Here are the 6 most important things (to me) about editing:

1. Even professional writers make typos

Professional writers tend to make fewer typos, but we still make them. Kris has made some, I’ve made some, and you’ll make some too. Yes, even if you’re careful. That’s just the way it is. Don’t be too hard on yourself—but don’t pretend you’re impervious to errors either.

2. Proofreading might be “boring”, but it’s necessary

Do you really expect someone to read a book you’ve written…when you haven’t even read it yourself? Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? Read over your work! (Note: I find that printing out a hard copy makes this part of the process much easier!).

3. Read it out loud

One of the biggest challenges of writing fiction or convincing copywriting is making it sound “natural.” What’s more natural than speaking? Try reading your work aloud (or have a friend read it to you) and any “unnatural” segments will become illuminated. After that, you’ll just have to check for typing errors!

4. Have someone else read it

Feedback, or as Kris calls it in her ebook, the “F-word” is crucial. Even if it’s negative. As Kris says, “Feedback is all well and good when it’s a few helpful pointers, but it has a tendency of only showing up when something’s wrong. And being told you suck really sucks.” But—even though it sucks—it’s often true. Sometimes the things we write just don’t work outside our own minds. A good beta reader will tell you which sections these are. Which brings me to…

5. Be prepared to let go

When I was initially writing The Ballad of Allison and Bandit (my young adult novel), I wroteeverything down willy-nilly just to get it out of my brain and onto paper.  It’s one of the ways Ibeat writer’s block.  However, this later led to an ENTIRE CHAPTER being deleted because it was complete and utter crap.  It hurt to toss it into the bin — it was something I’d written! — but I knew that it was for the best.  It just didn’t fit with the rest of the book.  There will be times when you have to kiss your initial words goodbye in order to embrace a better final manuscript.

6. Find a stopping point

After I’d written my novel, there was a period of about two months of near-daily editing, tweaking, and rewriting.  If you let it, the editing process can go on forever.  At some point you just have to step back and let it go.  See if your baby can fly.

Volley17Ball17 as an Editor

Editing is one of the services I provide on Wattpad. I most commonly edit fan fiction and fantasy genres but I can.

When I begin editing I usually start by just doing a quick skim of the story to get the general plot of the section I'm editing. I next go through and check for grammar and spelling mistakes since they are easiest to spot. Finally I look at the descriptions, sentence fluency,dialogue and the setting of a story. When I edit I try to help improve the writing technique which is why I go beyond just spelling and grammar errors. I finish by usually leaving a small critique and some advice about how to improve on the flaws in the piece.

Interview with Volley17Ball17

1.What is your experience in Book Editing?

- I have been editing stories for about 6 years now. I started editing my friends' stories and then I was asked to constantly edit essays. I've been editing stories on Wattpad for a little over six months now and I plan on continuing to edit for a while.

2. What type of book is your specialty?

-The books I'm best at editing are mostly in the fantasy, fiction or teen fiction genres, but I am able to do fan fiction fairly well.

3. What's your editorial style?

-I would say my style is a little harsh, but fair. I'm not there to judge you personally I'm here to fix and improve flaws in writing so I will be straight forward about constant mistakes.

4. What do you charge?

- My fee currently is a 300 character good/honest comment on the most recent chapter of any of my stories

5. What are your services?

-I thoroughly edit stories including sentence fluency, spelling, grammar and dialogue. I also critique as I edit and help improve upon descriptions, plot and writing craft.

6. What's your turn around? (Time taken)

- Currently two or three days per chapter because I am a full time student right now. It also depends on the chapter length.

7. Are you available for questions?

- Always. I am always willing to answer questions about past edits or future ones. I want to help you in the best way possible.

8. How do you edit?

- I generally use Google Docs or Microsoft Word. Either one works but I prefer to use Google Docs because it allows me to track the changes I make and allows you to accept or decline them with one click.

9. How many books have you edited? Are authors happy about it?

-Currently I have edited over 20 different books and chapters from may others.

Almost all of the time I edit authors really like my work because I give feedback and show them where the changes were made rather than just sending back and edited copy of their story.

10. What do you look for most in editing? ( Your specialties )

- When I edit I am best at helping with dialogue and sentence fluency.

11. Do you do samples? If so how many pages?

- I do indeed do samples an instead of pages I do a 500 word sample.

12: Your message to Readers

- Editing is an important part of the writing process whether you do it yourself or hire someone to edit for you. Editing your own work or others helps you to improve your writing technique. Editing is a big step in preparation for publishing and promotion of a story. Having an edited story makes a story easier to understand and can even help you to gain/keep readers so make sure you edit.

Few Things About You

Favorite Book: Harry Potter or Percy Jackson

Song: Shake It Out - Florence+The Machine

Phrase: Hakuna Matata

Color: Blue

Season: Autumn

Book You've Edited: No favorites, but there have been a lot of really good ones that I'm going to read.

Note: The first article  has been taken from web. Credits to Kris Emery and Lauren

Feedbacks to this Interview are Welcome.

Enjoy Reading!

Thank you.

Awwthentic~