It’s such a funny word on its own… 😀

As I’ve documented in the past, I’m a large proponent of having your work professionally edited. The level of quality it can bring to your work is invaluable. That being said, it’s not as simple as handing off your work, getting it back, and then uploading to Kindle and clicking publish.

My revisions after receiving my second read back from my editor took over a week. My editor used track changes and I had to assess each and every one. Most were simple for me to accept. Some, I understood her change, but didn’t wholeheartedly agree (it’s ok to disagree with your editor… sometimes). Plus, she had called out instances that required changes to the story (nothing major on the second read, but still requiring some work).

When I was done, I sent the file off to be formatted. When the mobi file came back from the formatter, they requested I review it in the free Kindle reader app. This way I could see what it would look like on various Kindle readers. I read through it and found an error in Chapter 2. And error? After sending it to an editor? Inconcievable, you say? Nah. I edited for 12+ years. Everyone misses something. Everyone. And, taking a look at the error, it could very well have been due to me accepting one change and not another. I later found a place where two words had run together. Again, probably something that was introduced with Track Changes. Mistakes happen.

I guess the point of all this is that, even after an editor has gone through your book, it’s still up to you to input the corrections and make sure it’s clean before moving on. Whether you decide to proofread the book again yourself, pay to have someone do it, or trick a close friend into reading the finalized version in a short period of time and get back to you with any errors they find… it’s important to put eyes on it before it goes live. You’ll be happy you did.

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P.S. If you’re looking for a professional editor, I can highly recommend Kim Sheard over at Another View Editing. She does great work at a reasonable rate.