Are you ready to take the next step with your life story, memoir, or family history? In the journey from drafting to publishing, the role of an editor is essential to ensuring that your work is polished and professional. But how do you know when you are ready to hand off your manuscript for external editing?
At NextGen Story: Custom Publishing, we suggest an overall guideline of "three rounds of internal editing, three rounds of external editing." This means that before seeking external editing, you should review your work internally at least three times (if not 30, or even 300 times!).
You will know that you are ready to share your life story, memoir, or family history for external editing when:
You have done all that you can to improve the writing: This includes refining the plot of your life story, strengthening the characters in your memoir, addressing the pacing of your family history, and ensuring that your message is clear and engaging. You have revised and edited the manuscript multiple times, incorporating feedback from beta readers or critique partners. You have honed your craft to the best of your ability within the scope of internal editing.
You just can't look at the document anymore: After numerous rounds of internal editing, you may reach a point where you become too close to the work. You have spent countless hours poring over every sentence of your story, agonizing over word choice and sentence structure. At this stage, it becomes challenging to make objective and impactful improvements on your own.
A combination of the above two: When you have exhausted every possible avenue for improvement and reached a point of saturation with your own work, it is time to seek external editing for your life story, memoir, or family history. This combination of thorough internal editing and an acute awareness of your limits as the author indicates that you are ready to benefit from the insights and expertise of an editor.
It's essential to recognize that external editing is not a replacement for internal editing but a complementary process that elevates your life story, memoir, or family history to its fullest potential. Working with an editor can uncover blind spots, refine your prose, and help you refine your overall vision for the manuscript.
So, when are you ready for an editor for your life story, memoir, or family history? Reach out to NextGen Story: Custom Publishing: we have a team of fabulous editors who are ready to support you in your book today.
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