Have you finished writing your short story, novel, or novella? Congratulations! Now it’s time for a new stage. You are ready for the most challenging but interesting part of your publishing journey: editing.
Before publication, your work will need a serious review if you want to provide the best quality. Ideally, there should be two (one by the author and one by a third party), but should it be proofreading or editing?
Many people think these are the same, but this is not so. This article analyzes the difference between proofreading and editing and which one to choose before self-publishing.
Proofreading vs Editing: the importance of editing for self-publishers
Self-publishing is a big challenge. Although it brings higher profit, the author is responsible for the quality of the book. This includes the writing, the formatting, and the design.
While revising one’s own work is important (and even necessary), the opinion of a third party becomes essential. Especially if we work with professionals. The author usually lacks the necessary perspective to spot, analyze, and edit mistakes.
If you are publishing through traditional channels, the publishing house will take care of this for you. Self-publishers, though, must conduct a thorough revision of their work. Finding the right person for this is difficult and expensive, and the first step is to know exactly what you are looking for. By learning the difference between these two concepts, you’ll be able to work out the tasks, fees, and deliverables with your editor.
Editing
Editing is about improving a text’s quality. This includes voice, expression, flow, and style. An editor’s job is to decrease wordiness and substitute terms. The use of synonyms helps not only avoid repetitions but also find the right vocabulary to convey an idea.
This process can help you consolidate your style and use of the language. Your story will have clearer expressions, clean cohesiveness, and less awkwardness. All areas of literature need editing but narrative can greatly benefit from it.
Main goals of editing:
- Convey interesting ideas to make the story appealing.
- Make sure the writing is cohesive and the ideas are properly linked. This helps improve readability.
- Choosing the right voice.
- Choosing the right words.
- Create fluent sentences.
- Use conventions to communicate with the reader more effectively.
Thus, your editor may come through with the right sentence structure and vocabulary. Of course, the final decision is up to you (while you are self-publishing). If you publish traditionally, the house will take care of the expenses, but you’ll have less control over the editing process.
The voice is also an important part. If your narrator is a 12-year-old child, a newly graduated doctor, or an old hermit living on a mountain, the voice will vary. These characters have different realities, cultural environments, and circumstances. Their voices must reflect this.
In many cases, authors write descriptions, paragraphs, or situations that don’t add any particular value to the story. This can make the plot too intricate or even boring. Your editor will help you remove those parts to make the reading flow smoother.
Proofreading
While editing is the subjective part of the process, proofreading is about fixing objective errors. The proofreader will fix mistakes at the level of grammar, spelling, and sentence structure. This is usually the final stage of the revision:
- Fix spelling and capitalization mistakes
- Fix punctuation mistakes
- •ix formatting mistakes
Thus, the proofreader must be aware of the formatting requirements for the particular needed industry. These may vary if the book will be published in printed form or as an e-book, if it has pictures, etc.
Editing vs proofreading
If you are not sure which one to choose, take a moment to analyze the situation. How familiar are you with the conventions of the written English language? How well do you manage with daily writing and speaking? How many errors do you usually make in grammar and style?
If you feel secure about your answers, then proofreading may be what you need. But if you want to improve your writing in terms of readability, voice, cohesiveness, and expressions, you will need both. Even experienced authors keep relying on a good editor to revise their work.
Most importantly, by knowing the difference between these two you’ll be able to find the right professional. Thus, you can establish clear goals and work out the fees.
Editing vs Proofreading – A conclusion
These two approaches can be applied simultaneously or separately. No matter how much experience you have, putting your work through editing and proofreading is necessary. Especially if you choose to self-publish.
The editing stage is the most subjective one and it must be worked out by the editor and the author together. Once the style is clear and ideas are in order, the story can move to the proofreading phase. This is where all objective language errors will be fixed.
To sum up, we can say that editing improves one’s writing and proofreading perfects it. Before publishing a story, play, novella, or novel, make sure you have given it the proper revision. This is the best way to refine your writing and build a reputation as an author.