Editing a Novel: Self-Editing, And How To Work With A Professional Editor With Joanna Penn

Summary

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The Creative Penn Podcast For Writers

Episode 857: "Editing a Novel: Self-Editing, And How To Work With A Professional Editor With Joanna Penn"
Host: Joanna Penn
Date: April 6, 2026
Main Theme:
A comprehensive, practical, and encouraging guide to the editing process—with a focus on self-editing, working with professional editors, utilizing beta/specialist/sensitivity readers, and understanding when your book is “finished.” Chapters are excerpted from Joanna’s audiobook, How To Write A Novel, bringing both craft wisdom and real-world publishing advice.

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Episode Overview

Joanna Penn dives deep into the stages and mindset of editing a novel, from self-editing techniques to finding and collaborating with editors. She discusses the value of different types of readers, software tools, and working practices that help writers transform a messy first draft into a polished manuscript. The episode also touches on prepping for audio editions and the perennial authorial challenge: knowing when to stop editing.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Editing Process: Stages and Mindset

Timestamp: 29:18 – 36:00

• Editing is Rewriting:
  "Books aren't written, they're rewritten." — [29:24]

• Stages Outlined:

  • Self-Editing: Your chance to revise before anyone else sees your manuscript. For some, it means a full rewrite; for others, it's restructuring, adding scenes, or detailed line edits.
  • Developmental/Structural Edits: Feedback on big-picture elements—character, plot, and story structure.
  • Copyediting and Line Editing: The “red pen” phase, focusing on grammar, phrasing, and style. Terminology may vary globally.
  • Beta/Specialist/Sensitivity Readers: Reader-based feedback on story enjoyment, technical details, or cultural authenticity.
  • Proofreading: The final polish—catching typos or layout issues right before publication.

• Craft Example:
  Joanna references Thomas Hardy’s heavily annotated manuscripts as encouragement—“Those edited pages gave me hope when I saw them for the first time as a new fiction author.” [30:42]

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2. Self-Editing: Tactics, Tools, and Mental Shifts

Timestamp: 36:01 – 48:13

• Switching From Writer to Editor:
  “With the editing process, you need to turn your story from something you understand into something a reader will enjoy. Writing is telepathy. It connects minds across time and space.” — [36:03]

• Joanna’s Self-Editing Process:

  • Print out the manuscript (“two pages to each A4 page”), read with fresh eyes after resting.
  • Edit by hand with pen; schedule focused blocks in a cafe with noise-canceling headphones.
  • Incorporate changes into Scrivener; repeat two or more full passes.

• Editing Focus:
  Joanna prefers editing for story as a “coherent whole,” but notes some authors do focused passes (character, plot, theme).

• Tools for Stuck Discovery Writers:
  Reverse outlining: “Go through and write a few lines per scene... This will help you see the entire story from a high level.”

• Reading Aloud / Audio Tools:
  Strongly recommended for all writers, especially for catching awkward prose and prepping for audiobook editions.
  “You’ll hear issues you can’t see on the page.”

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3. Editing for Audio and Key Pitfalls

Timestamp: 43:30–48:13

• Watch for:

  • Repetitive sounds that can be jarring in narration (e.g., said/said/said).
  • Overly formal dialogue—use contractions for natural speech.
  • Mark/provide guidance for foreign accents so narrators don’t default to stereotypes.
  • Avoid confusing the listener with too many untagged characters.

• Notable Quote:
  “When reading on paper, your reader can quickly flick back... but that’s harder to do when listening. Make sure it’s clear who is who.”

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4. How Many Drafts Is Enough?

Timestamp: 45:55–48:13

• No single right process.
  Joanna cites Nora Roberts: “Anyone who claims there is only one way, or ‘that’s the wrong way,’ is a stupid arrogant bullshitter. That’s my considered opinion.”

• Don’t compare your “drafts” to others: everyone defines terms differently.

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5. Using Editing Software

Timestamp: 48:14–50:54

• ProWritingAid as Essential:
  “Once I finish my hand edits…I use ProWritingAid on the manuscript… It picks up passive voice, repetitive words, commas and typos, suggests rephrasing, and even picks up culturally problematic language.”

• Don’t accept every suggestion but use software to catch what you’re “blind” to.

• Choose your language standard (US versus UK English).

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6. Knowing When to Stop Editing

Timestamp: 50:54–52:55 and 73:55–75:43

• If you’re “utterly sick” of the manuscript, it’s probably time for professional eyes.
• "You can edit forever if you keep obsessing. Set a completion date and hold yourself to it."
• Perfectionism can hold you back; pursue excellence, not perfection.

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7. Working With a Professional Editor

Timestamp: 52:55–66:35

• Finding an Editor:

  • Look for genre specialists with solid testimonials.
  • Try sample edits; check out online directories (e.g., Alliance of Independent Authors, Reedsy) or author communities.

• The Working Relationship:

  • Expect contracts, timelines, deposits.
  • Communicate expectations up front—calls, feedback format, etc.

• The Emotional Side:

  • Receiving edits can be daunting, especially for first-time novelists.
  • Allow feedback to “sit” before responding emotionally.
  • Keep to your creative vision; you are not required to accept every suggestion.

• Notable Quote:
  “It is not the editor's job to pat you on the back and say well done. …Their job is to help you make it the best book it can be.”

• Cost and Budgeting:
  Editing is an investment; if money is tight, consider bartering or writers’ group exchanges (with tax compliance).

• On Stealing Manuscripts:
  “Editors are professionals. They work within a contractual framework that protects both parties.”

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8. Beta Readers, Specialist Readers, and Sensitivity Reads

Timestamp: 66:36–73:55

• Definitions:

  • Beta Readers: Trusted fans or community members who provide reader-first feedback.
  • Specialist Readers: Experts who vet your book for technical or thematic accuracy (e.g., volcanologists, police).
  • Sensitivity Readers: Provide feedback on representation, stereotypes, and cultural bias.

• Feedback Best Practices:

  • Keep your group small and focused; clear instructions help.
  • Weigh all suggestions on their own merit and avoid “writing by committee.”
  • Not all suggestions must be accepted—stay true to creative intent.

• Quote:
  “Being a fiction writer is also about empathy with our characters and with our readers, so improving our ability to write about diverse characters is important. However, authors cannot be experts on every experience…” — [68:03]

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9. When is the Book Truly Finished?

Timestamp: 73:55–75:43

• Perfection is unattainable; even bestsellers contain errors.

• "Set boundaries so you do eventually finish."

• If you feel the urge to endlessly re-edit, ask if it's real improvement or procrastination.

• Questions to Ask Yourself:

  • Have you completed a self-edit and professional edit?
  • Have you used appropriate feedback tools and readers?
  • Have you set a publishing deadline?
  • Are you hiding from publishing out of fear?

• Quote:
  “Strive for excellence, do your best, and then release your book out into the world.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Books aren't written; they're rewritten.” — Michael Crichton [29:24]
• “With the editing process, you need to turn your story from something you understand into something a reader will enjoy.” — Joanna Penn [36:03]
• “You can edit forever if you keep obsessing. Set a completion date and hold yourself to it.” — Joanna Penn [51:55]
• “Anyone who claims there is only one way or ‘that's the wrong way’ is a stupid arrogant bullshitter. That's my considered opinion.” — Nora Roberts, quoted by Joanna Penn [46:33]
• “It is not the editor’s job to pat you on the back and say well done. …Their job is to help you make it the best book it can be.” — Joanna Penn [62:10]
• “There will never be a novel that satisfies everyone and that’s fine.” — Joanna Penn [74:18]

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Useful Timestamps for Key Segments

• Editing Process Overview: 29:18–36:00
• Self-Editing Deep Dive: 36:01–48:13
• Editing for Audio: 43:30–48:13
• Editing Software: 48:14–50:54
• Professional Editors: 52:55–66:35
• Beta/Specialist/Sensitivity Readers: 66:36–73:55
• When Is the Book Finished?: 73:55–75:43

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Episode Tone and Style

Joanna’s tone is pragmatic, supportive, and candid. She anchors craft advice with personal anecdotes, acknowledges the emotional side of editing, and always reminds listeners to keep the reader’s experience central.

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Takeaway for Listeners

Editing is multi-faceted and iterative—there’s no single “right” way, but there are best practices, useful tools, and a supportive community of editors and readers to help you polish your manuscript. The goal is not perfection, but excellence within healthy boundaries, leading to a book you’re proud to send into the world.

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For more craft episodes and writerly resources, visit thecreativepenn.com/podcast.

Transcript

[Joanna Penn]

Welcome to the Creative Pen Podcast. I'm Joanna Penn, thriller author and creative entrepreneur, bringing you interviews, inspiration and information on writing, craft and creative business. You can find the episode show notes, your free author blueprint and lots [e-mail] and that's Pen with a double N. And here's the show.

Hello creatives, I'm Johanna Penn and this is episode number 857 of the podcast and it is Sunday 5th April 2026. As I record this in today's show we're talking about editing, specifically self editing. How to find and work with professional

editors as well as beta readers, specialist

readers and sensitivity readers. Some thoughts on editing for audio and how do you know when your editing is finished? These are chapters from my how to Write a Novel audiobook written by me and narrated by Human Me. So that is coming up in the main section of the show in Writing and Publishing and Craft Things. Over on the Indie Author Podcast, Mattie Dalrymple talks to Robert Lee Brewer about poetry. And I always love delving back into poetry. It keeps the craft fresh. When you get bogged down in long books, which take a lot of time, which is what most of us write, you have to hold a lot in your head and across various documents. And yeah, whole big books can be difficult. So over the years I've done various poetry workshops and I always find them refreshing. So this is a good interview to kind of go back to some of the craft basics around words. A few things that I thought were interesting. Poems can be built entirely around sound or a single image. So an author might begin a piece simply because a sentence sounds poetic and the words bounce off each other nicely. Or an author might be inspired by a single image and observed while out for a walk and build a poem trying to capture it. Or that might also be a single emotion in a single moment. So it's much smaller, I want to say smaller in one way but also far more expansive in another way. I think what poetry does, or good poetry does well is capture very something very, very specific that actually means something very deep and meaningful that we can all learn from. So I love that. I think it's so hard in so many ways and such fun to try. Like I said, I've done lots of poetry workshops. Yes, I have written some poetry in my time, but it's not something I'm writing at the moment, but I do like to return to it. Also, poetry can function as a creative palette cleanser for authors. They say if writers feel bogged down by a long book. Stepping away to play with poetic formats, like turning a how to list or a grocery list into a poem can be therapeutic. And I guess that's the other thing. It doesn't have to be complicated. You don't have to write something super, super serious. I've talked to Orna Ross about this before. She's a poet. And, you know, you can do fun things. It can just be a creatively fun exercise. And maybe that's a good way to treat also. Well, first of all, reading your work out loud is vital, but having someone else read your work out loud is also vital for editing because the auditory presentation of words is so important. Having someone else read a piece back to you can reveal places where the reader stumbles or struggles. It can show the author that the reader is naturally bringing a different emotion to the text than what the author originally intended. I think this is really interesting because on the one hand, I love the performative aspect of poetry. We need as longer work authors to practice more of this. So reading our work aloud or performing our work, or even if you're going on a podcast or you're doing professional speaking, we need to turn on the performance and make our words resonate with readers. And if you've been to a spoken word poetry night or poetry slam, it is artistry. And that performance of words, obviously good rap music as well, has similar vibes. But as with poetry, poetry, not for everyone, of course, but I think it's interesting to. To then consider how someone else might read it. So I do read poetry. And of course, when you read it

in your own head, I don't read

it aloud when I read it for myself, but how I read it may not be how the author intended it to be. And with poetry, you can use things like line breaks much more effectively. You can use punctuation much more effectively to kind of control the way people understand the text. You can use layout on the page. So there's lots of things that are really interesting about the craft of poetry in terms of the words and the layout and the language. So yes, that is over on the Indie Author, Indy Author with Mattie Dalrymple. Great show. And if you want to listen to poetry and have it deconstructed for you, my friend Mark McGinnis, who's been on this show a number of times, has a podcast called A Mouthful of Air, A Mouthful of There, which is wonderful. So you can find that wherever you're listening to this. And then in marketing things over on the Written Word Media Podcast, Ricky Wollman talks to a publisher of regional magazines about how to get your book featured in local media without a publicist. And this is very useful, as many authors want to get on local media. And it can lead to getting stocked in bookstores, speaking events, selling books in person, and more. So first of all, don't send a generic please feature my book email. Explain why that specific magazine or newspaper or outlet or podcast, for example, explain why readers care and like it is not about you, it is about them. You would not believe how many pictures I get here at the Creative Pen, which are, I published this book and I want an interview. Like, literally every day I get more of them, including from traditional publishers. It's like, here's a book. It's like, okay, great, another book. That is not the point. You have to consider the audience. Think about what the audience will be interested in, not what you want. Also, the less work an editor has to do, the better your chances. So make it obvious why they might

want to talk to you.

So the best pitch is really, this is what the audience, why they'll find this useful, why this is a story your audience will be interested in or a discussion your audience will be interested in. And here's five bullet points of specific things we can cover. Because, I mean, I do skim most of the books that I interview people on. I don't read every word of every book, but I get a copy and I skim and I prepare and I pick things out that I want to talk about. And hopefully you've heard that in my preparation, when I talk to people, it hopefully should be clear that I have actually engaged with the book. But I mean, certainly most media are not going to do that. It's not about the depth of the conversation often. So the less work that they have to do to figure out what's happening, the better. And like I said, from, even from traditional publishers, I'll get four or five paragraphs about the book, which is just too much to read. So keep it short and think how many pitches everybody gets every day. Also, pitch earlier than feels natural. And for magazines especially, they say they plan three to four months ahead. So if you want coverage in May, you need to pitch in January. And I guess as we're putting this out in April, I mean, realistically, you're now pitching things around, around autumn seasons. And in fact, they do talk about this. Think in themes, not launches. Editors often build issues around themes. So summer reads, women's issue, holidays, weddings, local culture. So consider the themes. So where we are again in April. If you're thinking about September October, you might be thinking spooky season. So actually now pitching things around horror and darker book books for that time of year might be the right time. This is also true for podcasting, depending on what's happened. I'm a little behind at the moment. Which is why you're getting some audiobook chapters. Because I'm pretty slammed with my workload. But I do have conversations booked out for months. I just haven't recorded them yet. But yes, you do have to pitch way ahead of time. Don't pitch someone and say my book comes out next week so I want some coverage. You do need to give it time. Also, polite persistence. They talk about the follow up. No reply does not mean no interest. Although I say also from my perspective, it may mean that because as I said, I get so many pictures every day now, I will often just delete them. I'm not going to reply no to every person, but what they say is it might mean they're busy, it might be the wrong timing or not the right issue. Following up a few times can pay off. And actually if somebody does follow up a few times, I'm more likely to reply and say this isn't suitable. But yeah, yes, the, the general sense with media especially is follow up. And again, like maybe you, you've now just realized you've pitched somebody around a sort of spring topic and you're way too late for that. So maybe following up with a spring topic in December might be a good idea. Also, exposure always costs something. Time, money or energy. This is true for all kinds of marketing. It is going to cost you time, money or energy. For example, people are like oh, I don't do paid do TikTok. And I'm like oh well how long do you spend on TikTok every day? Oh, I do like five videos and I do all this other stuff and I'm like, well that's quite a lot of your time. So if you value your time down to the dollar, how much are you actually spending on marketing versus someone who says, oh, I don't spend much time on marketing. And I'm like, oh, what do you do? Oh, I do Amazon ads and I spend this amount of money every month. Well then you're spending money, not necessarily your time. And then in terms of energy, I think the, the biggest energy suck for many of us is the in person thing. It certainly is for me. So if I speak at an event and it there isn't a financial exchange, then it's going to be energy. It's going to be yes, I'm getting marketing, but my energy might be completely screwed for days, possibly weeks. So anything that supposedly is free is not free. It is going to take time, money and or energy. So you need to choose the kinds of marketing that suit your personality and the suit your book. And you should certainly, if you want to do media, people who get into doing media can do very, very well. But it is a long game and you have to really think about building up relationships with story editors and things like that over time and also building up an email list. And I have said to lots of people, I still think this is true. If you only have one book or you don't see this as a career, that at least five years commitment, then a lot of this stuff might not be worth it. Like is it worth it? If you only have one book and you just wanted to write that book and you don't want to spend your time, money and energy in marketing, then you know, maybe marketing the book isn't that important. Maybe you've done what you wanted to achieve. So really consider that too. But yes, that's over on the Written Word Media podcast, which has a lot in marketing and is a super useful show. So on a sort of crossover on AI and personal things, I went back to Mansfield College at the University of Oxford last weekend where I studied theology, 1994 to 1997. And yes, if you didn't know, my first degree is in theology, which echoes far more in my work as J.F. penn than it does here, although some of it is in writing the Shadow, I guess. And I went back to attend a talk on faith and code with a professor in theology and a professor from the computer science department. And they were talking about the intersection of AI and theology. There was so much that was interesting about the talk. I took loads of notes, yes, notes by hand in a notebook, which is still what I do whenever I'm doing kind of these in person things and. But the overall biggest sense that I felt, because of course this was like a week ago now and over that time there was all that, that shy girl stuff and the New York Times and just the increase in stuff around AI in the creative industries. But the biggest sense that I got from this discussion was the respect that each had for the other. It was a debate that is, that was based on intellectual curiosity and respect. There was no attacking, there was just both sides making excellent points. And I came out just feeling sad that the author community can't be more like that. I just thought, why can't everyone just be more respectful and have some manners? Because theology and faith and art and writing and beauty, all of these things can sit alongside technology. And we can be interested in both in different ways. And I say this as someone who is now deeply into Claude code. So Claude code for if you don't know Claude code, writes code, but you

don't have to talk to it in

code, you just write in English and it builds things for you. And so I've been digging into how I can automate much of the back end of the publishing process. For the first time, we really do have proper agentic AI. Now, this is a system that does work for you. And at the end of the day I. I'm a one person business and I love researching, I love creating, I love the writing, I like editing, I want to create more. As J.F. penn and Joanna Penn, Human Me also does this podcast and what El Human Me love to do. I mean the main things I love to do are the most creative things. But boy, there's a lot that is admin around the back end of the publishing process. The business itself is not that complicated, but it is very repetitive. Once the book is done and as the backlist grows and I have a big backlist and many of you I know have a big backlist, there is so much busy work in the per book tasks, the same tasks done over and over and over again per book. So most of us love the creative, that's why we're here. We want to do all the creative stuff, but all the other things. So I've been building skills and processes for creating epubs and updating epubs. I mean even if you just think about updating the back matter of epubs, if you have a huge backlist, I mean that's just, it's just a big deal. I've been coding a translation pipeline which this week I went through with some translators and really happy with that once, once my proof of concept is kind of finished, I will be sharing that with my patrons or I'm even. I'm actually thinking of doing a sort of advanced AI webinar or something for people who want to do this kind of more advanced stuff. I've built Amazon ad management, data analysis, IP tracking, sales reports, basically working through things that I don't want to do. Things that if the AI can do it, then I just want it to do it. It's going to take some time to work through the whole business given all the other things that are going on. But I can see it working now, this stuff, I mean, there's some announcements around even better models coming in the next few weeks in April. And so these processes now can all be implemented in the back end so I can just focus on what I love. And I've been waiting for this for so long. I mean, I started talking about AI in 2016, it is now 2026. I've been waiting a decade and of course I know people who are much more technical than me who've been creating these types of automations and things, things before now. But now you don't have to be technical. You can, they call it vibe coding. You can just talk to it by typing in English or dictating or whatever and it will build stuff. So yeah, Claude code is a lot of fun. And I get. Somebody did say to me, oh, my brain doesn't think that way. And it did make me think about the fact I do have 13 years experience of sort of business process re engineering. Again, if you didn't know, I did spend 13 years implementing IT systems, specifically SAP, mainly in the financial area. And I used to go into businesses, map their business processes and then make those processes into the SAP system. So I definitely am used to being this person between the business and the programmer. I used to write a lot of my work was writing specs for programmers and telling them how we would do stuff and also configuring the system. And so now I just feel like I'm doing it with Claude code, which is just so much fun. I, I was saying to Jonathan, my husband, I didn't think I would find this as fun as I am finding it. And essentially what I'm building is all these. I've written something like nearly 60 skills now that all hook in to each other into processes and yeah, really trying to figure out how I'm going to teach this as well because I know a lot of people don't think in the same way as I do, but I can see the dream, the dream is almost there. Creatives where we can do the stuff we love and we can give AI the stuff we don't love. And of course, coming back to the code, the faith and code talk, this is how I kind of think about it. So you can say creativity and code, these two can be together, they do not have to be separate. None of what I'm doing with Claude code impacts how much I love the creative side of things. In fact, it makes me more creative. I am on fire with creativity because I'm removing So much of the stuff that sucks my creativity. So I was in Paris researching Crown of Thorns and all fun and imaginative side of story creation. So yeah, I think that's my dream for our industry is that creativity and the artistry and the stuff we love sit adjacent to all the things that we get our tools to do. They do not replace each other. And there was lots more interesting stuff in the discussion. So I have been also, yes, another project I've been working on, techno thriller, futurist fiction that uses AI and theology to. Well, I'm not going to talk about it, but I'm excited about so many things and I just wanted to reiterate that these things can coexist in a polite and respectful way. And my hope is that we will get past these fraught times because traditional publishers are absolutely using AI tools to streamline their businesses. And while they're saying all this stuff about authors and authors are saying things about author, it's for the business elements of the back end of the publishing business. People are using these tools and yeah. So I hope that that help might help you today and maybe inspire you a little bit and maybe if you're, if you're interested in that advanced webinar, it is something I am thinking about doing. I haven't set up a sales page or anything because again, a little bit too much going on. But you can always email me joannathecreativepenn.com if you think that might be interesting and I'll see. I mean at the moment that might be too much for people, but I do want you to start thinking in terms of processes, SOPs, standard operating procedures, all of these things you can now be putting through something like Claude code or Codex or Gemini Anti gravity and building systems to do the back end of the business. So yes, more on that to come. In personal news, I'm in the home straight with my Kickstarter campaign for Bones of the Deep. I did a big push. I had like a. I have to get this done. I did like four hours, hours of cleaning up the sales page, the story as it's known in Kickstarter, which has a lot of images. So you have to create lots of images to bring the page alive. All the different rewards and the add ons take time to set up with the right shipping rates which are obviously important. I just have the book trailer and the launch video and that will take at least a day really to do the book trailer and everything. And I will also do a behind the scenes for the Kickstarter page for my patrons this week and that will be launching my plan on the 20th of April. 20th of April is the plan. So like I guess two weeks after this goes out and it is at jfpenn.com forward/bones if you want to be notified on launch. There will be a few consulting slots as well. I'll be doing a discovery writing webinar. I love the discovery process, as you know. Also on my Masters I did finish Yay Hooray. I said I would finish more than one essay, but I finished one essay on the death in Modern Orthodox Judaism. So that is done, that is submitted, it is out the way and I'm halfway through two other assignments and enough to put them aside while I get the next videos done. The year is ticking away, is it not? I mean, and it is time to get this book into the world. Then back to my dissertation, which I'm reading some really fascinating things on. I've talked a bit about this. I'm doing digital necromancy and how our digital remains are used after our death. I think you're going to be shocked. I will be talking about this. You're going to be shocked about what is essentially legal to be done with our digital remains after we die and how little there's like no right to privacy for the dead and all of this kind of thing. So as authors who and people who put stuff out into the world all the time, I think it's really interesting to research this. So I'll be back on that as well later. Got a lot of open loops at the moment, that's for sure. So thanks for your emails and comments and photos this week. Melanie Said, thank you for introducing me to Matt Carden and the connection to J.F. martell Convergence. I love the podcast Weird Studies and your book on writing the Shadow. Thank you Melanie. And Matthew Rell sent a video out walking Misty Forest and Mountain. Said, I love listening to the Writing the Wellspring episode as I walk in the Pacific Northwest. Any podcast about writing in Ancient Greece and one's Daimon is five stars. Yes, absolutely. And writer Lass5924 on YouTube said, Fantastic interview. Very apt for me as I've been struggling with writing to market and finding it tough to the point that I fear some days I'm losing myself as a writer. Oh, by the way, you don't need to write to market. Some people do and others don't. I certainly definitely as JF Penn, I do not. Let's just say that writer Lass says, I read Elizabeth Gilbert's Fantastic book. Big Magic.

It is a great book.

Big Magic. Time for a reread along with Matt's book to get me back in touch and give me courage to write what I am inspired to. Yes, you can write to market, absolutely. But I feel like writing to market is a technique for when you are writing for income primarily. If and I don't think that's a bad thing at all. I think it's amazing. If you want to write to market, you're going to make more money. But most of us are writers because we are inspired into various ideas and some of those might hit the market and others may not. And I found as a JF pen I don't tend to hit the market but I have a lot of fun

one

but you could say as Joanna Pen I do because you guys are my market and I know what I'm interested in so that's what I do with my non fiction and so simple. 3585 also on YouTube says great interview. At Matt's mention of cosmic horror, I was reminded that the other core fear it evokes is the idea that to the vast eldritch forces in Lovecraftian type stories we are tiny and irrelevant. Humanity is not central, not protected, and is not even particularly noticed the universe. That's why it's essential to balance this kind of gloom with Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and a large G and T. Thank you for that. It's so interesting. I love the Lovecraft, the Eldritch forces and the cosmic horror. I read those books too. But it's so funny because I don't find being tiny and irrelevant a fear. I find it a comfort. And that comes across in much of my work, the sort of the comfort that being insignificant is because therefore why not just go for a walk? Or why not just curl up with your cat on the bed and read a book? And in fact, that is what I did yesterday. I curled up with Kashiu and finished Wild Dark Shore, which is a fantastic book by Charlotte McConaughey. I think that's how you pronounce it. But essentially it is a really good book and will make you feel small and insignificant. And you'll love it. I think you will if you don't put it down. No need to carry reading books you don't like. But I loved it. And it's funny. I've seen it around and I downloaded a sample ages ago and I I just didn't pick it up at all. And then my friend Rachel Heron recommended it. And so I trust Rachel and so I picked it up again and I did indeed love it. So yes, there's my book recommendation today. That's Wild Dark Shore. Okay, so please leave a comment on the podcast show [e-mail] or on the YouTube channel, or email me, send me pictures of where you're listening or any thoughts or pictures of your favourite cemetery or churchyar card. JoannaTheCreativePenn.com I love to hear from you. It makes this more of a conversation and today's show is appropriately sponsored by prowritingaid since we're talking about editing and they have a spring sale running until 13th of April, offering 25% off all annual licenses as well as story editing credits for manuscript analysis, marketability analysis, and virtual beta reader reports. Because however you choose to publish, whether you go indie or you want a

traditional deal, you need to make your

book the best it can be. And it is absolutely one of my must use tools in my writing process. I use it to go through my first draft before printing and then again after I redo the edits before I send to Kristen, my human editor. So ProWritingAid knows all the rules of editing and helps you apply them. And of course you can choose not to make the changes as you can you like. It helps with making your writing more active, finding repeated words, finding words and sentences you could improve, adding sensory detail, sentence structure, grammar and punctuation, typos, spacing and more. It suggests improvements, but of course you don't have to use them all. It also has that useful set of reports. So why use software to help you? Why don't you just learn all the grammar and writing rules and apply them yourself, yourself? Well, we all use tools to improve our process and we're also often blind to our writing issues. It helps to have another pair of eyes, even if the eyes are software.

So won't an editor do all this?

Well, yes they can, but I'd rather pay my editor to fix the things the software can't. So I use prowritingaid as my essential editing tool before sending to my human editor. Check out the free edition or get 15% off the premium edition by using my link prowritingaid.com Joanna and until the 13th of April you can get 25% off with the same link prowritingaid.com JoAnna and that is their spring sale. So this type of corporate sponsorship pays for the hosting, transcription and editing. But my time in creating the show is sponsored by my [e-mail] TheCreativePen thanks to the nine new patrons who've joined over the last week and thanks to everyone who's been supporting for months and years. Years. If you join the community you get access to all my backlist videos and audio covering writing, craft, author, business and AI. And I did actually go through a bit of how I'm using skillz in my last Q and A. The Patreon is a monthly subscription, the equivalent of buying me a black coffee a month or a couple of coffees if you're feeling generous. So if you get value from the show and you want more, come on over and join us at patreon.com P-A-T-R-E-O-N.com thecreative com. Pen right, let's get into editing. And remember these chapters are excerpted from how to Write a Novel From Idea to Book Written by me and Human narrated by me. You can get the book in all formats from my store, creativepenbooks.com and also on every other store or order from your local library or bookshop. Let's get into it.

5.1 overview of the Editing Process

Books

aren't written, they're rewritten Michael Crichton Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d' Urbervilles is a classic of English literature. I studied it at school and the scene at Stonehenge still haunts me. Hardy's Jude the Obscure influenced my decision to go to university in Oxford, Oxford, a city Hardy called Christminster. His novels are still held in great esteem, which is why it's so wonderful to see his hand edited pages in the British Library in London displayed in the Treasures collection. You can visit them in person or view them online. While his handwriting is a scrawl, it's evident from the pages just how much editing Hardy did on this version of the manuscript. There are lines struck through whole paragraphs crossed out arrows moving sections around, words and sentences rewritten and comments in the margins. Even the title is changed from A Daughter of the d' Urbervilles to Tess of the d' Urbervilles as we know it today. Those edited pages gave me hope when I saw them for the first time as a new fiction authority.

Not that I thought I could write

a classic of English literature, but that I could learn to edit my way to a better story. There are several stages in the editing process, which I'll outline here and then expand on in subsequent chapters. As you progress in your craft, you won't need every stage every time, so assess with each book what kind of editing you need along the way Way Self Editing the self editing stage is your chance to improve your manuscript before anyone else sees it. For some authors, this stage might mean rewriting the entire draft. For others it involves restructuring, adding or deleting scenes, doing line edits, and more developmental or structural efforts. An editor reads your manuscript and gives feedback on specific aspects character plot, story structure and anything else pertinent to improving the novel. It is sometimes described as a manuscript critique. You will receive a report, usually 10 to 15 pages with notes on your novel which you can then use in another round of self editing. While this is not always necessary, it can be a valuable step and something I appreciated particularly for my first novel when I had so much to learn. Copy Editing and Line Editing this is the classic red pen edit where you can expect comments and changes all over your manuscript. This edit focuses on anything that enhances the writing quality quality including word choice and phrasing issues, grammar and more. Some editors split this edit into two and there are differences between what this edit is called between countries. For some editors a copy edit includes only attention to grammar and correctness while a line edit focuses on improving and elevating sentences. Be clear about your expectations and that of your editor up front. Front you will usually receive an Ms. Word document with track changes on as well as a style guide or style sheet and other notes which you can then use to make revisions during another self edit. This is the most expensive part of the process as editors usually charge per thousand words based on the type of edit you want. If you need to cut your story down by 20,000 words then do it before you send your manuscript for a line edit. Beta Readers Specialist Readers and or Sensitivity readers Some authors use different types of readers as part of their editing process. Beta readers are often part of the authors community and are certainly fans of the genre they read to help the author pick up any issues. Pre Publication Specialist readers are those with knowledge about a topic included in the story. For example, a volcanologist read specific chapters of Risen Gods to check that the details about volcanic eruptions were correct. Sensitivity readers check for stereotypes, biases, problematic language and other diversity issues. You will usually receive comments or an email with page numbers or chapter numbers, or sometimes an Ms. Word document with track changes which you then use to make revisions. Many readers provide services for the love of helping their favourite author with a novel and are mentioned in the acknowledgments, but there are some paid services for specialists and sensitivity readers. Proofreading Proofreading is the final check of the manuscript pre publication for any typos or issues that might have been introduced in the editorial process. For print books, this can include a review of the print proof with formatting. You should only fix the last tiny changes at this point. Don't make any major changes this close to publication, or you may introduce entirely new FDA errors. Do you need an editor? If you intend to get an agent and a traditional publisher, you will go through an editorial process with your agent and publisher. But if you want the best chance of getting to that stage in the first place, it might also be worth working with an editor. Before you submit your manuscript to an agent, look for an editor who will help you with your query letter and synopsis as part of their editing Edit. What types of editing might you consider for your manuscript? 5.2 self editing I love this part of the process. My self edit is where I wrangle the chaos of the first draft into something worth reading.

Reading.

I have my block of marble and now I can shape it into my sculpture. The Mindset Shift from Writer to editor, from author to Reader in the idea planning, Discovery and first draft writing phase, it's all about you. The writer. You turn the ideas in your head into words that you understand, characters that come alive for you, and a plot that you're engaged with. In that first rush of creativity, you can banish critical voice and ignore any nagging doubts. But now you need to switch heads. That's how I prefer to think about it, but you might consider it as changing hats or changing jobs. Anything to help you move from the creative anything goes first draft writing to the more critical editor. There is one overriding consideration in this shift. As Jeffrey Deaver says, the reader is God with the editing process. You need to turn your story from something you understand into something a reader will enjoy. Writing is telepathy. It connects minds across time and space. You are listening to these words and the meaning flows from my brain into your brain, but only if I craft the book well enough. The same is true of your novel. Yes, of course you want to double down on your creative choices and make sure you achieve everything you want to with your story. But you also need to keep the reader in mind as you edit, because the book is ultimately for the them. Will your story have the desired effect on the reader? What might help improve their experience? How can you make sure that they are not bored or confused or jolted out of the story? What will make them read on and at the end, close the novel with a sigh of satisfaction? My self editing Process at the end of the first draft I print out my manuscript with two pages to each A4 page so it looks more like a book. I put it in a folder and leave it to rest. You need fresh eyes for your edit and this resting gives you some emotional distance. In On Writing, Stephen King suggests leaving a manuscript to rest for at least six weeks. While that is a great idea if you have the time, most authors work to deadline, whether externally set or their own timetable. Many authors, including me, are also impatient. I love this first self edit and as I'm still crafting the story as a discovery writer, I usually rest the manuscript for a week or two. I schedule blocks of time for editing in my Google calendar and when not in pandemic times, I go to a cafe. When it opens first thing in the morning, I put on my Bose noise cancelling headphones and edit by hand with a black ballpoint pen from page one to the end. I usually manage 10 to 20 pages per editing session of a couple of hours each, but it will depend on the amount of restructuring I need to do. I scribble notes in the margins, draw arrows to move paragraphs around, write extra material on the back of the pages or add where I need to write more later. I change words, rewrite and delete lines and pick up any issues around lack of sensory detail, character problems and more. You can see an example of a [e-mail] hand edit. Some pages end up a mass of black, others are relatively clean, but in this first hand edit, no page goes untouched as I hone my manuscript into something closer to my creative goal. You can edit on a computer or a tablet or whatever else works for you, but at least change the font or the spacing or something to make it a different experience to reading the first draft draft. Most writers have a tendency to either overwrite or underwrite and so will either need to cut words or add words. At this stage I'm in the latter camp, so I usually have to add scenes or deepen characters or theme. At this point, once I have hand edited the whole manuscript end to end, I make the changes in my Scrivener project. I change the colour of the flags along the way and as ever, I back up the section session. When all the changes have been made, I print the complete manuscript again and read end to end and edit as before. This time it's usually a lot cleaner and there may only be a few things to fix in each chapter. Once I'm finished, I'll update the Scrivener project once more and then decide whether it needs a third pass. Mostly two full end to end hand edits are enough for me these days, but sometimes I'll do a third or go through specific chapters one more time. Time. This messy editing process is fun for me and it's hugely satisfying to see my story come to life. What to focus on in the Self Edit Some authors will go through the manuscript multiple times, focusing on different elements with each pass. Using the aspects covered in part three and Part four, for example, they'll do an edit based on character and dialogue, followed by another pass for plot, then theme, and so on. Personally, I try to keep the reader in mind and focus on the story as a coherent whole. That's just how my mind works. I jump from fixing a plot issue to deepening a character to adding foreshadowing and so on. As I read and edit. I'm confident that my editor will find a lot of the smaller things that I might miss, so I concentrate on trying to achieve my creative vision with the story. Story, you will find your own way of figuring out your process. It's much better to jump in and have a go at editing rather than trying to work out the best way before you have something to work through. Lost the plot? Try Reverse outlining. If you're a discovery writer like me and you're struggling with the edit and you feel you have lost the plot, which definitely happens sometimes, then consider a reverse outline as part of your editorial process. Go through the manuscript and write a few lines per scene. Include character, plot points, conflict setting, open questions and hooks, and any other notes. This will help you step back and hopefully see the entire story from a high level. Then you can dive back into rewriting each chapter. Read the book out loud or use a text to speech reader to do it for you. You Many authors read their book aloud end to end, which is a helpful step once you've been through any major rewrites. There are also plenty of text to speech tools that can help, for example Natural Reader or Speechify, and some are built into devices or applications. Ms. Word includes a read aloud tool in the Review tab. This will also help you edit for audio as you'll hear issues you can't see on the page. Editing for Audio Audiobooks are a huge growth market and many readers will listen to your book rather than read it, so it's a good idea to consider editing with audio in mind at this stage. Here are some Watch out for repeated sounds the editorial process will usually catch repeated written words, but similar sounding words can hit the same audio note in narration, you might not notice them in the text as they are spelled differently. The words you, blue, tattoo, and interview all start and end with different letters. They look different on the page, but they strike the same audio note when read aloud in the same way. Repetition can work if you have a point to make, but sometimes it just jars the listener if it is overused. A classic recommendation for writing dialogue is to use said with a character name rather than other words like uttered or pronounced. This is because said disappears for the reader on the written page. But with audio, the repetition of a word is highly noticeable and repeated sounds can dominate a path. Rewrite with synonyms for said, or use action to make it clear who the speaker is without resorting to dialogue tags as Described in Chapter 3.5. Contractions or the lack of them can also become more obvious in audio I am not going to the park might be spoken as I'm not going to the park. When we type dialogue, it is often more formal than the way someone speaks, so check if you can contract it in your edit. Accents can be an issue with fiction narration. There are plenty of narrators who do a straight read, but if there are accents within dialogue, make it clear where the character comes from. Make sure the narrator knows about the accent choice up front, otherwise you might not like it in the finished order. Audio Remember my friend whose novel had an Irish character narrated like a comedy leprechaun instead of the soft lilt she had in mind? Don't confuse the reader. If you have a lot of characters appearing in a chapter and no clear character tags, you might lose the listener in the detail. When reading on paper or a screen, your reader can quickly flick back and see that George was the butler and Angus was the dog, but that's harder to do when listening to an audiobook. Make sure it's clear who is who. You may have to remind listeners occasionally by adding character tags. For example, Angus ran alongside the canal could become Angus the Golden Cocker Spaniel ran alongside the canal. For more on audiobooks, check out my book Audio for Authority Authors, Audiobooks, Podcasting, and voice Technologies how many drafts do you need? The word draft means different things to different authors. Some only apply this term to a complete rewrite end to end, while others will shift paragraphs around, change some lines, add a new scene, and call that a new draft. Nora Roberts said in a blog post on her writing I work on a three draft method. This works for me. It's not the right way or the wrong way. There is no right or wrong for a process that works for any individual writer. Anyone who claims there is only one way or that's the wrong way is a stupid arrogant bullshitter. That's my considered opinion. I love Nora's no nonsense approach and she is right that there is no single correct process. You have to find your own. But beware of comparing what you call a draft to what another writer calls a draft. It may be something completely different

Use

editing software Once I finished my hand edits and updated the Scrivener project, I use prowritingaid on the manuscript. It integrates with Scrivener, so I open my project and go through each chapter. ProWritingAid picks up passive voice, repetitive words, commas and typos, suggests rephrasing, and even picks up culturally problematic language. Yes, these are the type of things that an editor will pick up, but I want to hand over a manuscript that is as clean as possible so my editor can focus on other issues. Use. I don't make all the suggested changes, but it certainly helps improve my writing and I learn as I go through. You can even create your own style guide so you spell things the same way throughout. This is also a good chance to check typos according to the version of English you want to use or any other language. I'm English and based in the uk, but when I published my first novel I received complaints about typos from my readers who were mainly in the us. These were not typos, they were just British spelling. I decided to use US English in my books because US readers complain about UK spelling but non US readers will rarely complain about US spelling because they are used to it. You can set prowritingaid to the type of English you want to use and if you specify this later, your editor can pick up on word usage rather than typos. For example using the term flashlight instead of torch. You can find [e-mail] prowritingaid. You can find my tutorial on how to use [e-mail] prowritingaidtutorial when is your self edit finished? You will be utterly sick of your manuscript by the end of the self editing process. You have read your words so many times you can't see them clearly anymore. You are so over the whole thing that you want to forget the book altogether. If you don't feel this way, you probably haven't self edited enough. When you really feel you can't do any more, it's time to work with a professional editor. If you are putting off the end of self editing, then remember that nothing is ever perfect. You can edit forever if you keep obsessing over changes and going over and over the same material. If your self edit goes on too long, consider whether perfectionism is holding you back. Set a completion date and hold yourself to it. Question have you set aside time for your self editing process? Have you printed out the manuscript or created a new version with a different font so it looks different to the original? Have you shifted your mindset from writer to editor? Do you know what you want the reader's experience to be? How will you keep them in mind as you edit? How does your self editing process work? What tools can you use? Is the reader's journey through the book as clear and easy as possible? Have you achieved your creative goal for the story or at least made it as far as you can at this point? How will you know when the self edit is finished? How can you balance doing the best you can with avoiding perfection? Have you taken this self editing process as far as you can? Are you ready to work with a professional editor? 5.3 how to find and Work with a Professional Editor if you want your book to be the best it can be, then working with a professional editor is the next step. Step an editor's job is to take your manuscript and help you improve it through structural changes and story development, line edits, suggestions for new material or sentence refinement, and so much more. Different kinds of editors can help you in different ways, from constructing the overarching story to eliminating the final typo. In my experience, good professional editors are well worth the investment as they help improve your book and your craft, especially in the initial stages of your writing journey. They have read so many early stage manuscripts that they understand the most common problems and know how to help you fix them. Some experienced authors only use proofreaders for their novels, but personally I still work with a professional editor on every book and I learn something every time. I am a super fan of editors. How to Find a Professional Editor Consolidation in the traditional publishing industry over the last decade has resulted in many more editors working as freelancers, so authors have a wealth of professionals available for hire in every genre. You can find lists of approved editors through author organisations. The alliance of Independent Authors has a list of partner members, many of whom are editors. You can also use Author Marketplace Reedsy. Many editors use content marketing to find clients, for example blogging about editing tips, writing books on editing, or appearing on podcasts. I have had a lot of editors on the Creative Pen podcast over the years so you can listen and see if they resonate with you. You Most authors credit their editors and proofreaders in the acknowledgments of their books, and many authors happily share recommendations on social media in various author communities. If you enjoy a certain novel, it might be worth reaching out to that editor. As you know they are a specialist in the genre. Check out my list of [e-mail] Editor Editors how to Assess whether an editor is right for you I frequently get emails from writers asking me to recommend an editor for their book, but finding an editor is like dating you have to do it yourself and it's likely that you will try a few before you find your perfect match. You may also change editors over your writing life as your craft develops and your needs shift. Shift. And that's completely normal too. Make sure the editor has experience in and enjoys your genre. You don't want a literary historical fiction editor working on your YA paranormal romance or your hard sci fi adventure. Ensure that the editor has testimonials from happy clients and check directly with a named author if you have doubts. Some editors will offer a sample edit for one chapter. This helps both parties decide whether working together is appropriate. The editor can assess what level your manuscript is at, and you can decide whether their editorial style is right for you. How to Work with an Editor when you engage an editor, you will receive a contract with a timeline and a price for the work work. You agree to deliver the manuscript on a particular date and will usually pay a deposit, especially if this is the first time you're working together. The editor agrees to deliver the edits back on a certain date and also to keep your manuscript in confidence. You can avoid issues later by communicating expectations up front, so if you have questions about the editing process, ask before you sign a contract. Many editors are booked months in advance, so once you know your schedule, contact them early and book a slot. Update them if your timings change. Most allow minor slippage, but since editors plan their work around contractual dates, it's important to be timely with delivery. As a discovery writer, I only book my editor when I am short of my date. Submit your manuscript and once the edit is complete, you will receive whatever has been agreed. That might be a structural report, line edit or proofread manuscript along with a style sheet. It's usually in the form of an Ms. Word document by email. Some editors may offer a call to discuss, but I have never spoken to an editor as part of my process. It has never been necessary. It's all about the words on the page. If you want a call and it is not specified, then include it in the contract up front along with anything else you're concerned about. I consider my editors to be an important part of my team. They help me turn my manuscripts into books that readers like love and I rely on them as part of my business. This is a two way relationship and you need to behave as professionally as the editor should. If you find an editor you love working with, pay them quickly and respect their time and you will hopefully have a long term business relationship that benefits you both. How does it feel to go through an edit? It's probably going to hurt, especially in the beginning. When your craft is in its early stages, you need fresh eyes on your work, especially at the beginning of your author career. You need feedback to improve When I received notes back on my structural edit for my first novel, I didn't open the email for 10 days. I was so scared of what it would say because my novel meant so much to to me and yet I knew it had problems. Of course it did. It was my first novel. So I let the email sit in my inbox until I was ready to face it. And like many things, the fear was worse than the actual event. Even many years and many books later, I still don't open emails from my editor until I am mentally ready to face criticism because that's what it feels like. It is not the editor's job to pat you on the back and say well done. This is perfect. Their job is to help you make it the best book it can be. They are experts and have honed their advice over many manuscripts so they can spot an issue a mile off. When you receive that email from your editor, particularly if it's your first book, make sure you are well rested and in a positive frame of mind. Set aside a good amount of time and read through the comments and the manuscript as a whole. If you have an emotional reaction, do not email back immediately. Let the feedback sit with you for a few days and you will find it easier to see what might need to change. Once you're ready, go through the manuscript and work through each change. Don't just click Accept all on the track changes version for a lineup edit. This takes time, but it's well worth it because you will learn with every step and you'll be able to spot your common issues in the future and hopefully fix them next time. You also need to examine every suggestion to see if you want to make the change. Do you need to make every change that an editor suggests? No you don't. You are the author, so your creative vision is the most important thing. But try to get some distance and assess whether the change truly serves the book or if you're just having an emotional response. Remember what Jeffrey Deaver the reader is God. Consider each editorial suggestion on its own merit. Does it help take the story in the direction you want it to? Will it improve the reader's experience? What if my editor wants me to change everything? Perhaps they are not the right editor for you. The editor should not fundamentally change your story or alter your creative vision. Their job is to help you shape your manuscript into a better version of itself and retain your voice and ideas while at the same time improving it for the reading. This is a skillful balancing act, which is why experienced editors are so highly sought after. How long will the editing process take? This will depend on the type of writer you are in terms of the first draft. If you outline in great detail and spend time up front making the first draft the best it can be, then editing might take less time than for a discovery writer who only figures out the book after the first draft. The more books you've written, the more you understand how to shape a novel, the more you can write a clean draft, so editing speeds up. That doesn't mean it gets easier to write a book, but it does mean you know how to find and fix issues. It will also depend on the length of the book. A 50,000 word romance with one protagonist will be a faster edit than a 150,000 word sprawling fantasy fantasy with multiple point of view characters. It will also depend on your experience, so don't compare your editing time to someone who has written a lot of books. Give editing the time it needs. You want your book to be the best it can be, but also remember Parkinson's Law which I discussed in chapter 4.7 on writing the first draft. Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. This law also applies to editing. Set your deadline and schedule your editing time accordingly. Don't book a professional editor until you've been through at least your self editing process as it may take longer than you think. How much does an editor cost? This will depend on the type of edit, your genre and word content, how experienced you are as a writer, and how much experience the editor has. Editors usually quote a range on their website and you can also email and ask for a more detailed quote based on your manuscript length and sample. Every dollar I have spent on editing has been worth it as an investment in my writing craft and the quality of my finished novels. Although my requirements are different now, I continue to use editors and proofreaders for all my books Books. The more eyes on your novel before publication, the better it will be on Launch what if you have a tight budget? When I started out as a writer, I had a day job and I saved up for the editorial process. It was an investment in my craft and a possible future creative career. If you already have or intend to set up a business as a writer, then you can offset the cost of editors against any product profits. But when you're starting out, you can't necessarily see that far ahead. If you're on a tight budget, then find or set up a writers group with others in your genre and work through one another's manuscripts. You might also have other skills. You can barter for editing services, but remember that bartering is subject to tax in many jurisdictions, so don't assume that it is free. What if my editor steals my ideas or my manuscript? This is a common concern of new writers who think that editors might run away with their book and make millions with their idea. But don't worry, editors are professionals. They work within a contractual framework that protects both parties. So make sure you are happy with the contract before you sign it. If you are really worried, you can register your copyright before you send the manuscript to anyone else. While it is not legally necessary to register copyright, it exists the moment the work is created. There are registration companies in every country that can provide peace of mind. Just search for copyright registration within your territory. Will I need different editors when I'm further along in my writing channel journey? Yes, as your craft and experience improves, you will likely work with different editors. You might also choose to use a new editor for a different genre or work with recommended professionals to take your craft to the next level. Questions how will you find a professional editor and validate that they are the right one for you? How will you work with your editor so you are both happy with the process and the result? How can you prepare yourself mentally for receiving feedback and line edits? How can you reframe the experience as positive and learn for next time? 5.4 beta readers specialist Readers and Sensitivity Readers Professional editors approach your manuscript with a critical eye based on their knowledge of language, story structure, and genre. But sometimes it's a good idea to gain perspective from readers who are not experts on sentence structure or grammar, but comment on the story itself and their experience of reading it as a whole. Beta Readers Beta readers are a trusted group of people who evaluate your book from a reader's perspective before publication. The term comes from the software industry, where early versions are tested in beta before being released to the public. While there are some paid beta reader services, many authors find people from their existing readers or from among genre fans in the writing community. Authors usually thank their beta readers in their acknowledgments. Specialist Readers Specialist readers are experts on a particular topic who read with their expertise in mind. This might be a police officer who checks a crime novel or a physicist who reads for a science fiction authority.

Author

Sensitivity Readers Sensitivity readers check for cultural and diversity issues, lack of or cliched representation, and insensitive, inauthentic or uninformed language, characters, or situations. This type of feedback can help an author before publication and can be particularly useful if you are tackling more controversial topics. Topics it can also be valuable when reviewing older manuscripts if you want to republish a new edition as gendered language has changed, as well as the need for representation, diversity and inclusivity. While some criticise sensitivity reading as a step towards censorship, most authors want to make their books the best they can be and ensure the reader experience is excellent, whatever the gentleman genre. Being a fiction writer is also about empathy with our characters and with our readers, so improving our ability to write about diverse characters is important. However, authors cannot be experts on what it's like to experience every race or religion, every body type or disability or mental health issue, or understand every country or culture. Feedback from different kinds of readers can help us write better stories, and it is the author's choice whether to Suggestions in the final manuscript. Do you need all these types of readers? No, you don't need any of them. Or you can choose to use some of them for different books, depending on the need. It's up to you and your agent or publisher if you choose to go that route. At what stage in the editorial process should you use these types of research? Readers the book should be as close to the final version as possible. These people are reading with fresh eyes. If they read again later, they can never approach the story with such an open mind. Most authors will send the manuscript to a select group of readers after the main editorial revisions but before the proofread. Some authors with more developed careers even use their team of beta readers instead of editors at different stages of the process. What should you provide to readers? Provide the manuscript in the format the reader prefers. This could be an Ms. Word document or PDF. Many established authors use BookFunnel, which allows you to create a version that can be read on any reading device or Phone specialist readers and sensitivity readers have their specific expertise, but for more general beta readers you need to provide some direction as to what you expect. Did you skip over anything? Did anything bore you? Was anything confusing? Did you have to re read any parts? What did you like? Was there anything you hated or objected to or had a problem with? How long should you give them to read? Allow at least two weeks for readers to assess and provide feedback. Be clear on the timeline when you send them the book. Do you need to make all the changes they suggest? No. And if you try to, you will end up straying from your creative goal, messing up your author voice and likely pleasing no one. Keep your number of early readers small and specific to what you want to add. Achieve Assess each comment and suggestion on its own merit and decide whether or not to make the change. Be confident in your creative vision and beware writing by committee, which becomes a problem if you ask too many people for feedback. Only you can decide what you want for your novel. Questions what kind of readers might be useful for your manuscript? Where will you find these readers? How do you hope to improve the manuscript from this feedback? How will you assess whether to make the changes? 5.7 when is the book finished? I have not yet found words to truly convey the intensity of this remembered wrap, that moment of exquisite joy. When necessary words come together and the work is complete, finished, ready to be read. Bell hooks Remembered rapture. You can edit a book forever if you want to. Every time you read it you will find things to change. Every time you hire another editor they will find more. If you work with beta readers, they will also offer opinions. Your novel will never be finished until you decide it is. Nothing is ever perfect. Even if you hire three separate editors and use multiple proofreaders, you will still find a typo or an error in the published novel. Pick up any best selling book from a traditional publisher and you will still find an issue soldier somewhere. It happens to everyone. Look at any prize winning or best selling book on Amazon and check the reviews. The more popular the book, the more issues people will find with it. There will never be a novel that satisfies everyone and that's fine. Of course you must make sure your book is the best it can be, but set boundaries for yourself so you do eventually finish. Have you self edited your manuscript? Have you worked with a professional editor or at least worked through the manuscript with other writers to improve it? Have you used editing tools and or a proofreader? Have you set a deadline to move into the publishing process so you are not Editing forever If you have been through this rigorous editorial process and you still feel the itch to edit it again, be honest with yourself. Is another round of changes really going to make a substantial difference to this book? Would it be better to work on the next novel instead of constantly reworking this one? Are you struggling with fear of judgment, fear of failure, procrastination, or other mindset issues that you need to work on instead of editing? Check out my book the Successful Author Mindset if you think this might be the case case Strive for excellence, do your best, and then release your book out into the world. Set a limit on revisions, set a limit on drafts, set a time limit. The book will never be perfect. Christine Catherine Rush the Pursuit of Perfection and How It Harms Writers Question have you followed an editorial process to make your book the best it can be within a specific time limit? If you're still struggling with the pursuit of perfection, what can you do to move past that?

So I hope you found the editing chapters useful. And remember they were excerpted from how to Write a Novel From Idea to Book Written by Me, Human Narrated by Me and you can get the book in all formats from my store, creativepenbooks.com or on every other store, or order from your local library or bookshop. Please leave a comment on the podcast Show Notes at the creative pen.com or on the YouTube channel, or email me joannathecreativepen.com and please send me pictures of where you're listening or your favourite cemetery or churchyard next Monday. I'm not sure what's happening, so it will be a surprise for us all. And in the meantime, happy welcome writing and I'll see you next time.

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You can find the backlist episodes and show [e-mail] podcast and you can get your free author [e-mail] blueprint if you'd like to connect, you can find me on Facebook and X at the Creative Pen or on Instagram and Facebook. Fpenauthor Happy writing and I'll see you next time.