FOR EDITORS, PROOFREADERS AND WRITERS

If you're unsure about why proofreading, copyediting, line editing and structural editing are different, and how you might allocate your self-publishing budget, here's some guidance ...

Readers who've enjoyed your book are more likely to leave positive reviews and come back for more.

Readers who've been frustrated with aspects of your book are more likely to leave negative reviews and reject further opportunities to engage.

One way of thinking about these groups of readers is in terms of zones. The happy readers are in the green zone, the grumpy ones in the red.

Thinking in terms of these zones can help writers to decide which editorial services to commission, when and why.

Readers have different expectations and levels of knowledge. If there are problems with the text, some won't realize. Or they will realize but won’t care. Others will care very much and be frustrated by the lack of polish.

​Copyright Louise Harnby 2017

​It's about putting your readers front of mind because they're your fans, the people who'll rave about you and tell everyone to buy your book. Fans hang out in the green zone.

​Let’s assume for simplicity that the readership is split evenly between those who don’t know or care that there are problems in the book, and those who do know and do care. Who’d want to alienate 50% of their readership?

If you’re self-publishing, you’ll want to stay out of the red zone. That means getting your book in the best shape you can before you publish.

What you need to do to stay out of the red zone will depend on whether you’re a mature, developing or emerging writer and the degree to which you've mastered your self-editing skills.

• It may be that you’re a superb world-builder but that structure and pace are your sticking points. In that case, you’ll need help from a substantive or developmental editor.
• Or you might have honed these aspects but your description tends towards repetition and wordiness. In that case, a line editor will help you make the text leaner and clearer.
• Then there are the technical elements of spelling, punctuation and grammar correction and consistency. If these are non-standard, a copyeditor will be able to knock the text into shape.
• Finally, you might decide you want a pre-publication proofread – a final quality-control check prior to publishing.

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These are the stages, broadly speaking, that the mainstream publishing industry takes its books through to keep its authors in the green zone. In reality, the production process varies from press to press, but it gives you an idea of the traditional approach.

It’s not just publishing-house processes that vary. The terminology that independent editors use to define their levels of service provision differs widely too.

​For example, what I call stylistic line editing might be called something else by others. It’s therefore advisable to discuss what you want and what the editor can offer before the editing starts.
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Below is a broad guide on the different stages of professional editing and what they include. As you can see, I’ve allowed for a fair degree of overlap.

Stage 1: substantive (aka structural, content or developmental) editing

• Structure: chapters and scenes help readers' understanding
• Relevance to intended audience
• Completeness: no missing core information
• Plot: engaging, makes sense
• Characters: authentic and engaging
• ​Point of view: consistent, unambiguous and navigable
• Pace: comfortable reading experience
• ​Logical and coherent narrative flow: drives the novel forwards​

Stage 2: Line editing

• Appropriate paragraph and section breaks
• Appropriate grammar and syntax
• Authentic phrasing
• Avoiding repetition of words or phrases
• Clarity of meaning
• Clear dialogue expression (incl. tagging)
• Conciseness
• Consistency in minor plot, timeline or character details
• Correct word choice
• Elegant sentence flow
• Flagging similarities in names or events
• Readability​

Stage 3: Copyediting

• Appropriate paragraph and section breaks
• Avoiding repetition of words or phrases
• Clarity of meaning
• Consistency in minor plot, timeline or character details
• Correct word choice
• Correctly punctuated dialogue
• Flagging similarities in names or events
• Standard and consistent spelling and punctuation
• Standard grammar and syntax
• Standard paragraph indentation​

Stage 4: Proofreading

• Correct word choice
• Correctly punctuated dialogue
• Consistency in design of text and image elements
• Properly formatted paragraph and section breaks
• Removal of extraneous letter and line spaces
• Stacked hyphens highlighted
• Standard and consistent spelling and punctuation
• Standard grammar and syntax
• Standard paragraph indentation​
• Widows, orphans and short lines flagged up

Gandalf isn’t an editor or a proofreader; he’s a wizard! If he did my job, he’d be able to carry out all of the editorial stages above and find every single niggle, error and inconsistency in just one pass.

That’s because he has magical powers – unlike publishers and independent editors!

In the real world, though, you’ll have a budget, and some of you will have to make difficult decisions about which services to commission and which to omit (or how you're going to save up for everything your book needs).

It’s not for me to tell you here where to invest your budget – universally applicable advice is impossible given the number of factors to consider. What I can tell you is that I've never been able to undertake a final proofread for a book that hasn’t been copyedited first.

Proofreading is the stage where 90% of the sentence- and word-level problems (and 100% of the big-picture work) should have been fixed – it’s a final level of quality control. Furthermore, I've never finished a copyedit and told the author, 'That's it. It's perfect!'

In a nutshell, good to go is unlikely to be where you’re at if you hire an editorial professional for just one pass. Good enough will have to suffice.

I'm not being grouchy, just honest about what's possible. I'm a genuine advocate of the independent author's right to write and publish. I think it's brilliant that anyone can put their storytelling out there. My young child was publishing their own stories on WattPad before they were celebrating a birthday with double digits! How marvellous is that?

As long as you understand what's achievable, that's fine with me.

Writers’ workshops and groups
These afford the self-publisher a safe and supportive space within which to work and learn from fellow writers and instructors. Groups like these are not just useful in terms of developing skills related to either the macro elements of writing (book-level issues) or the micro elements (sentence- and word-level problems); you’ll also be able to connect with others who are taking the same path as you, and join them in seeking advice on how to structure the journey of writing, drafting, putting aside, rereading and redrafting.

Online self-publishing forums and blogs
These offer a wealth of guidance on commissioning third-party assistance – the whats, hows and whys.

Critique or manuscript evaluation
You might invest in a critique or manuscript evaluation before you commission any third-party editing. This is a niche service provided by specialist editors and writing coaches. A critique can help you to understand where your strengths and weaknesses lie so that you can make an informed decision about how best to invest the rest of your book budget.

Good-fit professional support
Once you’ve decided which services you want to commission, get quotations from several editors or proofreaders . Find the professional who’s a good fit for you, even if it means waiting for them. It may be that your preferred person is booked up for a few months. It can feel frustrating to have to wait, but bear this in mind – if they’re in demand, perhaps they’re worth your patience.

Mimic the mainstream publishing industry
Consider saving up so that you can mimic the mainstream publishing industry and commission multiple rounds of editing. Think of it as an investment rather than a cost ... and of all those raving fans.

Then enjoy the green zone!

Louise Harnby is a line editor, copyeditor and proofreader who specializes in working with crime, mystery, suspense and thriller writers.

She is an Advanced Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) and co-hosts The Editing Podcast.

• Get in touch: Louise Harnby | Crime Fiction & Thriller Editor
• Connect: X @LouiseHarnby, Facebook and LinkedIn
• Learn: Books and courses
• Discover: Resources for authors and editors

Can you proofread your own book? Here are some quick tips on formatting your Word file ... final tidy-ups to get your file in shape, and that accord with mainstream publishing standards. ​

Truly, nothing beats a second pair of eyes on a piece of text, short or long. I know this all too well because I’m a professional proofreader and copyeditor, but I also write – books (yup, I've self-published four times), guides, booklets and blog posts.

​And I miss stuff – not because I have a problem with grammar, punctuation or spelling, but because I’m too close to the text. I see my own writing in terms of the ideas I want to convey rather than the text in front of my eyes.

That’s why I hire fellow proofreaders and editors to help make my written materials the best they can be. I don't expect those people to guarantee perfection but I do expect to them to ramp up the quality (and they've never failed me).

Here’s another thing I know – the better shape the file's in, the better the price. Editors and proofreaders are professionals and, though we love what we do, we have bills and mortgages too. So, very broadly speaking, the more intervention needed, the higher the fee.

There are things every writer can do to tidy up a piece of text by themselves, though. I’ve compiled them in one handy resource.

The steps in this toolkit won’t replace a rigorous professional developmental edit, line edit/copyedit and final prepublication proofread, but they will help rid your file of some of the nasties!

Here’s what the booklet shows you how to do:

• Remove double spaces
• Remove all rogue spaces at the beginning and end of paragraphs
• Remove double line returns
• Change hyphens used as parentheses to dashes
• Change tabbed paragraph indents to proper line indents (using Word’s ‘Styles’)
• Change a hyphen in a number span
• Find lower-case letters at the beginning of paragraphs
• Find a paragraph that ends with no punctuation
• Find a full point followed by a lower-case letter
• ​Change date styles with wildcard searches
• Run a confusables macro
• Remove unnecessary spaces before or after punctuation

Just click on the image below to get your FREE copy!

Hope it helps! And come back soon for more handy tips and advice designed especially for beginner writers.

Louise Harnby is a line editor, copyeditor and proofreader who specializes in working with crime, mystery, suspense and thriller writers.
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She is an Advanced Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) and co-hosts The Editing Podcast.

• Get in touch: Louise Harnby | Crime Fiction & Thriller Editor
• Connect: X @LouiseHarnby, Facebook and LinkedIn
• Learn: Books and courses
• Discover: Resources for authors and editors

This article is for editorial folk who currently choose to operate their businesses in isolation. There's nothing wrong with that at all if that's your bag, but I hope this will show you just some of the benefits of networking.

In ‘The rates debate’ and 'The highs and lows of editorial fees', I argued that colleagues shouldn’t be the primary determiners of the price we set or accept for editorial work.

They are, however, our go-tos for much else, and the professional editor and proofreader would be bonkers not to take the opportunity to exploit the myriad learning opportunities on offer from those with different skills, levels of experience, subject specialisms and environments!

Rather than just writing a list, I thought it might be more interesting to give you a few examples of how some of my colleagues have helped me to develop my editorial business. The list isn’t exhaustive – it would be a book if it was – but it should give you a flavour of what’s on offer.

I like to consider myself pretty strong on the editorial tech-tool front. And yet there was a time when I’d keep forgetting to switch Track Changes back on after I’d toggled it off. I needed a solution – some sort of visual or audio reminder.

A colleague alerted me that Paul Beverley had already tackled the problem with a macro: if you fancy trying it for yourself, you can read about how it works and how to install it at ‘How to never forget you’ve switched off Track Changes!’.

Some years ago, I'd been thinking about how I could better present my services so that they reflected the reality of what I spend most of my time doing – editing for indie authors.

Again, it was my professional network that came to the rescue.
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• Conversations with two editors friends helped me to unpick my own services and gently redefine them while staying true to my brand.
• Then another colleague hooked me up with marketing masters Andrew and Pete, who helped me and thousands of others to make our businesses more engaging and visible.

Development editing isn't a service I offer. That doesn't mean I'm not interested in learning about it, though. I expanded my knowledge through colleagues who have experience in this macro level of editing.
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• At one of the Norfolk CIEP group meetings, three colleagues talked through what their non-fiction development editing roles involve. One of the most interesting points to come out of the discussion was not just the similarities in what they do but also the differences – demonstrating the importance of getting more than one viewpoint when you’re leaning something new.
• Another colleague recommended Nicola Morgan's Write to be Published, which I found to be a thoroughly engaging text.
  

Some years ago, two editorial colleagues wrote blogs that had a significant impact on how I use Word.

• One taught me how to create drop-down boxes in Word. I used this information to redesign my style sheets so that I don’t have to retype recurring options every time I create a sheet for a new client (e.g. -is- or -iz- spelling; full points or not after Mr, Mrs, etc.). Invoice elements (e.g. settlement terms and repeat-client names and addresses) could benefit from the same treatment.
• Another taught me how to customize Word’s ribbon so that it works more efficiently for me. I used this to easily run the new macro I’d learned about.

One of my bugbears had been having to use hyphens for en dashes on my iPad and iPhone. It was colleagues who showed me that Apple has provided en and em dashes – I just hadn’t realized that if you hold down the hyphen button a small window opens and you can slide your finger to your preferred dash.

I love any editorial tool that can increase my productivity or enhance my professionalism. Colleagues alerted me to three particular favourites:
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• ​Canva: a user-friendly graphic design tool
• Toggl : a time-logging tool
• TextExpander: a tool for storing and inserting my commonly used words and phrases

I hadn’t been getting the best out of PerfectIt, even though I’m a long-time user. At another networking meeting, two colleagues showed me how to use the wildcard function more effectively.

This, combined with Jack Lyon’s Wildcard Cookbook for Microsoft Word, has been a real productivity enhancer. PerfectIt tends to handle wildcards a lot better than Word when Track Changes is switched on.

Over the years, colleagues have shared invaluable tips on pricing matters over the years, and although determining fees needs to be done using a deeper level of analysis than just following what friends are doing, there’s still a lot they can can bring to the table. Thanks in part to those conversations:
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• I experimented with quoting per-word rates instead of hourly rates, which had a dramatic effect on my income and provided more transparency for my clients.
  
• I experimented with advertising my rates on my website, which saved me time, filtered out enquiries from those whose budget wasn't a good fit, and also provided more transparency.

​These two examples proved to be excellent reminders that testing is essential for the editorial freelancer who wants to learn whether a colleague’s way of doing things is appropriate for their own business.

My colleagues can do something a book or a course can’t. They can become friends. I’ve made so many edi-buddies that I can't even begin to list them all.

Not only have those people helped me how to be a better business owner, they've provided me with community, comfort and loads of laughs. 

There’s a ton of other stuff that colleagues can help with – I’ve only scratched the surface. If you’re reading this and you’re not connected, consider the benefits of changing the situation.
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• Your regional editorial society’s annual conference might be a fab opportunity. If you find the idea a little daunting, try a chapter meeting first where the numbers are smaller, or join in the discussion in an online forum.
• If you attend a course, take business cards with you so that you have something to hand out that will remind other attendees who you are.
• If you’re already a member of an editorial society but there’s no local group in your area, why not start one yourself? It could turn out to be one of the best moves you ever made!

Ultimately, editorial freelancing is about running your own business, but there are plenty of people who’ll support you in its growth if you find a comfortable space in which to meet them!

Louise Harnby is a line editor, copyeditor and proofreader who specializes in working with crime, mystery, suspense and thriller writers.
​
She is an Advanced Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) and co-hosts The Editing Podcast.

• Get in touch: Louise Harnby | Crime Fiction & Thriller Editor
• Connect: X @LouiseHarnby, Facebook and LinkedIn
• Learn: Books and courses
• Discover: Resources for authors and editors