PHW Proofreading

If you’re an indie author, you probably know how challenging it can be to navigate all the stages of producing a book on your own. From brainstorming to drafting, revising to designing, printing to promoting, it’s a lot to juggle. But if there’s one step that can make all the difference to how your story is received by readers – and thereby help others to find and love it – it’s professional editing.

I get it: hiring an editor can feel like a significant investment – probably because it is a significant investment – and there’s a temptation to handle the editing yourself or maybe ask a trusted friend to look it over. But editing isn’t just about catching typos; it’s about ensuring clarity, consistency and bringing the best out of the story you’ve poured your heart into.

Here’s why I think investing in professional editing is so important to your career as an indie author.

1. Editing sharpens your storytelling

Think of editing as a process that doesn’t just clean up your story but actually strengthens it. When you’ve been working for however long it may be on your own manuscript, there are details you might miss simply because you’re too close to it.

An editor’s job – and in this case, it would be a developmental editor – is to help your story shine by working on things like:

- Structural issues: Is the plot engaging? Does it follow a satisfying arc?
- Character development: Are your characters consistent and three-dimensional?
- Pacing and flow: Are there parts of the story that feel too slow or too rushed?

A polished, compelling story is what will keep your readers turning pages, recommending it to friends and giving glowing online reviews.

2. Professional editing ensures consistency and clarity

Have you ever noticed when a book feels ‘off’ because a character’s eye colour changes halfway through or the timeline doesn’t add up? Small inconsistencies can be distracting for readers, pulling them out of the story. A good editor – and here this would mainly be a copyeditor – will help every element of your story feel cohesive and logically sound.

Beyond consistency, a professional editor will ensure clarity. Sometimes you’ll know exactly what you mean in your head, but it doesn’t always come across on the page. Maybe a particular scene feels tense to you because you know what’s coming, but it might not feel the same to a reader. An editor or proofreader will make suggestions to ensure that what you’re trying to say or make the reader feel is communicated effectively.

As with my first point in this list, these issues will crop up not because you’re a poor writer, but because you’ve become so immersed in your story and the revisions you’ve made along the way that you can no longer see them.

3. Editing builds your credibility as an author

One of the biggest challenges for indie authors is building credibility. There are many wonderful indie books out there, but there are also plenty that haven’t been professionally edited. Readers can usually tell the difference. If your book is polished in terms of its storytelling, consistency and clarity, readers are more likely to view you as a professional and take your work seriously.

The more polished your story, the more likely it is, in turn that those same readers will recommend it to others. On the flip side, a professionally edited book can help you avoid bad reviews that focus on spelling mistakes or plot holes – reviews that, unfortunately, can overshadow a great story.

4. There are different types of editing for every stage of your manuscript

As I’ve hinted above, editing isn’t a one-size-fits-all thing. There are different types of editing designed for various stages of the writing process; knowing this can make the investment feel less intimidating. Understanding who to involve and when can also help you to focus your budget where you need it.

- Developmental Editing: This is the big-picture stage. A developmental editor looks at structure, plot, pacing and character development. They help shape the story and offer guidance on significant elements like plot holes, character arcs and theme development.
- Line Editing: Line editing focuses on style, tone and language use. A line editor will make sure each sentence flows and contributes to the story. They’ll help your voice come through while enhancing clarity, rhythm and impact.
- Copyediting: Copyediting is more technical, focusing on grammar, punctuation, spelling, and consistency. Consistency, as mentioned above, will apply not only to those language elements and presentation of the text, but also to the narrative. A copyeditor ensures your manuscript is clean, professional and ready to go to the next step, providing (or adding to) a style sheet to record your preferences.
- Proofreading: The final step before publishing, proofreading catches any remaining typos, formatting issues or inconsistencies. It is particularly important for checking any changes made following the previous stages of editing.

5. Editing is an investment in your career

Working with a professional editor allows you to see where you might have weaknesses or recurring habits – like overusing certain words or phrases. You’ll come out of the editing process not just with a stronger book, but also with skills and insight you can apply to the next one.

6. Editing is collaborative

Writing – for most authors, at least – is a solitary affair. When you get a professional editor involved, you’ll have someone else who is invested in your story and its success.

Sending your precious manuscript to a professional editor isn’t the same as handing in your exam paper to be marked. When you receive the edited manuscript, you’ll likely find almost as many comments as corrections, and these are aimed at explaining an edit, making a suggestion or raising a query. And sometimes they’re just there to share joy at a particular description or plot twist you’ve written.

And the crucial thing for you as a writer is to know that those edits and comments are simply suggestions. When the manuscript comes back to you – as it will do – it’ll be entirely up to you whether to accept the edits and act on the comments.

Think of an editor as a knowledgeable sounding board: someone with whom you can discuss what you’re trying to achieve, or any particular problems you know exist, and who can then suggest a solution.

Final thoughts

If you’re serious about the book you’ve written and building a career as an indie author, professional editing should be a no-brainer. Yes, it requires an investment, but it’s one that will pay off in reader satisfaction, stronger reviews and career development.

So consider setting aside a decent budget for editing: it’s a worthwhile investment in your story, your reputation as an author and your development as a writer. And if you’d like to find out how I could help with your book and whether I’d be the right fit for you, please get in touch.

You will find, if you haven’t already, that publishing professionals like to talk about style sheets. But what are they, and why are they important?

Rules, conventions and preferences

You may think – perhaps because that is how it appears – that spelling, punctuation and the like have rules that must be followed: either they are right, or they are wrong. In some cases this is true, but the English language is, as I have heard it said, gloriously chaotic. In many cases, there are simply style preferences and conventions. And for fiction, there is much more flexibility. Making a note of the styles you have chosen is important for consistency, and the style sheet provides that record.

What sort of style choices are recorded on the sheet?

As with all things, this can vary. The main headings that are likely to be covered, however, are:

- Language preferences, such as:
  - British English, US English or another preferred form: this will help to guide choices for spelling, punctuation, grammar and word selection.
  - Slang or made-up words: recording these within the style sheet is important to ensure consistency in usage and spelling because they may not be capable of being checked elsewhere.
  - Preferred form of words where there is a choice: e.g. among/amongst, toward/towards, spelled/spelt, -is/-iz
- Formatting and layout choices. These can cover a wide range of issues, including:
  - How to present abbreviations
  - How to present numbers, times and dates
  - How to format ellipses (e.g. with a space either side)
  - How to indicate sentence interruption or trailing off
  - How to present dialogue and thoughts
  - How to present chapters and scene breaks
  - Paragraph indentation
  - Hyphenation
  - Capitalisation
  - Whether or not to use the Oxford/serial comma.
- The bigger picture, which may include:
  - Primary narrative structure (e.g. third-person past)
  - Point-of-view structure (e.g. one character’s point of view throughout the whole book)
  - Any world-building rules: these are of particular importance where there are fantasy elements in the story, so as to make the world you have imagined real for your reader.
- A separate list of spellings is often included and is helpful to ensure consistency throughout the book, particularly if you have used regional slang, or have made up some words or expressions (neologisms).

Beyond the choice of words and formatting, an extended style sheet may also include notes on the following:

- Timeline: noting when key events occur can highlight inadvertent inconsistencies, which can happen easily, particularly with narrative structures that purposely dart around. Being able to see key events set out in chronological order can help you to see where you intended them to fit and enable dates and times to be juggled accordingly.
- Synopsis by chapter: this can be helpful for reviewing the structure of the book (e.g. to ensure that there is enough in each chapter to keep your reader engaged) as well as providing a good overview for navigation purposes and to keep an eye on the plot, subplots and movement of characters.
- Characters: summarising the main characteristics and relationships of the characters (even minor ones) mentioned in the book is useful for identifying whether you have inadvertently given two or more of them the same or similar names, or whether you have an overabundance of incidental characters. Keeping this record also helps to maintain consistency of the appearance, relationships, likes, dislikes and verbal traits of your characters so that they feel authentic and your reader can easily recognise them.
- Geography: useful for keeping track of where the locations referred to in your story are in relation to each other and how they are described, which will make the world you have imagined feel real to your reader. Sometimes, this may also include a sketch/plan/map in order to better visualise a location and maintain consistency.

Who decides?

Essentially, the choices are yours; you are, after all, the author.

Your publisher may have some style and formatting preferences in order to achieve brand consistency, and some decisions may be dictated by your intended audience (e.g. if you intend to publish in the US, then the spelling, punctuation and grammar conventions of US English would be a good choice).

Your editor may also make some suggestions based upon their experience of the conventions for your chosen audience or genre; whether you accept those suggestions is up to you.

Who prepares the style sheet?

If you are using a publisher who has their own style sheet, then they will have prepared this, but it will likely only cover matters of formatting and layout, and possibly language preferences.

Otherwise, it will depend upon how you write:

- You may be a planner, setting things out in a story bible or wiki (or whatever you call your extended style sheet) either before or while you write. If this is you (and it needn’t be), then providing a copy of that document to your editor will save time for both of you (and may therefore save you money). Your editor may then add to what you already have in order to more fully record your stylistic choices.
- You may write more organically, feeling your way through the story as you go (and as your characters may take you). If this is you, then your editor will likely prepare the style sheet based upon what they note as they work through the manuscript and as a result of discussions with you.

Why is a style sheet important?

The recording of your language, formatting and style choices will help your editor to suggest changes to improve your manuscript while retaining your voice, and will make life easier for those who prepare and check your book ready for printing (including the designer and proofreader). It will also save the time, expense and potential aggravation of having to answer the same questions repeatedly.

The details recorded on the extended style sheet will help maintain consistency within the story, making your fictional world feel authentic and keeping your reader’s attention. And the sheet will really come into its own if you decide to create a series. If you’ve ever tutted at a scene in a film where a character finishes their drink in one shot only for it to appear full again in the next, or at a TV series where a character is introduced as a dentist but then, two seasons later, is – without explanation – a doctor, then you’ll recognise the value of this aspect of the style sheet.

In short, style sheets provide an important record of the choices made in the writing and formatting of a book, and act as continuity guides that can save you from a poor review because your reader got distracted by a small inconsistency.

If you would like to discuss how I could help with your book, I would be happy to discuss that with you. Please get in contact with some initial details here.

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Tag: consistency

The importance of professional editing for indie authors