Reason #7: Don’t Edit Your Own Book
From "The 10 Things Absolutely Every Aspiring Author Needs to Know"
Now that your story is complete and you have filled in the gaps and put things in a good order of time and tale, it is time to have your manuscript edited. Whatever you decide to do, don’t just rely on a self-edit of your own book. You are too close to the story to see what can be obvious issues or inconsistencies to outsiders.
And save a new version every time you make a change. You don’t want to save over a version and then decide you liked that paragraph on page 88 you deleted yesterday. Oh well!
You can ask a trusted friend or colleague to review it for free or choose to pay someone professionally for real constructive feedback. If you don’t want to spend a lot of money, consider looking into author swaps where you can trade sections of your story for constructive criticism by other authors while you read theirs. Or seek out beta readers through reading groups. Your best bet for a guaranteed good edit is to pay someone you don’t know to professionally edit your manuscript. Often friends and family, while they can be huge support networks, are not a good choice because they will not give you the feedback you need and may not be true to sharing what they really think in an effort to protect you. There will be plenty of time for friends and family to read it later.
Understand that there are many levels to editing a manuscript - developmental content, line, copy editing, and proofreading. And the cost can vary greatly depending on what you want to do. If you are considering the road to self- publishing, you will have to pay for this service eventually. There are editors out there will do a great job reading and correcting grammar and punctuation as well as providing a detailed review and summary of suggested edits for a reasonable fee.
Determine what is best for your book and plan to pay for this service. You don’t want to miss the opportunity to make a good book great.
Realize that your book will never ever be completely done in your opinion. Every time you read your own words, there will inevitably be something you want to rewrite or delete or add. Resist the urge and recognize when your story is complete.
Reason #8 coming at you in the next post!
Keep writing! The world needs your story.