 Photo Credit: 101reasonstostopwriting.com My writing career started out as a newborn author freshly birthed into the literary world with a pen in hand; unrelentingly sure that my manuscripts would stand up and get noticed without a ticker-tape parade. How? By assuring every word is edited to perfection myself. It was such an obvious choice. However, it turned out to be a horrible course of action (in my opinion). There are better ways to go for proper editing, which I'll talk about later. The end result produced a shoddy pile of words waiting for some roaring bonfire fueled by massive typos. I am not an editor, nor will I claim to be one anytime soon. If only there were someone out there which edited novels for a living. It would help end my writing woes. My confidence in built-in software, like Microsoft Word, began to crumble as I watched terrible prose and misleading uses of the English vocabulary (also known as homonyms) defeat the word processor. That's when I went out on a limb to use my internet for something more than surfing social media sites. It was time to get my work properly edited once and for all. The funny thing is that budgets are always tight when one starts out on a new project. I began my writing career with three shiny wood nickels. Yes, the coffer next to my computer was bone dry and not growing by any leaps or bounds. Suddenly a rainbow brightened on the horizon, April 15th was around the corner. It usually stands for a major payday in some households and mine is one of those. Funding for the much needed edits and the eventual publishing of a printed copy was close at hand. Editing 101 is about to begin. Fasten your seat belts for an extremely short ride, it's going to get bumpy. The road to a perfect novel can come in many forms. Self-editing is one way to get the job done if you have the talent. Some websites offer a computerized version of proofreading/editing manuscripts on the fly. There are even some offering edits for free or at least give you a sample of their editing skills.It is a great place to start. Another is hiring a professional, which can be tricky. Why? Well, because you are entrusting the person at the other end with your novel, expecting them to be better at correcting grammatical mistakes. When a publishing package is purchased, editing is sometimes included. Keep in mind that you may only receive one round of edits, but more might be needed especially if changes are made. Additional editing will cost extra. No matter what route you end up taking it is important to have edits done. Excuses as to why edits were not done don't exist here. Too many options are available to an amateur writer if they look hard enough. I've taken the necessary steps to provide quality in future novels, so should you.  Comments are closed.
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About the Author
Adam Santo is a SciFi/Fantasy writer who enjoys the quiet moments to write stories. His debut novel, Temperature: Dead and Rising, took the world for a ride they would soon not forget. Santo began plotting out the second paperback novel, Temperature: Bitter Cold, before the ink dried on his first book. Santo continues to write nonstop because he knows there is always a story waiting to get out.  
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