MANUSCRIPT COPY EDITING

Make sure your book is professionally copy edited before you put it on the market.

My book took me years to write. I was so proud. I finally finished it. I sent it to CreateSpace (now KDP). They sent me a copy. I must have read my manuscript a thousand times. English is my first and only language, and I am generally good at it. Anyway, to make a long story short, I uploaded my book to Amazon. Within a few weeks, my book received several great reviews. Then, I received a review from the Online Book Club. They pointed out ten commas in the wrong place, including a couple of other grammatical errors. Embarrassing! They still gave me a three out of four stars review based on the story. The reviewer said she would easily have given me four stars if these issues didn't exist. Then I spoke to a few friends, and they were a little confused about a couple of events. Well, that should never happen. Everything should be very clear to the reader. I finally concluded that since the story had gotten great reviews, it deserved additional editing.

In the beginning, I didn't want to spend any money, but I quickly realized:

"No matter how good you are or think you are, professional copyediting is critical.” Whatever you do, don’t rely on Grammarly or any of the other grammar software to catch all the errors, and unless you are an English grammar major, you need to hire a professional. Editing is not something you can teach yourself or do through trial and error. It would take years for you to learn. Most people would not want to dedicate that much time and energy to learning proper grammar. I purchased a few books and tried to freshen my skills. I quickly decided it was a waste of money.

I think sometimes we get so close to the storyline that we lose sight of some of the other stuff. After reading it as many times as I did, I would have thought I would have caught most things. I finally contacted CreateSpace to do the copyediting. It wasn’t cheap, but in the long run, it was worth it. I made an investment in my book and myself. It made a big difference. I asked Online Book Club to review my book a second time. This time they gave me 4 out of 4 stars!

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COPY EDITING SERVICES: If you are looking for copyediting services or any other business-related service, I suggest Upwork. You can see the skill level and experience of each of their service providers. You can select the person that suits your needs, and the prices are very reasonable.

Upwork

https://www.upwork.com/

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SUMMARY: Don't put your book on the market until you have had it copy edited by a professional copy editor. It's a mistake that I wouldn't want to repeat!

NOTE: Copy editing is important! Once you complete the above steps, you are ready to move on to the next step. Congratulations!

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