Edit and Edit Again

I once had a very intelligent and educated man apply to my publishing house to become one of our staff editors. He had experience, intelligence, and credentials and he appeared to know what he was doing, so I gave him a short assignment to see if I could send him bigger projects. The assignment was a client's personal memoir and it was about 65 pages. I estimated that the work would take 2 to 4 weeks to accomplish a first edit because of the writer's style.

At the end of the first week, the editor wannabe sent the manuscript back to me with a note saying that he had edited it using his computer's spell check and grammar check and that his new version was complete and ready to go. He wanted to collect his pay and move on to the next project.

What the man lacked in skill, he tried to make up for in enthusiasm for the prospect of becoming an editor at a publishing house. Unfortunately, enthusiasm does not make an editor any more than your computer's spell check and grammar check programs. When it is time for you to edit your material for submission, be sure to set aside at least 15% of your estimated time for this process. You will not want to skip this process if you are determined to become a professional nonfiction writer.

While the nonfiction writer must be prepared for the inevitable changes to his or her manuscript when submitting it to an editor or client, it is of utmost importance to edit your work before submission. I am not suggesting that you try to become a professional editor in order to produce quality nonfiction. Many writers produce very marketable material without having courses in editing. But every good writer seeks to learn more about their craft as they proceed and seek to better present their material so that they endure fewer rejections and enjoy more work.

To make a good presentation, you will need to take your manuscript through at least two edits before it leaves your computer to your editor. Editing your material is one of the last things you will do before submission. Never try to edit as you are writing because you will create your own writer's block by trying to be perfect as you go.

Here is a list of elements you, the author, should provide the editor before the editing process begins:

Title page.

Dedication.

Epigraph.

Table of contents.

List of illustrations.

List of tables.

Preface.

Acknowledgments.

Any other front matter.

All text matter, including introduction and part titles.

Notes.

Appendices.

Glossary.

URLs for all Web sites cited.

Bibliography or reference list.

Any other background matter.

All illustrations and all tables.

Illustration captions.

All permissions, in writing, that may be required to reproduce illustrations or previously published material or to cite unpublished data or personal communications.

The publisher usually furnishes the half-title page, the copyright page, and copy for the running heads. The list above, except for most of the front and back matter, also applies to authors contributing an article to a journal or a chapter to a book.

Many editors and clients accept manuscripts and articles in electronic form in this age of cyberspace. You should prepare your manuscript with as much diligence as if you had hand typed it on an old Smith-Corona. Before the popular use of computers, authors broke their backs to make sure there were no white-out chemicals on their manuscript papers (a.k.a. hard copy) and that every word and every sentence was absolutely perfect.

Today, your approach to your editing process should be conducted with very much the same diligence and attention to detail. Although it is popular to assert that a truly creative mind cannot be encumbered by attention to details, this cannot be your excuse for sloppiness. Again, editors resent being thought of by their writers as the maid or clean up guy or gal. The nonfiction article or book is your creation, so why should an editor accept it if it is presented with a dirty diaper? It is doubtful that you would disrespect your babysitter by dumping your poopy-pants child, so don't dump a sloppy manuscript on your editor with any expectation of publication.

Here is another list of things to check in your manuscript before sending it to your editor or client:

Word and sentence cadence. If you read your writing out loud to yourself, then you will hear the natural cadence of the words. This will help you to determine if your work flows well and has a natural rhythm.

Ideological balance in content. Did you complete or balance your assertions? Starting an idea or asserting a set of arguments for, or against, something and then failing to follow through to cover them all is a faux pas that will create work for you if and when the editor bounces it back to you.

Prepositions and prepositional phrases, idioms. You will want to pay particular attention to these if you are a non-native English writer. Even if you are a native born English writer, you will want to watch these.

Split infinitives. This is common in the spoken language, especially in slang, but very inappropriate in the written language.

Dependent and independent clauses. Proper use of commas in relation to the noun/pronoun/verb/adverb.

Did I keep my language bias-free? (Avoid racism, sexism, and so on).

Did I alternate my pronouns to reflect gender balance? (Alternating the use of "he" and "she" when referring to generic others).

Change passive voice to active voice. Key: Avoid being verbs; change "ing" words to their active form where possible. Passive voice is one of the most glaring errors made by novice writers, and it makes your writing sleepy.

Delete everything behind the "com" in all website addresses listed in your content UNLESS the page content is necessary for the reader to find the particular information or product. If he can find it by going to the site and tabbing through the site's pages, then delete it. The main reason for this is that URLs change frequently in sites and leaving the code behind the "com" makes your writing vulnerable to becoming obsolete. The reader expects to go to the site and find the subject of discussion. As long as the reader can find the main site, then you have done your job. The exception to this, of course, is if the site is linked to another or if the page is indexed in some obscure way that a passing site visitor could not find it; then, you would include the code behind the "com".

Foreign phrases or word. If your reading audience will be unfamiliar with them, then be sure to italicize them. This gives the reader the assurance that the word or phrase has a non-English origin; and an opportunity to look it up by having the correct spelling and context.

Repetitious words or phrases. Except as used in good taste and in hooks, repetition in your words or phrases should be avoided. Eliminate your favorite sentences (ones that you use frequently) just as you would eliminate your favorite "uhm" in your speech when preparing to speak before a crowd of professionals.

All CAP WORDS. Avoid them all together unless capitalization makes an emphasis that would otherwise be missed by a skim reader. Generally, it is good to avoid writing in all caps or all bold, these read as screaming to your reader and you will lose his or her attention.

Historical, cultural, and military terms. Be sure to look them up to make sure you have used them correctly and spelled them correctly and in the right context.

Check for run-on sentences and improper use of commas. Sentences longer than three lines should be carefully scrutinized for restructure or rewriting. If the sentence is five or more lines, then rewrite it into two or more sentences.

Check your tenses. It is quite irritating to read a sentence that has both the present and past tense in it in a wrong context.

Check your singular and plural nouns and pronouns. Do not mix the writer with they in the same sentence.

This is not an exhaustive list, but it will get you well along the path to editing your work so that you can create favor with your editor or client. As I have tried to emphasize in this course, there is no such thing as a perfect writer; there are, however, excellent writers. If you strive for excellence, you will become a well-published nonfiction writer.

WORDS TO KNOW

Epigraph. A quote from another writing or artwork that a writer uses at the beginning of a piece of writing, chapter, article, or book.

Preface. An explanatory introduction in the front of the book that has a personal tone to it, from the author to the reader.

Acknowledgments. Normally a page in the front of the book that lists names of the author's sources of help, encouragement, and support for the writing.

Appendices. Supplementary material that supports portions of the writing or book, normally appearing at the back of the book.

Half-title page. This page carries nothing but the book title in it. The book's title is printed at the top of the page and the half-title page precedes the title page in a book layout.

Copyright page. This page includes the copyright notice, the copyright owner's name, the year the book is copyrighted, and usually the city and state of the copyright owner. This is part of the front parts of a book, normally prepared by the publisher.

Running heads. A header that is set in the top portion of the page, in the top margin, and runs the length of the chapter or book.

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