Why You Should Proofread and Edit Your Manuscript

March 26, 2022      Sabrina K. Marshall

You’ve finally finished writing your book and now you’re ready to publish. Before you hit that submit button, there are two important steps you must take! 

Many times, I’ve read books that are riddled with mistakes and inconsistencies and I end up abandoning the effort altogether out of frustration, like most other readers will do. It’s obvious to me the writer didn’t take this most important step that even the best writers take. Proofreading and Editing. Both are necessary in finalizing your work, especially if you’re self-publishing a book.

In this post, I’ll share why you should have your manuscript proofread and edited before you self-publish. Keep reading to learn more about: 

• Proofreading 
• Editor Review
• Proofreading and Editing Services

Why it's important to proofread your manuscript? 

Proofreading involves trained professionals who specialize in reviewing written material to ensure there are no typos or grammatical errors in your work. This is a very important part of your self-publishing efforts. When finalized, your book should be close to flawless of typing and grammatical errors. Don’t rely on Google docs or Microsoft Office to do this work for you. Those programs are great, but they’re not human. 

A trained proofreader will be able to:

• Sharpen grammar
• Tighten sentence structure
• Improve word choice
• Reorder words or delete words to reduce redundancy
• Format the document

While most books aren’t exactly free of errors entirely, you definitely want to make sure yours is near to error-free and well structured so that your work is taken seriously. This is why proofreading is typically the final stage of manuscript development after it has been through multiple rounds of editing. 

‍Why it's important to edit your manuscript? 

An editor will review your manuscript to make it better by not only correcting errors, which can include minor grammatical mistakes, but they will also identify major plot or character inconsistencies. They’ll take a deeper dive and comment on areas that need improvement or clarity. For instance, the editor will review:

‍Character and voice 

• Who are your main characters and are they fully fleshed out?
• Do they express themselves in a unique way?
• Are their personalities and characteristics consistent throughout? 
• Does the reader know their motivation and the pursuit of their goal? 

‍World building

• Have you done enough to establish the setting of the story?
• Does the reader know where they are?
• Are there rules to your world? If so, are they clear and consistent? 
• How do your characters exist inside this world? For instance, are they talking animals or talking toys? 

‍Structure

• Does it follow a traditional structure such as a narrative, three act, or hero’s journey? 
• Are plot elements introduced early enough?
• Is the story clearly organized with rising and falling points?
• Are the key elements, plot, setting, theme, characters, well defined?

You may believe you’ve covered all these areas yourself, but having a fresh set of eyes on your work would really do some good. Spending months on your work could actually trick your brain into seeing a word that’s supposed to be there, but actually is not there. A fresh set of eyes will be able to catch these oversights. 

The editing review will elevate your manuscript to a better place, no matter how good of a writer you are. Just keep in mind, all editors are not magicians. Do your research to find an experienced professional.

There are several types of editing stages to keep in mind.

• Development editing - High level overview of your book. Offers valuable feedback on how to improve your manuscript

• Copy editing - Early stage of review, which consists of a thorough assessment of your manuscript to identify inconsistencies and remove grammatical errors

• Line editing - Often accompanied with copy editing. Reviews style and word choice, as well as useful advice to improve content

• Proofreading - Final step in publishing your book, or submitting most pieces of writing 

Editing and Proofreading Services

Before you send your manuscript to a professional editor and proofreader, make sure you’ve done your part first. Once you’ve finished writing, read it, multiple times if you have to, and revise it as best as you can. Go through your editing checklist, then share it with a close friend for some preliminary feedback. Now, you can start shopping for professional editing and proofreading services. There are plenty of services out there that can help review your manuscript and add value to it…at a cost.

I’ve used Scribendi in the past, but I have mixed feelings about the service. Since they use multiple reviewers, some are just better than others so sometimes you'll get comments that are thorough and incredibly useful, and other times you’ll get surface level comments. For instance, once I submitted a manuscript when I was about halfway through writing just to get a level check on the direction I was going with the story. The comments from the editor were positive, they loved it and had only minor grammatical errors for correction. I finished writing the manuscript and submitted it again for review. This time, the comments were extensive. I was grateful for the feedback, but I wish I had these comments in that first round review, which could have saved me both time and money. I learned afterwards that when you’re submitting your work you can request for the reviewer to be extra tough on the manuscript if you prefer that level of critiquing. I think it’s a good way to get to your best work. 

Scribendi, and most editing services charge per word, so a manuscript of 100,000 thousand words could easily cost you over $2,000 with a delivery time of about 3 weeks. You can get a free quote before you submit your manuscript. If you’re lucky, you can apply a coupon code for 5% off usually found here. Additional services also include: query package creation, ebook formatting, and book critique. 

A few other proofreading and editing services: 

PaperTrue  - 100,000 words will cost about $2,156 with a 3 week delivery. 

Get Proofed - 100,000 words will cost about $2,500 with a 10 day delivery

Global English Editing 100,000 words will cost about $1,932 with a 3-4 week delivery

Prices are quoted at the time of this posting and are subject to change.

I’ve also used Fiverr, which has plenty of independent proofreaders and editors and it’s much cheaper than Scribendi. If you’ve already gone through multiple rounds of editing reviews and you just want a final proofread then this is a good option for you. Be sure to do your research because all sellers aren’t the same. Check if they’re a level 1, 2, or Top Seller. Also check the number of 5 star ratings, the quantity of reviews, and if they have a Fiverr badge. It helps to also know if they have repeat buyers. Contact the seller before you submit your manuscript and ask if they have the time to review your piece of writing, clarify exactly which services you’ll need, and finalize the cost. If you have the time, submit a sample of your work, maybe a chapter, to 3 sellers and assess which one provides the best feedback. From there, you can choose the seller you want to submit your full manuscript to. This could avoid future disappointment.

I found these services very useful when proofreading and editing Tunda on The Rock as well as Onyx and the Blue Mountain Mistery.

When you receive your manuscript marked up with tracked changes, review each correction and each comment to determine if you need or want to incorporate them. Ultimately, the final decision is yours. You don’t have to incorporate everything (or anything). 

Bottom line, you want to leave readers with the best impression of your book, eliminating errors and inconsistencies is a good start. Editing and proofreading will help to enhance your manuscript's readability while polishing and refining your words. Good proofreaders and editors will help make your manuscript the best it possibly can be. Trust me, it’s worth it!

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