Jana S. Brown entered the world of publishing in the mid-90s and has never looked back. She's worked as a journalist, fiction writer, technical writer, editor, presenter, author coach, course creator, and a host of other positions. She's assisted in the creation of bestselling and award-winning novels in the self-publishing space as well as working as an editor with small presses and as an acceptance editor for Book Cave, a book promotion company. Her amazing family and fuzzy sidekicks provide her with support, inspiration, and amusement, sometimes not in that order.
She has seventeen books published across three pennames, as well as a host of newspaper articles (over 100 with the Deseret News alone!) and award-winning anthology tales. A founding member of the Plot Geek Academy, she adores helping other creators reach their goals.
You've finished writing your rough draft! Congratulations!
Now what are you going to do?
Before going out into the world, every manuscript needs a little love from its creator in the form of self-editing and revision.
However, that can be a daunting task.
•Plotlines
•Character arcs
•Continuity
•Grammatical mistakes
Where do you begin?
Join author and editor, Jana S. Brown, at her virtual table and learn the Steps to Self-Editing from setting your structure, to rubbing out wordiness to make your manuscript shine.
"This book puts it out plainly in an easy-to-understand format, about how and more importantly WHY you should edit what you've done before trying to spring it on the world. I can think of a few of my author friends that could stand to give this a quick read."
– Amazon Reviewer"Steps to Self-Editing lays out in clear and succinct sections everything an author needs to improve their manuscript. Whether you are an experienced writer or just starting your journey, this book is an invaluable guide to making your manuscript shine."
– Melissa McShane, Best-selling author"I'm not a writer but Steps to Self-Editing is the perfect guide for aspiring authors looking to polish their work. This easy-to-follow resource breaks down the editing process into manageable steps, helping you identify and correct common errors, improve your writing style, and ensure your manuscript is ready for publication. Whether you're a seasoned writer or just starting out, this book provides the tools and confidence you need to create a polished and professional piece of work."
– Reader reviewWhy Do We Need Editing, and What Is It?
There are many camps when it comes to the definition of editing and its purpose, and every camp feel strongly about their positions. For the purpose of this book, the definition of editing is: the process of taking a draft of a manuscript and cleaning it up in terms of structure, clarity and detail, continuity, and grammar to prepare it for publication and sales. This cleaning up is done based on standardized expectations for storytelling and grammatical accuracy. At its heart, editing is about making sure the words you've written don't get in the way of the story you're telling.
So what editing is seems pretty straightforward. This leads to the bigger question: why do we need it?
Many writers over the ages have wrestled with this question. After all, the writer has written his or her work in exactly the way they intended. If someone else steps toe in it, is it truly the same work? It's a very existential question.
The reason we need editing, in my opinion, is straightforward. The process of writing and reading is basically one of mind control. A writer (you) creates a story expressed by little black marks on a blank page. A reader translates those little black marks from the page into their mind. If both parts of this relationship have gone well, then the reader's mind sees what the writer's mind imagined and expressed (at least pretty closely). Editing is about making that relationship as seamless as possible. To take control of a reader's mind, there can't be anything in the creation and display of the words themselves or how they are put together that drives the reader out of the narrative. When a reader encounters grammatical errors, awkward phrasing, contradictions, and plots that bring no satisfaction, they are driven from the narrative and may not return for another. These issues are like bumps on a ski slope. Readers can handle a few of them, and – at times – they might even be unique and exhilarating, but too many bumps and the thrill turns into terror and retirement from the slope. Editing smooths the reader's path and enhances the writer's intention to create the best possible experience.
Lest you protest that the analogy only works for fiction, it applies to non-fiction as well. Non-fiction that is badly organized, that contains logical loops, or incorrect and conflicting information, will also drive the reader away. In both cases, editing can help identify and address these flaws before the book goes out into the world.
From a functional point of view, editing is also about making a work able to be sold. Manuscripts that are published with a plethora (that's such a fun word, plethora!) of errors will not pass review on the various distribution platforms, and if they are, readers will have no problem pointing out all of the issues in their reviews or in email. Both are rather disheartening and can hurt sales. If enough errors are reported to the distribution platforms, a manuscript will be removed all together.
If you are approaching traditional publishing, a manuscript that is very rough and contains errors will have a hard time finding a place with an agent or an acquisitions editor. They want to see your work at its very best, even if the publisher may apply additional editing and house style guides to the finished product. If two books alike in all other ways come to an editor's desk, but one is well edited and easy to read, and the other has glaring, basic errors, the first book will win the day, as much less work will be required to take it to market.
A clean, easy to read manuscript with solid structure and satisfying characters and plot arcs bridges that gap to the reader and convinces them to trust in your skill and return to buy more books from you.
A note about what editing should NOT do: Editing should never be a slavish adherence to grammatical rules without thought as to context and intention. Any editing software can accomplish that (and can be useful in this process). However, such adherence will generally remove the unique value of the author's voice and experience. In many cases, voice and author intention will, and should, trump a grammatical rule. This is double the case when it comes to dialogue, which breaks the rules because people rarely speak in a grammatically accurate fashion. Editing should also not place the opinion of the editor over the author, but each suggestion should be considered and pondered and if it makes the work better or brings clarity, it should be put in place. If it doesn't, it should be abandoned. The editor is not there to rewrite the work as they would have done it, but to help scrub off the rough edges and make the work more what the author envisions and the audience expects.
