Total Read Time: 3 minutes
I’ve been trapped in editing purgatory for some time now with my upcoming novel, Soul Seeker, but today I finally handed it off to the proofreader! Once I get my manuscript back, I will only need to do one last pass at it, and then I will be ready for the publishing process to begin.
When it came to finding a professional to review my work, I was overwhelmed by the options out there. No matter how much I researched, I ran into the same problems:
- The description of services offered was vague
- Most sites seem to focus on essays/research papers, or works that are shorter than novel-length
- Using the cost-per-word calculation on most of these sites meant that my 131,000 word manuscript would cost $1,000-$2,500 to review. (Yikes!)
Don’t get me wrong. I think good editing is a valuable service, and I don’t want to fall into the cliché of the self-published writer whose book is filled with grammatical errors and typos. But even assuming I had that kind of money to spend, I really want to know it’s going to be worth it. Few of the sites I found were confidence-inspiring.
The good news is that with a little persistence and luck, I did end up finding a couple of affordable editing support tools:
I found out about this little gem in Zoe Winters’ ebook, Becoming an Indie Author. For anyone who is skeptical of editing software, I can tell you from experience that this program will reveal bad writing habits you never knew you had.
Editor is more than a spelling and grammar checker. It can check for:
- Mechanical errors
- Wordiness
- Clichés and dead metaphors
- Vagueness
- Overused/trite terms
- Commonly-confused words
- Repetitions
Cost:
10 Day Trial: Free
Standard Version (Analyzes MS Word documents, plain text documents, and many WordPerfect, Works, HTML, and RTF documents. Provides output in a separate, plain text file.): $55
Editor for Word (Performs same analysis as the Standard Version, only from within MS Word, instead of as a separate .txt output file. Requires MS Word 2003/2007/2010.): $75
Thanks to a timely blog post over at Joe Konrath’s site, I heard about Diana Cox. Not only does Diana come highly-recommended by Joe, and work specifically with novel manuscripts, but her services are very reasonably priced. To make the deal even sweeter, Diana is offering 50% off right now for first-time clients, so my manuscript will cost a little under $200 for her to review. Yes, I said $200.
Of course, there is a flipside. Since her exposure on Joe’s blog, Diana has been inundated with requests, so her regular turnaround time of a few days is now pushed back due to volume. If you have a project that is nearing completion and you are interested in Diana’s services, I recommend you contact her now to save a future time slot in her schedule.
I initially contacted Diana a few weeks ago, and I’ve been booked for the end of August, just to give you an idea. I’m thinking it’s worth the wait. I’ve found Diana to be very friendly and helpful so far, and who knows? Maybe some of the projects ahead of me will get done ahead of schedule or drop out. (I can always hope, right?)
I hope this info is helpful. And if you have any editing tools or recommendations you would like to share, please let me know!
That Editor program sounds great! Definitely plan on using that before trying to publish my novel!
ReplyDeleteAwesome post! Thanks for the info.
ReplyDeleteIf you weren't going self-pub would you still invest in getting the ms professionally reviewed?
My husband & I go back and forth on this because I think I should so that I can put my best foot forward when I query but his argument is that - that's what lit agents / & editors are for.
Thoughts?
I know how it is. I'm still editing my book and hope to finish it within the next month or so. Mean while I blog about it.
ReplyDeleteGreat information you have here. I have something for you on my blog, please stop by and pick it up.
@Sophie Li
ReplyDeleteThat's a tough one. If I had known about these more affordable tools earlier, I might have used them for my agent/publisher submissions.
But I would like to hope that agents/publishers are keeping in mind that even great writers might not be able to afford a professional critique before querying, or know where to start with hiring one.
hmmm yeah ... Im still on the fence about it. Oh btw thanks for the reply on the tabs thing. I kept looking at yours for a reference and figured it out. You're an inspiration .. speaking of which, did you just remodeled your site?
ReplyDeleteI love it! Its fantastic!
@Sophie Li
ReplyDeleteNo problem!
Yeah, I've had new ideas floating around of how I wanted my blog to look and I finally made the time to figure out all the little hacks. Thanks :)
That's interesting, I didn't know of any "editing software" out there. I wouldn't mind trying it out. Of course, editing software can't give you notes back or get particular about why something just doesn't work, or if the facts are off or consistency goofs are all over the place.
ReplyDeleteA person is the only sure fire way to do it, but the price is a big turn off. The problem is that the Internet can make anyone anything. Or rather, the Internet can make people SEEM like anything. If you look professional enough, you can sucker in a few buyers and make some cash off of us dreamy writer folk.
When I wrote for Wizards of the Coast, their editing team was pretty good. Obviously professional caliber, right? Well when I went back to release One More Day on Kindle, I discovered there were more errors that they didn't catch.
No matter who you hire, many times the only person you can really trust with your work is you.
Best of luck with the right editor! I look forward to hearing more about your novels in the future.
And thanks for following my blog! I will definitely be stopping back here. :-)
Best,
Nick
One More Day: An Urban Ghost Story -- Kindle Nook
Three Before Dark: A Collection Of Horrifying Tales -- Kindle
@Nicholas La Salla
ReplyDeleteThanks Nick!
No matter how many people review a piece of writing, it seems there are insidious little errors that slip through the cracks. And you're right that no software can replace reader feedback.
It drives me nuts when I notice spelling or grammar errors in published works that should have been properly reviewed, but I'm coming to realize how easy it is to miss certain things.
I think you've really hit the nail on the head with your comment on internet 'experts'.
(Also, Wizards of the Coast? Cool!)
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ReplyDelete@Anonymous
ReplyDeleteHi there and welcome to my blog!
Subscribing to the RSS feed should keep you updated on new posts. If you experience any problems with it, please let me know. I usually post about once a week.
Thanks for the feedback :)
Yes, probably so it is
ReplyDelete