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Ways to reduce your editing costs. Move through your first, second, and third manuscript drafts without breaking the bank.

Welcome to Your Best Writing Life, an extension of the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference held in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of NC. I’m your host, Linda Goldfarb. Each week, I bring tips and strategies from writing and publishing industry experts to help you excel in your craft. I’m so glad you’re listening in. During this episode, you’ll learn 5 Tips to Save Hundreds of Dollars on Editing.

My industry expert is…Lori Hatcher. Lori Hatcher is an editor, women’s ministry speaker, writing instructor, and author of numerous devotional books with Our Daily Bread Publishing, including her latest, A Word for Your Day. Her articles and devotions have appeared in publications such as Focus on the Family, Revive Our Hearts, Upper Room, and Crosswalk.com.

5 Tips to Save Hundreds of Dollars on Editing.

Here are five things you can do to clean up your manuscript and save hundreds of dollars in editing fees.

1. Use contractions, especially in dialogue.

One of the most common and easily avoided mistakes I encounter as a copyeditor is the author's repeated failure—or outright refusal—to use contractions in dialogue.

2. Check Bible references

3. Use people or technology to help you identify your personal repeated/pet/filler words. Every writer has these, but we’re seldom aware of them until someone or something points them out. Pro-writing aid Grammarly

4. Be consistent in the capitalization of deity pronouns

5. Edit in stages. Please don’t attempt to clean it all up at once.

1. First pass, content. Have you said everything you need to say? Are there any loose threads or elephants in the room that will frustrate or confuse your readers?
2. Second pass, flow, and structure (is there a part where your mind drifted as you listened? Better spice it up. Is there a logical flow of ideas or is it choppy or confusing?
3. Third pass, first and last lines
4. Fourth pass, passive verbs, sentence structure, grammar, and punctuation. This is where your technology comes in.
5. Fifth pass, typos (don’t ignore the squiggles), and final clean-up

LINKS
Lori Hatcher - Author, Speaker, Blogger

www.LoriHatcher.com

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