My Passion's Pen

by Patricia Eddy

Writing is only the beginning of the publishing process. Editing is every bit as important as writing. Think of it this way. Editing is food, writing is water. Sure, you can write and immediately publish, but you’re going to leave a lot of possibilities on the table if you don’t bother to edit.

I’m a professional editor. I’d be remiss if I didn’t tell you that you should hire a pro before you publish (and even potentially if you want to query). But not everyone can do that. Editing isn’t (and shouldn’t be) cheap. You can spend upwards of $1000 for a manuscript edit. Rather than seeing that number and choosing no editing at all, I want to share with you a few tips and tricks for doing some self-editing. If you implement these four practices, you’ll not only have a better manuscript, but if you do…