Inventing Reality Editing Service

Proofreading most basic – and final – kind of edit

The most basic type of editing you can have done is proofreading.

A proofreading generally includes the correcting of:
• Spelling errors
• Capitalization errors
• Punctuation errors
• Obvious grammar errors (such as missing words)
• Inconsistent use of fonts and styles in chapter/subchapter titles, headers and footers
• Inconsistent use or errors in margins and line spacing
• Page numbering issues
• Tables of contents and index accuracy

In many ways, proofreading is like copy editing. The main difference is that copy editing is a more sweeping review and can involve a minor rewriting of lines. At the proofreading stage, the author simply needs a reader to look for typos in the text and errors in the formatting.

While the above listed corrections generally are made on each draft you write, a proofreading without any other level of editing usually is done only to a formatted manuscript before it goes to the printer.

Need an editor? Having your book, business document or academic paper proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. Whether you come from a big city like Tampa, Florida, or a small town like Deadhorse, Alaska, I can provide that second eye.

Different levels, kinds of editing exist

The importance of an editor can’t be understated for self-publishing authors. A human editor can use years of experience and expertise to point out parts of a text that won’t make sense to reader, to pick up on nuances, and to mentor you in the craft of writing. A software program at best can point out typos, capitalization errors, and a few misused punctuation marks.

Not all edits done by an editor are equal, though. Depending on your ability as a writer and the number of drafts you’ve taken a manuscript through, you will require a different type of edit. Knowing the four general kinds of edits can help you better determine and then communicate to an editor the type of service you need.

There generally are four basic type of edits:
• Developmental editing – This involves working with the writer to take a book concept from start to finish.
• Substantive editing – The focus is identifying and offering solutions to problems in a manuscript that the author has just “completed.”
• Copy editing – The editor’s lens tightens on spelling, capitalization, punctuation, grammar and craftsmanship issues that remain after the manuscript has gone through several drafts.
• Proofreading – Typos in the text and formatting errors are identified in a copy of the manuscript about to go to the printer.

Traditionally, a manuscript would go through at least each of these edits once. Often copy editing and proofreading would occur several times on a manuscript, sometimes even done by different editors.

That’s an expensive route for those self-publishing books. Most self-published authors can do the developmental and substantive editing themselves with the help of fellow writers or colleagues. They definitely need copy editing and then a proofreading of their formatted book by an outside source, though. And if a beginning writer, having a substantive edit done until you become more skilled is a good idea.

During the days ahead, we’ll look more in depth at each these different types of editing.

Need an editor? Having your book, business document or academic paper proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.

Describe setting from characters’ perspectives

Novice writers often possess a good understanding of how to write a great description of a story’s setting and of how to present evocative details. Indeed, the ability to create beautiful imagery through words often is a skill that encouraged many aspiring writers to aspire to write a book in the first place.

Unfortunately, sometimes novice writers present great descriptions that don’t really advance the story. The use of such wording, while pretty and emotive in its own right, actually can slow the story and feel superfluous.

Usually the cause for this is the writer showing off his or her talent at penning great descriptions. But to make those appeals to sight, sound, smell, touch and taste truly great, the author ought to ensure they relate to the character in some way. Rather than simply be a lush description of any city or any street or any waiting room that any person could experience, they ought to be details that the story’s viewpoint character experiences.

By doing so, the writer gives the reader a better understanding of the viewpoint character’s motivations and perceptions of the world. The reader then can better grasp the viewpoint character’s mood and can better identify with that character.

For example, anyone visiting a beach can feel the sand between their toes, hear the screech of seagulls, and feel the warm water as the waves crash against their ankles. But writers always should ask how their viewpoint character would perceive the beach. Maybe that character finds sand between the toes scratchy, thinks the seagulls are dive bombing her, and considers the water too cold for her liking. Now the reader is experiencing the beach in the way the viewpoint character does, and we have a better sense of the latter’s personality and intentions.

Such writing does require a bit more effort on the part of the author. But the result often is a better story that the reader can better appreciate – and that always brings many rewards to the writer.

Need an editor? Having your book, business document or academic paper proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. Whether you come from an urban area like California's Orange County or a rural area like Loving County, Texas, I can provide that second eye.

Five Great Quotations about Revising

“Easy writing makes hard reading.” - Ernest Hemingway

“I think of rounds of editing as hammer time. Then, when they interrupt my writing, I can say... *shakes head* Nah, I just can't do it. Although when I come across a brilliant line, I do think, Can't touch this. And when I'm worried I'm overwriting a scene, I think, Hammer, don't hurt 'em.” - Brent Weeks

“Be grateful for every word you can cut.” - William Zinsser

“Writing is really rewriting - making the story better, clearer, truer.” - Robert Lipsyte

“What I had to face, the very bitter lesson that everyone who wants to write has got to learn, was that a thing may in itself be the finest piece of writing one has ever done, and yet have absolutely no place in the manuscript one hopes to publish.” - Thomas Wolfe

Need an editor? Having your book, business document or academic paper proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. Whether you come from a big city like Augusta, Georgia, or a small town like Funk, Ohio, I can provide that second eye.

Editing Tip: Remember your audience

When writing, always keep your readers’ needs in mind.

That doesn’t mean you should write solely to please the reader and in doing so be inauthentic. Instead, as you tell your story or make your suggestions, think about what your reader might want to know, and how your wording can help them relate to your book.

Readers will appreciate not being talked down to and will recognize that you are not self-consumed.

Need an editor? Having your book, business document or academic paper proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. Whether you come from a big city like Milwaukee, Wisconsin, or a small town like Dry Prong, Louisiana, I can provide that second eye.

Editing tip: Read for a solution

When reading how another author might handle a challenging passage, we’re really learning from that person’s experience. That’s always a good starting point to determine how you might solve your problem.

To that end, identify a passage you’re having trouble with in your writing. Now pick up a short story or chapter from a book similar to yours, reading specifically for techniques that writer used to deal with the same kind of passage now posing problems for you.

Need an editor? Having your book, business document or academic paper proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. Whether you come from a big city like Tulsa, Oklahoma, or a small town like Drain, Oregon, I can provide that second eye.

Editing tip: Learn some literary devices

If your current writing feels flat, then expose yourself to some new techniques. This can be done by reading a critically acclaimed novel from outside the genre you write in or by discovering a literary device described in a writing guidebook. Try your hand at the literary devices gleaned from the novel or writing guidebook.

Need an editor? Having your book, business document or academic paper proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. Whether you come from a big city like Los Angeles, California, or a small town like Hell, Michigan, I can provide that second eye.

Don’t smother writing with your red pen

Sometimes writers sabotage their own stories by ensuring every sentence is grammatically correct, as if they were turning it in to their middle school English teacher. Read through many of the great literary works, though, and you’ll find enough grammar and mechanical errors to make a spell check program explode. Are you taking the “life” out of your story by smothering it with your red correction pen? Read a paragraph that you’ve corrected and then the original. Which sounds better?

Need an editor? Having your book, business document or academic paper proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. Whether you come from a big city like Sacramento, California, or a small town like Intercourse, Pennsylvania, I can provide that second eye.

Editing tip: Don’t worry about being satisfied

Having trouble with a passage? Simply write something different in the spot that bothers you. Even if you’re not satisfied with what you’ve just written, don’t worry about it. In a week, re-read the passage. Does what you’ve written now sound fine or does it still need revising?

Need an editor? Having your book, business document or academic paper proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. Whether you come from a big city like Daytona Beach, Florida, or a small town like Rabbit Hash, Kentucky, I can provide that second eye.

Editing tip: Use parentheses and keep going

If a line is vexing you, simply place it in parentheses and continue writing the next sentence. Through the day, you can think about what might be written in the spot you skipped.

Need an editor? Having your book, business document or academic paper proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. Whether you come from a big city like Boise, Idaho, or a small town like Cut n' Shoot, Texas, I can provide that second eye.