Writer Series: Editing
After eight months of writing around 75,000 words, The Legend of Valtera was ready for the editing process. Having completed some preliminary editing myself, I started looking for a professional editing service to send my manuscript to. It was important for me to take this whole process seriously as I wanted the final product to be as professional as possible.
The goal was always to self-publish. I wasn’t really inclined to relinquish any control over my story, characters, plot, etc. All this effort went into writing and finishing this book, though, and I found there was really no downside in following through all the way, especially given how easy it is nowadays to publish on your own. But I had done significant research into self-publishing and offering a professional product was of the utmost importance if there was any chance for it to be successful.
Research of third party editing services was next on my to-do list and I’m incredibly thankful I came across Bubble Cow. I found their services online and they seemed to be the most reasonably priced for what they were offering, especially since they seemed to be focused on self-published authors. But the reviews of their services, as clients had great things to say, were the most convincing in my decision.
The decision made, I sent my manuscript off and settled in to wait the six or so weeks until my book would be back in my possession. When the time came, Bubble Cow sent me an editor’s report and my manuscript with edits. The editor’s report contained overall notes about the story as well as a chapter by chapter breakdown of what worked and didn’t throughout the book. The manuscript with edits, on the other hand, was more specific with comments and notes as well as a line by line edit.
I can’t even begin to tell you how invaluable this whole experience was for me as a writer. It gave me a different perspective, allowing me to take a step back as an author to see my work through a more objective lens. Even if nothing comes from this book, even if it just sits on the digital shelf for all of eternity, I still feel like this was all worth it and the whole process definitely improved my writing.
The break was over now, though, and I had my work cut out for me. At first glance, the feedback was overwhelming to say the least, but after a few read throughs it became a slightly less daunting task. Grateful for my thoroughness from the onset, it turned out I didn’t have to make any major or drastic changes. My main focus was elaboration on a few different aspects of the story and the supporting characters and their development. After another six weeks of working, reworking, adding, editing and cutting, my story was finished, coming in with final word count of around 85,000. The final draft now complete, I was ready to move on to the publishing stage.
