Editing is important content!

A sentence like this can damage the authority of your article in an instant. Even the best of us make mistakes while creating our first draft. Unfortunately, some mistakes even pass auto checks and land into the final piece, which can certainly put the reader off.

There is no denying that AI-based software enables us to write better, but a truly perfect copy can only be produced by manually running through the entire content at the very least. It is why a lot of book writers and commercial content producers hire professional editors in pursuit of churning an error-free copy.

This article will briefly talk about editing, followed by five of the best self-editing tips revealed by experts in the industry.

What Is Editing?

First thing’s first – proofing and editing are two different things. Many experts consider proofing as part of the editing process; however, it doesn’t go the other way around.

Proofing comprises fixing grammatical errors, punctuation, and inconsistencies that may appear in your text. Proofreaders make alterations that enable your copy to abide by the rules of language. Online editing software may fix most of these mistakes. Editing, however, is much more than that.

Editing is the process of proofing, following by structural changes to the sentence construction, ensuring a proper flow of words, sentences, and ideas throughout the article, checking compliance, and polishing the final article overall to make it higher readable, engaging, and valuable. It is why editing an article often takes more time and requires an editor to manually go through the text to guarantee a refined final copy.

Self-Editing

Whether you are planning to edit an article yourself or handing it over to a professional editor, self-editing always helps a lot. One of its main reasons is that you will be able to identify contextual errors and fix them beforehand. Furthermore, you will also be able to identify areas where the story doesn’t click and redo them, in addition to fixing potential proofing errors.

Five Top Self-Editing Tips

If you are looking forward to self-editing your work, the following five expert tips will certainly help you out.

#1 Switch to Active Voice

One of the most common mistakes people make in writing is using passive voice extensively. Although no rule forbids the use of passive sentences, they generally reduce the pace and passion within your words.

On the other hand, the active voice keeps your article and the readers uplifted – it keeps them active! For instance, “For good content, editing is extremely important.” The sentence is grammatically correct, but the passive voice makes it sound a bit dull. Its active counterpart would look something like this, “Editing is extremely important for good content.” This sentence seems livelier, allowing the reader to connect with it.

An excellent way to point out passive voice is by carefully looking at the usage of “was” and “were.” This is because passive voice generally requires such words, enabling you to easily identify if a sentence needs to be changed into active.

Placing the subject in the first part of the sentence will help you change a passive sentence into an active one. You can also move the subject to the first part of the sentence to turn passive into active.

#2 Know Writing Styles

Writing styles vary from one industry to the other. For example: producing content from a financial institution would require formal language and an informal tone, whereas content for a makeup brand may be a little informal and communicative. During self-editing, you can revise your content depending on the industry you are working for.

Similarly, you can also make edits to address the different demographics. For instance, if it is a tech-savvy article for youngsters, it may be okay to use certain commonly used and accepted slang. However, writing the same article for baby boomers or generation Z would require simple to understand sentences and basic terminologies – it will help you address greater masses due to ease of comprehension.

You can always revise your article during self-editing to make it more relevant to your targeted demographics. In addition, it will eventually enable you to easily convey your ideas to your readers, enabling you to create a broader fan base down the road.

Here’s a pro tip: browse around to study how other relevant articles are written. It will allow you to revamp your work to industry standards.

#3 Don’t Hesitate to Erase

A considerably difficult point in the editing process is deciding if you should remove a certain part. Editors often find inconsistencies in writing but try their best to keep the matter included in the final version.

Of course, if it is the plot or interval of a story, you may not have the liberty to remove it since it may cause contradictions later in the text. However, if a filler may not disrupt the storyline or the essence of your article, don’t try too hard to keep it in. Instead, you may remove that particular para or two and add a connector to streamline the flow of the story.

Erasing a paragraph with errors or fluff could increase its readability and engagement. Don’t hesitate to give this idea a shot; you’ll be surprised how it would furnish your piece.

#4 Remove Cliches

“Happily ever after.”

“All that glitters is not gold.”

“Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket.”

These phrases have become so common that they no longer add to the quality of your text. If anything, such cliché statements may cause a reader to lose interest in the book or article.

It does not mean you cannot use them at all. A well-used phrase would let your compile a paragraph worth of information in one line. Unfortunately, many writers use these phrases in their work without much context, which is something you wouldn’t see in quality writing.

In a nutshell, during self-editing, try to tone down clichés to a minimum and integrate them only where they fit best.  

Avoid Needless Edits

Amateur writers and editors often make the mistake of making edits where they aren’t required. Remember one thing: Just because you are self-editing your piece doesn’t mean you have to make extensive changes.

You may have created a great first draft (although it is rare); altering the way it reads just for the sake of editing is the wrong approach.

This does not mean that you finalize the version without editing – the key is to go through your work and see where subjective edits can be made to refine the work. Your instinct will begin to guide you once you reach a certain professional level.

Finalizing The Work

After the subjective edits are complete, skim through the file for potential objective errors. It would help if you proofread your work twice before finalizing the work – one while complete a section or chapter and then after you’re done with editing.

Following the above-mentioned points will enable you to create a significantly decent final version of the book or blog.

Hire Professional Editors

Do you want industry experts to edit your work and provide you a perfect finalized version of your file? Then, hire Writing Services Hub today! We offer the best content editing service at pocket-friendly prices. 

For information, dial (786) 206 3123 now, or view our affordable pricing here.