The kids are back at school today and apart from feeling a little nervous for them, I’m also feeling nervous about the task I have set myself; to proofread 153k words before self publishing later this year. I’ve printed my Proof Read Top 10 checklist (with a couple of additions from other writers) and have everything set up ready.
Now its time to shut down the internet, disconnect the phone and escape into the summerhouse.
Wish me luck!
Welcome to Yorkshire and an uplifting world of love and friendship
...Book review blog with lots of heart...
Fantasy by Deborah J. Lightfoot
Because stories are everywhere
Book reviews and other reflective musings, specializing in the Fantasy and Science Fiction genres. Delve Into The Fantastical.
The speculative fiction of P. H. Solomon
Hannah's book blog. This is my place where I share my favourite reads and chat about books.
Reading my way through a thousand worlds...
My little corner to talk about books
Book Sniffer and Bookstagrammer
a place to discuss fantasy and sci-fi books
Sharing Sights and Sounds, Words and Wonder
Creative Writing Tips And Advice
Suzanne Rogerson Fantasy Author 
Good Luck! This is the really hard part (at least, that’s what I’ve found) but ultimately very rewarding 🙂 All the best with your self publishing adventure.
LikeLike
Thank you. I’m actually finding the hardest thing is reading it slowly and focusing on every word. I’ve not spotted many errors yet, so I’m hoping that’s a good sign!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, that’s a good sign, absolutely. However, I know I had the same experience, yet when I sent it out for a copy edit it came back with loads of marked up mistakes! So it might be worth investing once you’ve completed your structural edit 🙂 I find this part of the process really tough – I’m in the last stages myself with my second book, just correcting all the copy mistakes before I format for publishing.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is the painful bit….but you’re almost there. I always pick up more when it’s printed on paper than on a screen as well. The editor I sent it to afterwards also came back with a fair amount of markups, but the more you pick up now, the cheaper it’ll be at that stage.
LikeLike
I have already paid for a final edit (or what I thought would be a final edit!). She was very thorough and thanks to her I managed to knock 8k off the word count. The trouble is with the amount of little changes I made, I now need to go over the whole thing and check I haven’t made more errors whilst fixing the original errors. It seems to be a never ending process.
LikeLike
Oh I see, it has already been extensively edited already, that explains why you have found so few mistakes. Well done for taking the time (and expense) to get it edited properly, it makes so much of a difference.
As the word count has reduced by 8k, also make sure no important details have disappeared. I’m sure you’ve made sure no important plot-lines have gone, but you might be missing something small that a later conversation in the book alludes to.
LikeLike
That’s great advice, thanks. I am going through it slowly, so hopefully any errors will jump out at me.
LikeLike
I’m sure you have everything covered. Good luck!
LikeLiked by 1 person