Why Is Editing So Important?

Even though finishing the last draft of a novel is going to be immensely gratifying, it’s actually not the end. As soon as the final draft is finished, the editing needs to begin – and novel editing will be amongst the most essential aspects of producing the finished work. We’ve most likely all read a poorly edited manuscript at some point and the enjoyment of doing so would have been reduced due to this fact.

By contrast, any manuscript that has been edited properly will be a lot better to read; it will flow far better, the story or subject matter is likely to make more sense and the experience will probably be much more positive. So clearly book editing matters. It really is something which novelists must learn to do, but it could also be done by an experienced novel editor, who will be able to cast their expert eye over the text and find issues which might have gone unnoticed.

Finding Errors
Amongst the major reasons novel editing is so crucial is the fact that it is a superb opportunity to pick up any kind of mistakes in the writing. As authors, all of us get some things wrong, and when we’re writing a very long book – no matter whether it might be non-fiction or fiction – it is pretty much certain that there’ll be at the very least a few flaws in there, in spite of the length of time we might have invested checking through it ourselves. That’s why skilled manuscript editing can be so helpful.

Let’s be honest, if you’re intending to publish or self-publish a novel, it is really important that you’re certain there aren’t any mistakes in it. This does not just involve looking at the punctuation, grammar and spelling, but in addition checking all the important details are right, that the proper terminology is used wherever required, and that there is consistency all through the book.

Getting Ready To Publish
Another of the reasons manuscript editing is going to be so critical is the fact that it’s a vital part of getting a novel ready to publish. Naturally, should you go down the customary publishing route, novel publishers should have their own editors, however you need to undertake some initial book editing to start with to have your manuscript accepted by a publisher.

The reasons for this are simple: when your novel happens to be hard to read due to poor editing or changes in your approach, there is much less chance of your quest for publication being successful. Book publishers get many hundreds of books for consideration, so yours has to be as good as it can be prior to being submitted.

Make Improvements
Book editing is not just about getting the manuscript ready for publishing, however. Right at the very heart of editing should be the goal to further improve the manuscript. No one’s initial draft is their best, and there will always be the opportunity to make it better. Regardless of whether you’re going to be undertaking your editing all by yourself or if you’ve used the services of an expert editor, the aim has to be simple: make it better.

We all want to be the best authors we’re able to be, and it’s really most unlikely that we’ll achieve that with our first draft. Books need attention and time, and manuscript editing is going to be a crucial aspect of helping you to reach your ultimate objective.