from dreamstime.com

In this post, Top 5 Ways Authors Sabotage Their Own Book by Shayla Eaton — The Book Designer, Shayla Eaton really talks about 1 way that authors sabotage their book and 5 reasons why they do it.

Still a good post, though. Editing is SO important. I’ve made the mistake of hiring people that aren’t editing professionals, and I’ve cost myself money (and probably readers) because of it.

The last point Shayla makes is a very good one as well. I always tell my author clients that I can not possible pick up every error – the vast majority, yes – but not every single one. Editors are human too! Even after a professional edit, you need to have someone who has never read the story before, read it for you before you have it printed or even before you have a proof made.

I have learned this the hard way with my third book, I assumed the new editor I hired got all my errors but she hadn’t, of course. I had 30 books printed that I now can’t use because of the mistakes I found. Not many but enough that I don’t want people to see it.

So spend the money to hire a professional editor and take the time to have someone (other than yourself) read it after it has been edited. I’d also encourage you or again, someone else, look at the proof as well. You will be surprised the small things that will still be found. And I’ll share a little proofing trick, go through the story backwards. It makes you slow your reading down and not get into the story as easily. In proofing you shouldn’t be reading the story, you need to be reading the words and the sentences.

(Note: there are other aspects of proofing that need to be looked at as well. Check out this old post for more details about proofing.)