Tag: Editing

A Repost Of A Beta Reader Article – And In Search Of A Beta Reader

~ aurorajeanalexander ~ 5 Comments

Since I’m currently preparing Book 6 in ‘The Council of Twelve’ series to be published, I contacted all my Beta Readers, and this year I’m not as lucky as I was before. Life changes, and apparently, it has changed for a few of my supporters, my Beta Readers. I’m happy for them, and I wish them all the Best! But right now, I secretly wish Beta Readers could be bought in a supermarket… or knitted. HAHA

If you have fun Beta Reading, please, let me know. It would be a pleasure to complete the group again and send out my new manuscript..

And since the subject ‘came up’, here’s the blog post I published 2019 about Beta Readers. It’s still valid! Enjoy the read, and please, don’t forget to contact me at aurorajean.alexander@aol.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

It seems there is the one or other author around who either don’t know what the job of a beta reader is. Also, some authors don’t want to pay for an editor and therefore try to ‘use’ the beta reader to get the editor’s job done.

From what I learned in my ‘long’ career of two published books (and a few lined up)… my order of ‘writing and publishing’ is the following:

  1.  Drafting
  2.  Copying out
  3.  personal editing #1
  4.  personal editing #2
  5.  professional editing (proofreading)
  6.  filing for copyright
  7.  sending the manuscript out to the beta readers
  8.  having the book cover done
  9.  possible corrections when getting the manuscript back from beta readers
  10.  publishing

At times the corrections, added paragraphs or even pages, demand a second round of proofreading or editing.

Now, what does the beta reader do?

Beta readers are helpful people around you – can be friends, co-workers, family members. They are asked to read the book pre-release. Often they are asked to review the book online, just after release. Most beta readers are very happy to do so in exchange for the book.

Every beta reader works differently. Some return a paper manuscript with scribbles all over the place…, some send an email with a few ideas, suggestions or remarks, some send texts whenever they discover something. When I beta read, I write a list and later send that list by email. So far, I never discovered a huge plot hole, but I found the one or other ‘thing’ that bugged me and that I had to let the author know about. Many other beta readers do the same thing.

There is one thing beta readers don’t do: they don’t correct typos and grammar. That’s what’s the editor is for. I’m not saying they always are perfect, and should I catch a forgotten typo, of course, I will tell the author about it. But I’m not actively looking for them.

I am lucky enough to have a beta reader who is sweet enough to actively look for typos and grammar problems that escaped my editor’s attention. The one or other author might be just as lucky. But generally, beta readers are not here for editing!

They should return your manuscript with a bit more than ‘I liked it.’ You want to get their notes. You want to hear about their feelings… when did they laugh? When did they cry? What scared them or amused them? Did they enjoy the read, and would they recommend the book? According to them, what age range is the book for (if you’re writing Young Adult), and what did they not like so much?

Did they discover something about the plot they didn’t like? Do they have questions about the story, the plot, or the characters? Is there anything they discovered that isn’t right?

Let me give you a couple examples. One of my last beta readers told me that she loves my book, and she finds ‘Sundance’ as a character very interesting. However, she misses Katie, the ‘Soul Taker’ and wishes her back. She is an exceptional beta reader and informed me about several other things that I later corrected. (I did not write more ‘Katie’ into the second book since that is ‘Sundance’s’ story).

When I was beta reading for a male author, I discovered a wardrobe flaw with one of the female character’s ‘undergarments.’ I told my fellow author about it, and he corrected that.

We all were grateful to have our beta readers. It is important to us having people with open minds paying attention to our stories. And we always hope we don’t ask too much.

Thank you, beta readers, for helping us with your time, your efforts, and your honesty. We need you!

Why Editing Matters & Simple Ways to Make Your Work SHINE – Written By Kristen Lamb

~ aurorajeanalexander ~ 1 Comment

Editing makes up a HUGE part of the writing process. Oh, if all we writers had to do was sit down and slap glorious words on a page. If only it were so easy. For those new to this profession, here’s a truth bomb. This job is rewarding but it isn’t for the faint of heart. Writing is tough.

Professionals only make it seem easy.

I recently turned in my ghostwriting project. My client has given me permission to share in some of the glory, so to speak. The Trap: Sex, Social Media, and Surveillance Capitalism is now LIVE. Yes, my client worked in the adult industry for twenty years. It’s a book about the pitfalls of adult entertainment (for performers as well as the audience).

Aaand the final ended up at around 91,000 words (though, believe it or not, it’s a super quick read for being such a deep book).

Sure, writing about this topic was tough. Writing with a partner, the research, making sure I held true to the client’s voice, etc. was enough to make me want to go live in a blanket fort with my old Barbies and tubs of frosting. All in all, though, the writing was easy compared to the editing.

For those who are new, who maybe don’t know this next part, feel free to skim down to the tips  .

Editing is More Than Proofreading

Many new authors enter into professional publishing believing a few myths, which I shall now debunk. First of all, there are MANY types of editing/editors and the cost will vary. When I wrote my first 187,000 word ‘novel’ I:

  • was an idiot who was too epically stupid to know I was epically stupid
  • believed editors were only there to check for grammar issues, typos, punctuation, etc.
  • thought that I didn’t need to sully my hands hunting down typos because editors would catch all my boo-boos for me

*clutches sides laughing*

CONTINUE READING HERE

How To Edit A Book And Do It Right – Written By Derek Haines

~ aurorajeanalexander ~ 2 Comments

Derek Haines gives us advice on how to edit a book. Thank you so much for helping us with your information and experience, Derek!.

on Just Publishing Advice:

When you sit down to edit a book, you want to improve your story and your writing.

It’s a good idea to do a thorough grammar and spell check before you start. You have a choice of plenty of premium and free grammar checkers to help you.

But a grammar check is not editing. The editing process starts when you carefully read your manuscript, line by line.

If you don’t have a professional editor, you can learn how to self-edit your book by following my checklist of 20 common faults.

Continue reading HERE

Troublesome Changes In The Book During The Writing Process

~ aurorajeanalexander ~ 21 Comments

In the past few years, I often described my common writing process here on ‘Writer’s Treasure Chest.’ I will do that once again today.

  1. Thinking of an idea
  2. Drafting the story by hand first
  3. Typing the draft into the computer
  4. Self-editing
  5. Sending to editor
  6. … and so on…

Now, this time, with book number 7 in the series, I am facing a few difficulties I never had before.

After finishing drafting the story by hand, I decided to change the POV from first to third-person omniscient.

That means to me, I need to concentrate awfully hard switching the passages I had drafted in the first person POV.

You might ask now: How come you needed to change the POV? And I have to answer: because there is so much happening in that book, it wouldn’t do the story justice to only delineate it from one person’s view. Also, I’m not the biggest fan of switching between two or even more POV’s during the book. I don’t like that when I’m reading a book, and I sure won’t do that when I write mine. I think it’s irritating and annoying.

But the difficulties to ‘re-think’ during typing the story I know so well is exhausting and, at times, debilitating. I’m used to typing quite fast when I move from the hand-draft to the computer, and I only stop occasionally to correct typos and ‘stuff.’

What I have to do now is different, and it takes its toll on me.

Is there anyone who can advise me on that? Do you have experience with this kind of re-writing, and how did you handle it?

Thank you for your help!

10 Editing Tips for Writers – Written By Melissa Donovan

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Melissa Donovan provides us, writers, with great advice on editing. Thank you very much for your efforts, Melissa.

 

If you’re the token writer at your office, among your friends, or in your family, then you’re probably asked on a regular basis to edit, review, or proofread written documents.

Academic essays, business letters, and resumes will land on your desk with the word “HELP!” scrawled across the top.

Or maybe you’re ready to get serious about your writing, and you want to learn best practices for editing so you can clean up your work before sending it to beta readers, submitting to agents, or publishing.

The editing tips below will help you brush up on your editing skills, whether you’re polishing your own writing or cleaning up someone else’s.

Continue reading HERE

How To Love Editing – Written By K. M. Allan

~ aurorajeanalexander ~ 3 Comments

 

K. M. Allan writes about a challenge we writers face daily, hourly and even every minute… a challenge we fear, a mountain of a problem we hate. Let’s see how K. M. Allan tells us we will one-day love editing. Thanks so much for this great post, K. M. Allan!

The real truth of writing is that you will spend a lot of time editing. A. Lot. Of. Time. Hours, weeks, months, sometimes even years (or at least, what feels like years).

When the rush of new ideas is gone. When the thrill of filling in plot holes and working out twists is over. When the story’s set in stone but you still need to shape that stone into a majestic statue, that’s editing. And it’s something, as a writer, you need to love doing.

Accept It

The first step of learning to love editing is accepting you must do it. The sooner you do, the easier it is to work through drafts that feel endless.

Continue Reading Here

A Beta Reader Is Not An Editor

~ aurorajeanalexander ~ 23 Comments

It seems there is the one or other author around who either don’t know what the job of a beta reader is. Also, some authors don’t want to pay for an editor and therefore try to ‘use’ the beta reader to get the editor’s job done.

From what I learned in my ‘long’ career of two published books (and a few lined up)… my order of ‘writing and publishing’ is the following:

  1.  Drafting
  2.  Copying out
  3.  personal editing #1
  4.  personal editing #2
  5.  professional editing (proofreading)
  6.  filing for copyright
  7.  sending the manuscript out to the beta readers
  8.  having the book cover done
  9.  possible corrections when getting the manuscript back from beta readers
  10.  publishing

At times the corrections, added paragraphs or even pages, demand a second round of proofreading or editing.

Now, what does the beta reader do?

Beta readers are helpful people around you – can be friends, co-workers, family members. They are asked to read the book pre-release. Often they are asked to review the book online, just after release. Most beta readers are very happy to do so in exchange for the book.

Every beta reader works differently. Some return a paper manuscript with scribbles all over the place…, some send an email with a few ideas, suggestions or remarks, some send texts whenever they discover something. When I beta read, I write a list and later send that list by email. So far, I never discovered a huge plot hole, but I found the one or other ‘thing’ that bugged me and that I had to let the author know about. Many other beta readers do the same thing.

There is one thing beta readers don’t do: they don’t correct typos and grammar. That’s what’s the editor is for. I’m not saying they always are perfect, and should I catch a forgotten typo, of course, I will tell the author about it. But I’m not actively looking for them.

I am lucky enough to have a beta reader who is sweet enough to actively look for typos and grammar problems that escaped my editor’s attention. The one or other author might be just as lucky. But generally, beta readers are not here for editing!

They should return your manuscript with a bit more than ‘I liked it.’ You want to get their notes. You want to hear about their feelings… when did they laugh? When did they cry? What scared them or amused them? Did they enjoy the read, and would they recommend the book? According to them, what age range is the book for (if you’re writing Young Adult), and what did they not like so much?

Did they discover something about the plot they didn’t like? Do they have questions about the story, the plot, or the characters? Is there anything they discovered that isn’t right?

Let me give you a couple examples. One of my last beta readers told me that she loves my book, and she finds ‘Sundance’ as a character very interesting. However, she misses Katie, the ‘Soul Taker’ and wishes her back. She is an exceptional beta reader and informed me about several other things that I later corrected. (I did not write more ‘Katie’ into the second book since that is ‘Sundance’s’ story).

When I was beta reading for a male author, I discovered a wardrobe flaw with one of the female character’s ‘undergarments.’ I told my fellow author about it, and he corrected that.

We all were grateful to have our beta readers. It is important to us having people with open minds paying attention to our stories. And we always hope we don’t ask too much.

Thank you, beta readers, for helping us with your time, your efforts, and your honesty. We need you!

 

 

 

Editing for Authors: 7 Ways to Tighten the Story and Cut Costs – Written By Kristen Lamb

~ aurorajeanalexander ~ Leave a comment

Kristen Lamb, experienced author and blogger, informs us about 7 different ways to cut costs. Thank you very much for another round of excellent advice, Kristen!

Editing has always been a critical factor regarding any book’s success. This has NOT changed. If anything, proper editing is a complete game-changer now more than ever in the history of publishing.

Why?

Because too many writers fail to appreciate just how vital proper editing is. They skimp on the editing for the sassy cover and the cool promotion material.

Problem is, no one can get through Chapter One without risking a brain bleed.
Who cares how amazing the story is if we (the reader) keep getting jerked out of the fictive dream?

More importantly, in a world drowning in bad books, those rare jewels—books well-written and properly edited—shine like polished jewels scattered on chunks of asphalt.

Readers glom onto authors they know they can TRUST for great stories, professionals who went the extra mile to make their product the best it could be.

Alas, there is a common fallacy among many emerging writers. They believe (very mistakenly) that authors only write the books. Then, once finished, agents will fall in LOVE and someone else will do ALL the editing.

*clutches sides laughing.*

To continue reading this blog post go to:

Editing for Authors: 7 Ways to Tighten the Story and Cut Costs

 

Seven Proven Strategies for Editing and Proofreading Your Own Writing – Written By Michael LaRocca

~ aurorajeanalexander ~ 2 Comments

On The Story Reading Ape’s blog I found the link to above mentioned interesting blog post on “The Blood Red Pencil” blog, written by Michael LaRocca. Thank you very much for the information, Michael.

1) After you finish writing it, put your document away for a while. Hours, days, weeks or even months. You want to look at it with “fresh eyes.” Instead of seeing what you meant to write, you want to see what you actually did write.

2) Use the spelling and grammar features in your word processor. They aren’t perfect – ask anybody – but if you know the rules, you can decide which suggestions to accept and which to ignore.

To read the entire blog post go to:

https://bloodredpencil.blogspot.com/2019/01/seven-proven-strategies-for-editing-and.html

The Best 12 Free Grammar Check And Grammar Corrector Apps – Written By Derek Haines

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Derek Haines provides us with the 12 best free Grammar Check and Grammar Correction Apps. Thanks so much, Derek. We really appreciate your work!

Here are 12 of the best free grammar check and grammar corrector tools for you to try

We are all writing so much now and for so many different reasons.

Bu no matter what level your writing skills are, an online grammar check is the easiest way to correct your grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

Word processors such as Microsoft Word do a very poor job. They can only perform a simplistic spell check and rarely find anything more than the most basic grammatical errors.

There are many online grammar checking tools that do a much better job of offering you suggested corrections. Some even give you an explanation or examples of grammatical rules.

To read the entire blog post, click here:

https://justpublishingadvice.com/the-best-12-free-grammar-check-and-grammar-corrector-apps/