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Category: Resources

Why Editing Is Important

I’ve lost track of the number of books I’ve read where editing was clearly not considered to be an important thing before the work in question was sent on to the publisher.

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You can’t just rely on yourself to make sure that things flow properly and that correct words have been used in what you’ve written. It’s entirely too easy to simply skim right over an issue and keep going. We’re sort of geared for it, really, if you think about it.

To help you to put out the best version of your work, we’ve got listings of professional editors here who would be happy to go over your work and let you know if there are things that need to be changed/adjusted.

That said, if you are bound and determined to do it all yourself, for whatever reason and you’re not going to send your work off to a professional editor (or even a grammatically gifted beta reader who loves you enough to do it for you), then at least take the time to read your story OUT LOUD to yourself. You’d be surprised at how many issues you can discover just by doing that.

Publisher Choices — Be Safe

It would be nice to think that people would just want to come to us and decide to publish with us but of course that won’t be the case at all times.

Keeping that in mind, I highly recommend that you visit this site and see what you can find there for reputable publishers. You do not want to be stuck with some scammer who is going to take advantage of you, and there are plenty of those opportunists out there.

Hybrid Publisher vs Vanity Publisher

Unless you’re an already established author, you may not have heard the terms “hybrid” and “vanity” publishers. Though they sound very similar, they’re not the same thing.

So-called “vanity publishers”. charge the author for everything included in publishing a book, from editing to cover to actual publishing, to requiring that a certain number of volumes be purchased. From pillar to post, as it were. You’ll often see them offering “deals” of a thousand US dollars or more for this “opportunity” that supposedly include editing, cover design, your purchase of a certain number of books, promises of a certain amount of success, marketing, etc.

They’ll also accept anything that is sent their way, no matter the quality of the work. For them, it’s all about the money, and not about producing a quality book. In addition, vanity publishers often charge for a book’s ISBN, while we provide our writers with one free of charge.

Hybrid publishers, on the other hand, are picky about what they accept for publication. They generally charge for some services, such as editing/cover design, but don’t require the author to purchase books as part of the agreement. They’re also not going to be charging you an arm and a leg for the services for which they do have a fee. They’ll be there for you before and after publication, helping with marketing your work.

Their success is dependent upon your success, and they know it.

In the end, whatever publisher you ultimately choose, even if it isn’t Converted Books, our advice is to stay away from so-called publishers who charge you a fee to publish your book, and give you promises of sales/success if you publish with them.