Editing is the second stage of the publishing process and has 2 key elements. The first is editing which can involve rewriting something you have already written to make your book flow more smoothly. The second is proofreading which is purely correcting anything incorrect from a spelling or grammatical point of view.

What I recommend to ensure your book is edited to the very highest standards is a 5 step process as that should remove as many errors as possible. There is no such thing as a perfect book or a perfect edit however you want your book so close to perfect so that if there any mistakes (heaven forbid) picked up after printing they are so small that you are the only person who can notice them.

It is essential you edit your book yourself however it is also essential that you are not the only person who edits your book. It is important to get another set of eyes to look at your work (as you are too close to the project), in fact two people are better as the first person being only human is more than likely to miss something.

The 5 step secret is as follows:

STEP 1: Edit your book yourself

There is nothing worse than editing your book as you go along as this will create 2 major problems; firstly it will make the writing process take far too long and secondly it will result in the start of your book being over edited and the end of your book being under edited (which are both bad) but the fact that the editing is inconsistant is worse of all. As such it is important that you don't edit anything when you are writing but sit down and edit your book in 1 sitting (wherever possible) after all the writing has been completed so you can make sure your editing is consistant.

STEP 2: Have your book professionally edited

Once you have edited your book yourself we recommend you get a professional editor to look at it for you as you are too close to the project and are likely to have missed something. This process is called editing as your spelling and grammer is not only being corrected but also sections of your text may also be rewritten (when/if necesssary) to allow your book to flow more smoothly.

STEP 3: Check the editing of your book

Once your edited book is returned to you it is important that you check what your editor has done as no matter how good they are something they changed to make your book flow more smoothly may have changed your original meaning as you know your subject matter better then your editor does so sometimes you will need to make minor changes before your book design begins.

STEP 4: Have your book professionally proofread

Once you have checked the editing of your book we recommend that you pass your book onto your designer to be typeset. Once your book design has been completed and you are completly happy with everything and ready to sign off and send your book to print this is when we recommend having your book proofread. Proofreading is not editing so there will be no major changes made to your book at this stage however it is essential that this stage is completed to pick up all the little things that your editor may have missed (as they are only human) or mistakes that may have accidently been put back in as part of the design process. While these corrections are tiny there can sometimes be quite a lot of them so it is important to allow time for this stage and not rush your book to print in order to meet a deadline that you may regret afterwards if you find a mistake in your book.

STEP 5: Check the proofreading of your book

Just like editing, once your proofread book is returned to you it is important that you check what your proofreader has done as no matter how good they are, just like your editor something they changed to make your book grammatically correctly may have once again changed your original meaning as you know your subject matter better then your proofreader does so it is important that you have the final say on your book before it goes to print.

Once you have worked through each if the steps above you can be assured that your book is as close to perfect as it ever will be.