How will Publish Central edit my book?
If book editing is part of your package, your Publish Central editor will fix up spelling mistakes, inconsistencies, incorrect grammar, and other errors, but will also do much more than this. As part of our book editing services, we will:
- Suggest additions where more information is required
- Suggest deletions where you’ve included something unnecessary or repeated something
- Assist with any copyright concerns you may have
- Discuss with you changes that will improve your writing.
What type of editing services are there?
Our detailed book editing process begins with a macro view of the content of your book, called a ‘developmental edit’ (or sometimes a ‘structural edit’). This is where one of our book editors reads your book and provides feedback on the content and overall structure. This is an optional step for authors who would like some additional assistance. It is most useful if you have finished your first or second draft and you think you need some help organising the book into a logical structure. Your book editor will read your book and provide feedback such as the following:
- Highlighting where your book may benefit from additional information
- Pointing out any repetition
- Suggesting re-ordering, addition or removal of chapters
- Suggesting any significant areas of text that could be removed.
Copyediting is where your editor will start to focus on the text in more detail. You’ll work closely with your editor to make your book as good as it can be.
Proofreading is the final step in the editing of your book. It’s the final check for errors by an editor or proofreader who has not previously read the book. This provides a fresh set of eyes.
Copyediting and proofreading are essential to producing a high-standard book, but not every book requires a manuscript assessment or developmental editing. After having a look at your manuscript, we will be able to advise you on what editing is required.
Editing your book
Initially, once one of our editors receives your manuscript, they will take a few days to go over it. Your book editor will then discuss your manuscript with you and ask if you have any particular areas of concern; for example, would you like more headings added, or is there a chapter that you think could be shorter?
Next, one of our book editors will provide a small sample edit for you to consider, usually of around five to ten pages. The purpose of this short edit is to establish that you are happy with the level of changes being made to your book before the book is edited in its entirety. Most of the time our self-publishers are very happy with the edit sample, but occasionally they request that more or fewer changes be made – which is precisely why we do the sample edit.
Once the appropriate level of book editing has been agreed upon, your editor will edit the remainder of the book. Once this is complete, the file will be emailed to you for checking.
The edit is done in Microsoft Word, with changes ‘tracked’. This is a feature that allows you to see all the changes that we have made, and for us to see any changes that you make. You will receive more information about this when the completed edit is sent back to you.
Like to learn more about our book editing services?
