What's your editing process? What do you focus on?

[ConansWitchBaby]

Editing? Just be perfect the first time!

 

[Zagaroth]

You have an agent??

Yes; I got a response back from Podium and from 1 other publisher (amongst the several I contact), I approached an agent I knew from other work they'd done for someone else and said I have 2 offers. They took me on with a discount (10% instead of 15%) as I had done the first part for them and thus was not a risk.

The other method is to find and contact agents. You are then trying to sell your work to them, and they will then work on your behalf to find a publisher. This is where the more expensive percentage comes in; not only more work for them, but a risk they will not find a publisher and thus not get paid for their work.

There are potential traps all over the place with both agents and publishers.

Your contract with an agent should always be about them doing work for you, and them getting a % of the profit you make from the contracts they arrange, and an acknowledgement that they have a fiscal duty to do the best work that they can for you. If IP rights are mentioned at all, it should only be a verification that they are not making any claims on the rights to the IP. There are some 'agents' who try to get ownership of an IP.

Similar with a publisher. The contract with a publisher should effectively be them 'renting' the rights to your IP by publishing your work. I had my agent make sure that every single publication right reverts to me if Podium does not publish my work for a sufficiently long time.

And finally, in both cases, you should pay absolutely nothing up front. Everything is about % of future earnings. Your agent does not get money until you get money; your publisher does not get money until they sell copies of your book.

 

[Rachel_Leia_Cole]

I will usually wait till I finish a whole novel. Then I’ll reread it for clarity and flow. Fix anything off there. Then I do another reread after I let it sit for a while for spelling errors and grammar issues. I still don’t catch everything ? But I find if I let it sit for a while between edits, it’s like seeing it with fresh eyes. So I’m more likely to catch mistakes.

 

[ysgoldt]

I usually like to edit by chapter. I am in a few Discord groups where we share editing. Having someone else to look over my writing helps so much. :)

 

[A-Random-Writer]

I write the entire chapter first, then I do a manual spell check and grammar fixes. After that, I put the text into an AI or Grammarly for a secondary check, then finally I get a friend(s) to read it and make sure everything adds up. That's my simple process, which is why I probably make so many mistakes when writing.

 

[SouthernMaiden]

I write the entire chapter first, then I do a manual spell check and grammar fixes. After that, I put the text into an AI or Grammarly for a secondary check, then finally I get a friend(s) to read it and make sure everything adds up. That's my simple process, which is why I probably make so many mistakes when writing.

Getting a friend to read it is a good idea. Also thats a good friend to have

I usually like to edit by chapter. I am in a few Discord groups where we share editing. Having someone else to look over my writing helps so much. :)

Nice! I need to find a discord for this stuff at some point. Also beautiful cover for your work

I will usually wait till I finish a whole novel. Then I’ll reread it for clarity and flow. Fix anything off there. Then I do another reread after I let it sit for a while for spelling errors and grammar issues. I still don’t catch everything ? But I find if I let it sit for a while between edits, it’s like seeing it with fresh eyes. So I’m more likely to catch mistakes.

Letting it sit for awhile is great! Really is seeing it with new eyes

 

[CharlesEBrown]

I don't have the time or discipline to follow his lead, but the late James Ward had a neat system for editing. He started the day (except for the roughly six days every month that he took off from writing) by re-reading everything he wrote the day before. Then he took an hour away from his desk to do other things before starting the writing for the day - which sometimes involved redoing the stuff from the day before it it just hadn't "clicked".

 

[Emotica]

Obviously “editing” during the writing process is most efficient, but I either go with reckless abandon and spend a day editing, or take my time writing and edit less after. Neither way really saves time for me.

1. I usually do a soft-read, where I don’t change anything but glaring issues.
2. The soft-read is for continuity, so my second pass-through I usually fix issues while rereading, paying close attention to making sure there aren’t any continuity issues.
3. At this point it’s a war against grammar and weaknesses. Commas are my addiction, so usually my 3rd pass through is focused more on flow and sentence structure. I do this until it feels like I’m not making any progress.
4. I pass through one last time for continuity and errors.

I purposely don’t rush through the steps, because the steps only exist because I’m awful at getting things done in one go. Everything could look perfect, and I’ll still find something wrong later on. Ultimately, I resolve to keep a personal style, even when I know it isn’t “correct”, because if we all wrote the same, it’d be a boring world. So after about 3 or 4 pass throughs, I just accept I’m not an editor. Somebody can get on my back about it when they fund my writing career ?

Good attitude for asking if an author even wants to hear that first.

I didn’t know some authors didn’t want to know about continuity issues. Suggestions is one thing, but I feel like the ultimate dream is to have so many fans connecting the dots of your story that they’re seeing between the cracks. I guess it’s a point of view.