By Christine St. Jacques

Whether you are a first-time author or a seasoned professional, you know there is always room for improvement in a manuscript. As a Project Manager, I have found that my authors can always find just one more thing to tweak, and they are often surprised and pleased when our editors find even more things to improve.

Editing your manuscript can be a daunting task, especially because you are so familiar with the content. You can easily gloss over mistakes when you have already read through the manuscript dozens of times.

In light of that, here are six easy-to-follow tips for editing your manuscript prior to submitting it to a publisher or professional editor:

1.  Check your manuscript for flow and clarity.

Be sure that your text is logical and you finish thoughts. Explain or elaborate on any words, thoughts, or phrases that your audience might not be familiar with. Remember, your readers often do not come from the same background as you, and the material needs to be clear enough for them to understand.

2.  Don’t vary your style.

For example, make sure that you use commas in the same way and make your capitalization (of pronouns for deity, titles, names, etc.) consistent throughout the manuscript.

3.  Avoid repetition.

Use your word processing program’s Search and Replace feature to weed out repetitive sentences, thoughts, and paragraphs.

4.  Use the spelling and grammar check in your word processing program.

This helpful tool will catch major mistakes. However, don’t simply make all of the program’s suggested changes, as it will often cause you to make errors. For example, it might tell you to make something singular or plural that should not be or tell you that a full sentence is a fragment or tell you to use “me” when you should use “I.”

5.  Find out if your publishing company uses specific style or submission guidelines or style manuals as a standard for editing and formatting.

If they do, follow these guidelines. At WinePress, our professional editors use the The Chicago Manual of Style (15^th Edition) and The Christian Writer’s Manual of Style. These excellent resources are available at local and online bookstores.

6.  Never underestimate the importance of a professional edit.

Even the most trained eye can miss things, so having a professional editor team up with you and work on your manuscript is invaluable. At WinePress, our editors are industry professionals who diligently work to make your manuscript the best it can be while maintaining your individual style and message.

We believe that having a professional editor review your work is always important, and we strive to provide quality editorial services to all of our authors. But it is also beneficial for you to have your manuscript in the best shape possible prior to sending it to a publisher or editor. This will produce a better final product, save time, and potentially help you avoid additional editing costs.

Christine St. Jacques is a Project Manager for WinePress. As the liaison between the author and all of the other departments involved in making a manuscript into a book, she assists authors with each step of the publishing process. Christine feels privileged to work one-on-one with authors to produce a high-quality book and make their vision a reality.