Ensuring your book comes across as professional is key for a positive publication process. For this reason, working with a professional editor, proofreader, or ghost writer with book proofreading services UK – although it may seem like an unfamiliar activity – is a regular task that professionals, businesses, and researchers engage in around the world.
Editing and proofreading services can go a long way when preparing a manuscript for publication. Along with this, if you work with a professional and experienced book proofreader who provides book proofreading services UK, your book will benefit significantly from it.
Whether or not you decide to use an editor other than yourself, there is a correct and incorrect way to approach the process of editing your manuscript. The purpose of this article is to guide you through the phases of book editing, which can help you to streamline the process of editing your next book.
Developmental Editing
Developmental editing is often referred to as manuscript appraisal or conceptual editing. The process begins by specifying the high-level structure of your book. For this reason, if you work with a developmental editor at the earliest opportunity, this can have a great impact on getting you started off on the correct track.
A key task to focus on in this initial stage of book editing is to ensure that each concept in the book satisfies the following criteria:
- Engaging
- Relevant
- Useful
Applying these criteria – ideally with an editor’s second opinion – at the earliest stage of writing your book will save you a substantial amount of time at a later date. Otherwise, you may spend a lot of time writing and rewriting entire chapters that are edited out of the document later.
Assessment Editing
In this second stage of editing, an editor – whether that’s the author or a service provided with editing and proofreading services – ensures that the book, after being written, has remained on the originally intended track.
The core issues to focus on in this stage are:
- The flow of the text is reasonable
- No important elements are missing
- The content is engaging, relevant, and useful
Content and Line Editing
At the beginning of this phase, the content editing process is similar to assessment editing, but it is applied to individual chapters. Therefore, the content editor ensures that incomplete or missing chapter sections are addressed, that the concept flow inside every chapter is smooth, and that the tone of voice of the chapters is consistent.
In line editing, the main aim is to guarantee that every sentence has the intended impact. For this reason, line editors focus on the following:
- Overuse of buzz words and jargon
- Unclear text
- Long-winded sentences
Copyediting and Proofreading
In the final stages of editing a book, the gritty procedure of correcting spelling mistakes, grammar errors, punctuation problems, and missing words is applied. The final layout of the book is also decided on and applied.
Professional Proofreading Services 