We know that saving money is important, but skimping on your manuscript when it counts can spell disaster. Editing is one of the most important steps you’ll take in the publishing process. Editing is not the time to pinch pennies. The good news is, you can save money when it comes to editing by following these formatting styles used by professional editors:

1. To emphasize a word in a sentence, use italics; not bold, not ALL CAPS, not underline.

2. Don’t use “also” and “and” in the same sentence.

3. It’s okay to use contractions liberally; “you’re” not “you are”; “he’d” not “he would” unless you are writing a work of academic or technology.

4. Don’t mix second person (you) with first person (I) in the same paragraph; that changes the POV (point of view).

5. Eliminate “you must” and “you should” as much as possible.

6. Always question the use of the verb “try” – It’s overused and weak.

7. In text, spell out state names fully, e.g., Colorado not CO.

8. Use “I think” and “I believe” sparingly – it’s assumed.

9. Differentiate between “believe” and “feel”; they are different.

10. Take the author’s voice out of the writing as much as possible. This is called narrative intrusion and will take your reader away from the story.

11. Use the verb form of a word rather than the noun form, e.g., Do you have struggles? Do you struggle?

12. Present tense is more powerful than future tense. “This book shows you how” is stronger than “this book will show you how.”

13. Dump weak four-letter words you just don’t need: very, some, much.

14. Use active verbs, the engines that drive writing; make better word choices for “is” “was” “were” verbs when possible.

15. Replace ubiquitous verbs such as “do” and “got” with more active verbs.

16. Be conscious of which nouns are plural and which are singular, e.g., staff is singular so don’t follow it with “they.”

17. “For example” abbreviated is e.g. (not i.e.); use i.e., (with a comma) when you mean “that is” (to further clarify a point).

18. Vary sentence length. This helps to keep a firm grasp on reader attention no matter what you write about. And no more than 21 words in a sentence; divide long sentences into shorter ones.

19. Watch for hyphened words, e.g., follow up (is a noun and verb); follow-up (is an adjective).

20. Use numerals in your chapter headings instead of spelling out, e.g., Chapter 1, not Chapter One.

21. “Since” is used for lapse of time. “Because” is used for “the reason that.”

22. Eliminate “that” and “some” as much as possible.

23. “Awhile” means “for a while”; saying “for awhile” is like saying “for for a while.”

24. Kinship names, such as “Dad” versus “my dad.” Capitalize when the name is used as a proper name or is used as a command, but not when used as a general term, e.g., Dad came home early. My dad came home early. Dad, you came home early.

25. Watch for redundant adverbs. The radio blared loudly. (Blare connotes loudness.) The father clenched his teeth tightly. (There’s no other way to clench teeth.)

These are just a few editing tips that can help you save money when it comes time to hire an editor. The less work your editor has to do, the more cost savings for you.

Want to become a better writer? There are literally thousands of books you can buy on “how to” become a better writer or “what not” to do.

When editing fiction manuscripts, I find myself repeating the same suggestions over and over, so I thought I would share them with you. Many of these tips can also be used for non-fiction as well.

Here are my top ten writing tips to help make you a better writer:

1. Always start your story with a strong opening. You want an opening that will grab your reader’s attention and keep them reading from line to line, paragraph to paragraph, chapter to chapter. I love stories that end each chapter with a “what’s-going-to-happen-next” hanger. I must turn the page and read more.

2. Try to show as much detail in the story as possible as opposed to just telling us. Involve the reader in the details by painting a picture in their mind. What can they see, hear, smell, taste, what can they touch? Instead of telling us: “It was a sunny day,” or “The sun was shining.” Show us by writing: “The glare from the midday sun bounced off the hot asphalt.”

3. Keep your writing in the present tense. Narration is good, but any time you use [ed] at the end of a word, you are taking your reader to the past. Especially when the [ed] word is surrounded by a had or have been, or was. Your story should be happening now and your writing should reflect that. It doesn’t matter if your story is set in 2008, 1942, or the 16th century, talk to us as if we are there now. Pull us into the story and take us along for the ride.

4. Go easy on the ellipses [ . . . ]. The ellipsis should be used mainly when trailing off a thought or if dialogue is broken. Otherwise use a comma, semi-colon, or the em dash. Also, the ellipsis is always three dots with a space before, after, and between the words. For example: Oh . . . hey . . . what are you doing?

5. Go easy on the exclamation point!!!! A good writer uses stronger words so the exclamation point is a given. And, please, never use more than one exclamation point!! And please, please, never with a question mark?!

6. I can’t state this tip enough. Cut out the passive voice. Drop words like was, will be, were and boring verbs like walk, drove, run. You want to write with action and movement, and propel the story forward with vivid descriptions.

7. On that note, use adverbs like you would use the passive voice. In other words, don’t. Adverbs, you’ll remember, modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. They usually end in [ly]. If you cut out the passive voice, you can cut out adverbs. Instead of: “He closed the door firmly as he left the room.” Try: “He slammed the door and stormed out.”

8. Using dialogue in your story is a great way to bring your characters to life. Just make sure your dialogue makes sense to the story. Random conversations that have nothing to do with moving the story forward confuse your reader. And to backtrack to adverbs for a moment, it’s not necessary to write adverb-filled dialogue. For example: “Halt or I’ll shoot!” he shouted menacingly. “Try to catch me!” she yelled angrily. Okay, we get the idea. A simple: he shouted and she yelled, works better.

9. Give your reader lots of similes (or comparisons). Instead of: “We could hear the gravel hitting the undercarriage of the car.” Say: “Gravel hit the undercarriage like popcorn bursting in hot oil.” Or, “Gravel hit the undercarriage like firecrackers on the 4th of July.”

10. Buy a good thesaurus and use it until it’s worn out. Whenever you feel stuck on a word, or just can’t seem to find the right word, open your thesaurus and have fun!

As an editor for mostly self-published authors, I often give out complimentary sample edits and price quotes to those requesting my services. I think it’s a nice way to let the client know what they can expect and how much their project will cost. Most of the time, though, the author will be shocked at my quoted price. They’ll love the edits, but because most writers believe their manuscript is already perfect, they can’t believe how much it actually costs to professionally edit a book.

Now I’m going to focus on the operative word here: professionally. Sure, it’s easy to produce a book that your Aunt Sue proofread, after all, she is an English major, but to produce a high-quality, error-free book is a whole other story.

Take this recent post from the Chronicle of Higher Education blog (May 2, 2008):

“Princeton U. Press Recalls Typo-Filled Book and Says It Will Reprint
Princeton University Press has recalled all copies of one of its spring titles after discovering more than 90 spelling and grammar errors in the 245-page work. The book, Cop in the Hood: My Year Policing Baltimore’s Eastern District, by Peter Moskos, was published on Thursday in an initial press run of 4,000 copies.”
(Link to full story
http://chronicle.com/news/article/4427/princeton-u-press-recalls-typo-filled-book-and-says-it-will-reprint#comment)

Yikes! Ninety spelling and grammar errors in 245 pages! What happened here was a clear case of cutting corners and what can happen when an author (or publisher) doesn’t make the necessary financial commitment to create a book that sells. In the long run, the author and/or the publisher pays for it in the end.

I will preach and preach until I’m all preached out: Don’t skimp on one of the most important steps in producing your book–editing and proofreading!

Virtual Book Tours (VBT) also known as Virtual Author Tours (VAT) are fast becoming the best way to market your book online. Here are 10 tips to help you create a successful virtual book tour:

1.   Create a Web page

Set up a Web page specifically for the Virtual Book Tour (VBT). This is where you will send potential tour stop hosts so they can sign up to join your VBT. This site should also capture contact information and put it in your shopping cart system for future email promotions.

2.   Create a book trailer

Create a dynamic book trailer. Don’t skimp on this step. This will be one of the main reasons people sign up for the book tour. A good book trailer acts along the lines of a movie trailer. It’s your hook to draw people in, get them curious and asking for more.

3. Do your research

Spend a lot of time carefully doing Internet research to find areas that fit your target market. (Are you writing about self-help, women’s issues, business, a fantasy novel?). Search more than just blogging sites. Search for web radio, newsletters, article submissions, and social networking sites.

4. Create a killer pitch letter geared to your target market

Create a pitch letter, stating who you are, what you are doing, and add links to the Web site and the book trailer. Personalize the letter and specifically gear it to your target audience, and make sure it doesn’t sound canned or come off as a mass email.

5.   Offer more than blogging

Again, offer more than just blogging as a means for your tour stop hosts. Podcasts, Q&A sessions, live interviews, phone interviews, articles for newsletters, Internet radio interviews, all work, as well as blogs. The easier you can make it for your tour stop host, the better response you’ll receive.

6.   Create a tracking spreadsheet

Create a spreadsheet including all the sites you’ve found, the contact information, when you contacted them, what you can offer that particular contact (i.e., will you blog for them, do a Q&A session, live interview, podcast?) and make a column for responses. Then use an online calendar (Outlook, Google, Yahoo all have calendars that will work just fine) to see who’s doing what, when, and where.

7.   Follow up at least four (4) times

Once you have all these steps in place, you are ready to start contacting each person on our list along with their personal pitch letter. If you don’t get a response right away, follow up (at least four times) with a different pitch letter each time. (It’s not as necessary to personalize these follow up letters.) And, don’t waste time with those that don’t respond after the fourth try. Move on to a new group of contacts. If you’ve written a good pitch letter, most of your responses will come in after the first or second try.

8. Start your own blog

Post what’s happening with your VBT in your blog. Add each tour stop date and plug the tour stop host’s company, their Web site and their contact information.

9.   Send Goodies

Offer to send a copy of your book to your tour stop host along with other possible freebies, (i.e., a workbook, a report, an audio CD, etc.). And don’t forget a thank you note.

10. Ask for referrals

Ask your tour stop host for referrals of people they know that would benefit from your book. You’ll find that if you offer quality content and are passionate and enthusiastic about your book then others will be too.

In fiction, the writer’s job is to entertain, to draw an emotional response from the reader. The reader is often looking for suspense, action, and to go on a journey they have not been on before, one they will not easily forget.  Readers want to get drawn into and experience the story for themselves.  They want characters they can relate to and form a personal connection with.  But most importantly, they want a good book.  One that leaves them anxiously awaiting each turn of the page.  Here are three crucial elements of a good fiction book: 

Well-developed characters:  The characters in the book must be well developed and believable.  The characters should remind you of your teacher, your lawyer, your doctor, or maybe even your best friend.  Even though they are fictional, they come alive for us in the story. 
Action:   A good fiction book needs to be filled with action.  The good guys are after the bad guys, the doctor needs to find a cure.  From the beginning to the end, the reader can’t bear to stop reading because the action just keeps coming.   

Great Plot:  The writer keeps the reader guessing right to the end by using surprising, realistic plot twists.  Just when we think we know “who done it” – bam – a new twist creeps up and a story involves more.  As we near the end we wonder if there is time to solve it?  Will it have a happy ending?  Most readers long for a good ending to their story as they grow fond of the characters in the book and want to see the best happen to them.

For those looking for a good fiction book to read, one that stands out is the fiction thriller, Sledgehammer, by Paulo J. Reyes, M.D (http://www.pauloreyes.com).  This book has a well-developed story that takes place in an ER in Los Angeles.  The author, an ER Doctor himself, depicts the ER setting perfectly as patients appear and seek treatment and case after case of medical drama unfolds. The story takes you hour by hour through life in this ER until the unthinkable happens and one of the patients appears with smallpox symptoms.  What happens next is fiction at its finest and leaves you eagerly asking, “Could it happen today?” Writers write about what they know.  They can bring the sounds, colors, and images of their world to life in their story. 

Fiction is where writers get the opportunity to bring you into that world and keep you there until, “the end.” 

  **Diana Ennen is the Publisher of the fiction book, Sledgehammer, http://www.pauloreyes.com and http://www.virtualwordpublishing.com.  Article is free to be reprinted as long as bio remains intact.
 

Over the last few weeks, we’ve learned how to add energy, clarity, and succinctness to our sentences. I’d like to end this series with some tips on writing rhythm. What does that mean?

Writing with rhythm is how your words and sentences sound. It’s a subtle aspect of writing, that’s not normally talked about because it’s hard to teach, but that doesn’t lessen its importance.

It’s the difference between hearing an instrument play the same melody over and over again and listening to a symphony. Of course, everyone should have their own writing-rhythm style but use these four tips as a guide on how to improve your rhythm.

1. What’s the pace. Pay attention to the flow of your writing when you read it aloud. Does it roll along smoothly, without long, unbroken torrents of sound, awkward pauses, and tongue-twisting miscues? If not, tinker with the syntax to improve the pace.

2. Look for alliteration. If your first draft sounds clumsy, see if you can rewrite sentences that repeat a key sound. Can you turn “dewdrops sat on the flower’s petals” into “dewdrops danced on the day lily’s leaves”?

3. Vary the length. Like the speaker who never varies their pitch, sentence after sentence of the same length is a guaranteed snooze fest. Mix it up by following long sentences with short ones, or create paragraph patterns with progressively shorter, or longer, sentences. And do the same thing with your paragraphs. Sometimes your paragraphs may contain a dozen sentences, sometimes they can be condensed to only one.

4. End with a bang. Like the crescendo of a musical passage, build the final sentence or paragraph of your chapter with intensity or excitement and then crash the cymbals. In other words, end with words that pack power and punch.

Reference: Hart, J. A Writer’s Coach, 2006, New York: Pantheon Books

Last week I talked about easy ways to add energy to your writing. This week, I’ll give you five easy ways to tighten your writing.

Keep in mind, anything that doesn’t contribute to a piece of writing detracts from it. To create the strongest possible prose, eliminate everything that isn’t essential.

1. Question every word. Read slowly through your draft questioning every word, phrase, and clause. Will cutting a word sacrifice the sentence’s meaning? If not, cut it. If cutting a word sacrifices only a tad of meaning unessential to your main point, cut that, too. Pay attention to the words or phrases on either side of conjunctions such as and, or, and but. Do you really need “strong” and “sturdy”?

2. Make your modifiers specific. Instead of writing that the car was “old,” say it was “dilapidated.” Drop modifiers that are already conveyed by their nouns or verbs. Do you need to write that your character “slowly ambled” down the aisle, or does “ambled” do the job?

3. Don’t crowd. Limit your sentences to one or two main ideas. Overloading your writing intimidates readers and adds unnecessary length.

4. Keep it concise. Never use two nouns when one will do. It’s not a “sales event,” it’s a “sale.” And a “crisis” is much more urgent than a “crisis situation.”

5. Heave the verb anchors. Simple action verbs can drive most writing. Auxiliary verbs bog the action down. Why write “he was skiing down the hill” when “he skied down the hill” does the job?

Reference: Hart, J. A Writer’s Coach, 2006, New York: Pantheon Books.

What do physics and writing have in common? In physics, the bigger and faster a moving object, the harder it hits. Same thing with words. The more energy they carry, the more response they get.

Do you want the world to take notice of your writing? Here are five ways to add energy:

1. Find action verbs. Describe your surroundings. Verbs such as “to be,” “looked,” “appeared,” and “felt” merely define. There’s no action.

The grass is green.
The grass looked green.
The grass felt good.

Action verbs capture movement.

The lightning bolt splintered the elm, crashing it into the house.

2. Avoid unnecessary suffixes. Word endings such as “-able,” “-tion,” and “-ance” turn action words into anchors.

Flabby: He gained entrance into the residence.
Svelte: He broke into the house.

3. Use the active voice. The voice of the verb determines the way action flows in a sentence. The strongest sentences start with the action then flow from the subject through the verb to the object.

Example:If Tom has a baseball and he hammers it into deep left field, then the active way of describing that act is:

Tom hit the ball.

The passive voice, on the other hand, begins with the object of the action, follows with the verb, and tacks the subject onto the end of the sentence.

The ball was hit by Tom.

4. Watch your expletives. An expletive is not just a curse word, but any term that merely fills a hole in a sentence without carrying any meaning. Common expletives include “there are,” “there were,” and “it is.” Expletives waste space and drain energy; eliminate them when you can.

Weak: There were six geese on the pond.
Better: Six geese paddled across the pond.
Weak: It was dawn.
Better: The sun rose.

5. Be bold. Confident writers take charge of their writing. Don’t be vague by using little qualifiers such as “somewhat,” “rather,” and “a little bit.”

The sun was somewhat hot.
The sun was rather hot.

There is no somewhat or rather. Be confident; was the sun hot or not?

Reference: Hart, J. The Writer’s Coach, 2006, New York: Pantheon Books

During the writing of The Revised and Expanded 2nd Edition of Grammar Done Right!, I was asked to speak at the American Business Women’s Association on the topic of “Good Grammar = Good Business.” Great topic!

I was then forced to determine and make clear to my audience: Why is grammar so important to good business? Great question!

Well, for one, a misplaced comma or unclear sentence has been known to cost companies millions of dollars. Need another reason? A survey of hiring managers showed that applications with spelling or grammar errors were rarely considered for the job. And, you already know that first impressions are lasting impressions; good grammar shows a willingness to care about your written image. It’s not just about following a bunch of rules, it’s about being understood, showing respect, and getting respect.

That’s why I’m participating in National Grammar Day on March 4th, and you should too.

Founded by Martha Brockenbrough, founder of The Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar (SPOGG); the site loves those of us that aren’t afraid to wield our mighty red pen, and acknowledges those of us who crave and practice good grammar.

Join me in supporting National Grammar Day by visiting:

http://www.nationalgrammarday.com
http://www.spogg.org

Want to save money this year when it comes time to hire an editor?

Keep in mind that editors often charge by the hour. So the better you can write, the less time your editor will spend going through your manuscript. here are a few quick tips to help you save money when working with an editor.

Start your story with a bang.
Don’t make your editor rewrite your opening because you’ve launched into a wordy intro, prologue, or first chapter. Hook your reader from the get-go. Your editor (and reader) will love you for it.

Cut out unnecessary words.
Editors edit; that’s what they do. Be concise in your writing. A lengthy paragraph about the color of someone’s eyes or the time of day can be cut down to a few succinct words.

Go easy on passive verbs and adverbs..
Editors cringe when they see the passive voice or too many adverbs. The English language is full of exciting, creative action verbs. Use them.

Show, don’t tell.
You’ve probably heard this advice a thousand times. Listen to it. Your readers want you to show them what is happening in your story. Is it a sunny day? Don’t tell us it’s a sunny day; show us how the rays bounce off the hot asphalt.

Three must-have writing tools.
Every writer should invest in three invaluable books and study them: a book on writing well, a good grammar and style guide, a Thesaurus.

Take the time to learn these simple skills. Your editor will spend less time reworking and editing your manuscript, and you will save money.