Stephen King advises writers to write with the door open and edit with the door closed. The first draft and rewrite are yours alone. After that, you need to get a second opinion. Choose your beta readers and editors carefully. You can pay hundreds of dollars to have someone edit your book for you or you can take a chance that you have a clue what you are doing. If you are good with networking, you may be able to find people in your circle of acquaintances who are willing to help you out. Unless you are writing for children, you should be crafting your book at or above an eighth grade level. If you know English majors or middle school/high school/college teachers/professors who might be willing to give it a look through, is worth asking. Almost everyone knows an uptight grammar Nazi who would shiver with joy at the chance to take a red pen to a piece of your literary heart. There are many grammar sites on the internet that can get the basics to you and I urge you to refresh your memory on the basics from time to time. MS Word also has a function to check for “style” and “grammar” in addition to spelling and I have found it to be very helpful.

Choosing an Editor or Beta Reader

To be clear, a “beta reader” is someone who is reading your book in the finished, early stages so that you get a sense for how well you convey your story and message. If the book were a movie, the beta reader would be your “test audience.” They give you feedback on areas that are particularly enjoyable or are difficult to understand. Remember that you know your story and what makes sense to you with the full picture in your mind may not translate out well to text. Your beta reader is there to tell you these things.

An “editor” has a more specific job of correcting your sentence structure, your grammar, and your syntax while preserving the integrity of your message. The degree that you wish to have an editor work on your manuscript should be set up in advance and understood by both sides. Your editor may also have suggestions for how to convey your message more clearly.

As with any input, it is always up to you, the author, to accept or reject the advice you receive. Ultimately, a book is your baby and you are under no compulsion to blindly implement the ideas your editors or beta readers provide to you.

When you turn your masterpiece over to someone else to read, there are necessary guidelines to establish on both sides:

– Be clear in your mind what you want them to do. Are they checking for grammar, syntax, and flow? Style? Spelling? Are they looking for continuity and fluidity? Are they fact checking? Let them know before they start reading your book what you want them to do and how you want it presented to you. Do you want them to read a print copy and make notations with pen? Do you want them to use an editable Word document and note their comments in red print? Do you want notes separate from the manuscript? Be specific.

– Make sure your beta reader/editor is a reader. Only a voracious reader and lover of books can give an intelligent and objective criticism of a book.

– Make sure your beta reader/editor knows your genre and your subject matter – Be careful about who you allow to see your book before it is published and always, the person previewing it should have a proclivity toward the contents. For instance, you would not give a technical manual on plumbing to a person who knows nothing about plumbing and expect them to provide an intelligent, critical review. You would not give your science fiction book to someone who does not enjoy that genre. Know your audience, even in beta readers and editors. A book is not a fruitcake, so do not employ the tactic of, “I know you don’t like science fiction, but you will surely like my science fiction!”

– Discuss a time frame. Nothing is worse than handing over your precious manuscript to a reader, then waiting…, and waiting, wondering if you are not hearing from your reader/editor because they have not yet gotten to the project or because they are trying to figure out how to tell you it’s terrible. When you offer your manuscript for preview, ask your reader how long they expect it to take so that you will have reasonable expectations.

­- Ask for a review blurb. If your reader/editor enjoys the book, (and we are certain they will, right?) ask them for a few flattering sentences to include on the book jacket. This not only gives you a marketing tool, but also gives the person providing the words some exposure.

– Open your mind. It can be very hard to accept criticism about a project that has taken so much of your time and effort. When you hand off your book to for review, understand that it is not only possible, but very likely that the person doing the reviewing will have some suggestions. Take helpful criticism without being an ass about it. That is, after all, why you are having them read the book. If someone hands you the book back without a mark on it and says, “It’s perfect, don’t change a thing,” would you not be suspicious that the reader is being insincere or possibly did not read the book at all?

Expect comments such as:

“I had trouble relating to this part of the book”

“These paragraphs did not make any sense to me”

“I wanted more detail on this.”

Graciously accept the feedback you receive as a way to improve your book. It is not a personal attack. If it is, you did a crappy job of choosing your target beta reader/editor. Strongly consider what your readers tell you, especially if you hear the same observation from more than one person. You are not under contract to accept or employ any advice you receive. Ultimately, your book is yours to print as you choose. While you may consider it to be a privilege to preview your new book (and it is), critical reading and evaluation of a manuscript takes time and energy. Smile and say thank you, even if you do not invest in the suggestions you receive. A nod in the Acknowledgements section of your book is a gracious turn for those who have acted as preview readers.

– Accept that the book may not be perfect. I am an avid reader, primarily of Kindle books, and I regularly find books from well-known writers with glaring grammatical and editorial errors in them. I have had people point out errors to me in my books that I published months before and had literally thousands of copies sold. Yikes! For a Virgo, that is maddening. You cannot catch everything, even with a team of editors. You want to get your manuscript as close to perfect as you can, but things can still slip by. Sloppy editing is one of the fastest ways to take a beating in the comments section for your book and get poor ratings. Take your grammar and formatting seriously and do the best job you can. Get your manuscript to editors if possible and move on to the production phase when you are confident that you have the best presentation you can have. On the other hand, avoid becoming so obsessed in producing a perfect product that your book is in a constant state of nitpicking paralysis. Balance is key.