Copy Editor Quick Tip #2: Review a Hard Copy of Your Manuscript
It's a fact that looking at something from a different angle gives you new insights. For your publisher and editors, who are looking at your book for the first time, each flaw is already obvious. (That's why having somebody else look at your work is an absolute must before publishing.) But since you've been staring at your manuscript in your word processor for so long, a good way to see it from a new angle is to print it out and read it in bed.
No doubt you've found mistakes and typos in published books this way, reading in the evening before you quit for the night. I know I have. Give your book the same treatment, and you'll be surprised how many their/there-type mistakes you can catch.
(Btw, my son was born at the end of May. We couldn't be happier to meet Daniel in the flesh. He's three and a half weeks old today.)
Oh my...Daniel looks to be a sweetie. Thanks for the tip and the reminder to hard copy it!
ReplyDeleteOO!! Congratulations for Thing 4! So precious! He looks like an angel. :-)
ReplyDeleteCONGRATULATIONS!!! *squees over a new future reader*
ReplyDeleteThat's a very good tip. For some reason, as someone still agent hunting, I always looked at agented writers/writers with pub contracts going over hardcopies of their current projects and felt like that was something THEY did, once they'd reached 'that place' and that for me to do it would be getting ahead of myself. But now I realize that it would not, in actuality, be 'acting like a big shot' for someone like me to do the same thing. Thanks for the tip!
I've been a hard copy reader for years, and I'm still amazed at how much I catch!
ReplyDeleteCongrats to you and your family - both boys look absolutely precious. And here's to sleeping through the night soon!
I always like having a hard copy precisely for that reason--and because it's fun to x things out, draw arrows and brackets and write crazy margin notes to myself.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on Daniel, hope you're all happy and healthy!