Five tips to help you produce a professional manuscript

The main and consistent theme of our ‘How to self publish’ courses is the importance of producing as professional a book as possible. That should begin with a professionally edited and proofread manuscript. Here are five tips to achieving that without having to spend a fortune.

1. Creative edit

Get someone you trust - a member of your family or maybe another writer - to read your manuscript to check that your story makes sense and has no gaps in it. If you are writing a non-fiction book, get someone who is an expert in the same field to do a similar check.

 2. Proofreading

Before sending it to your editor, check the book yourself for things you may have missed. Don’t use the computer you wrote it on, load it on to an e-reader or a tablet. If you don't have either of those devices then print it. It’s amazing how a different view can give you a new perspective.

 3. Get an editor

The one thing you must spend money on is a good editor. An editor is trained to look at text dispassionately and will find errors in spelling and grammar that you have missed. They have specialised skills and a good editor will help you to produce a professional book. Experienced editors may also offer help with the creative edit but make sure you specify what you expect from the editor you choose.

4. Get someone else to proofread it

It’s a good idea to let someone else see the book before you decide to publish it. There may still be one or two tiny little problems that can be identified by someone with a keen eye.

 5. Listen to the manuscript

Accessibility features are designed to help people with an impairment to get the most from their computer. There is a facility that allows those with visual impairments to listen to the content of the screen. I use this facility to do a final check of the book. By listening to it, your eye is no longer reading what you expect to read; another part of your brain is engaged and any errors become more obvious. Alternatively you could read it aloud but there is still the chance that you will read what you expect rather than what is actually written.

These tips may not completely eradicate every error - even books published by established companies can have little mistakes - but it will reduce them to a minimum. A well edited and proofread book can make a huge difference to how much enjoyment readers will get from your book.

You can learn more about our 'How to self publish' course at Indie Authors Scotland.