MY EDITING PROCESS — Beth Anne Campbell

1. ROUGH DRAFT ONLINE (I use MS Word)

a. WAIT

2. EDIT 1 (research, fix, add, delete, major edits)

a. PROOFREAD (I use Pro Writing Aid)

b. WAIT

3. EDIT 2 (start making it shine)

a. PROOFREAD

b. WAIT

4. EDIT 3 (ooh, I think I’m so close! Nope…not even.)

a. PROOFREAD

b. WAIT

c. There might be a few more rounds of edit/proofreading here; drink wine and eat chocolate.

5. EDIT 4 (ish) READ IT OUT LOUD (Don’t skip this. Do it. Every stinkin’ word front to back.)

a. UPDATE MANUSCRIPT

b. PROOFREAD

c. WAIT

6. FORMAT BOOK – I use the Amazon KDP templates for MS Word

7. EDIT 5 READ IT IN THE TEMPLATE FORMAT (It looks different.; You’ll find shit.)

a. PROOFREAD

b. WAIT

8. SCAN THROUGH THE TEMPLATE VERSION ONE MORE TIME (Oh, you think you’re done? Fuck no.)

9. PREP FOR UPLOAD TO AMAZON (a whole other nightmare)

10. UPLOAD TO AMAZON (like fighting nazgul in my dreams)

11. ORDER PROOF

a. READ PROOF FRONT TO BACK (It’s a different format; you WILL find shit.)

b. UPDATE MANUSCRIPT WITH PROOF CHANGES

c. PROOFREAD

12. UPLOAD AND ORDER ANOTHER PROOF

a. READ PROOF 2 FRONT TO BACK (Are you KIDDING me with all these changes?)

b. UPDATE MANUSCRIPT WITH PROOF CHANGES

c. PROOFREAD

13. REPEAT IF NECESSARY.

My general rule for any edit round is, if I have a relatively small number of changes, I’m good to move forward. If not, do it again.

14. OPTIONAL:

a. BETA READERS

b. HAVE MANUSCRIPT DICTATED AND LISTEN TO IT

c. RECORD YOURSELF READING AND PLAY IT BACK

d. READ IT OUT LOUD AGAIN FROM THE LAST PROOF