the business that I am attempting to break into. They are there for me because they have come to known me. I am no longer the new kid on the block. That is something that I can not put a price on.

Because of the people I have met my book is getting a second look at by a publisher. Something I can not say would have happened if I had done this alone. It would be a lonely walk if I had waited until my first book came out whether it was self publish or in print.  If the publisher decides to publish my book it would partly due to the people I have met through my online platform. And that would be freaken amazing.  Over the next few weeks I will dedicate one post a week to the various social medias I use in hopes of passing along to others what I have learned over the last year and a half.