Category Archives: Editing

Resurrecting Your Lost Manuscript

If you have an older manuscript that was published a few years ago and do not have the original text file available what can you do to resurrect the text so you can make a new edition or possibly offer it in eBook form? Or maybe your computer crashed (this is where backups are handy) but you have your work in a printed form.

In the last few years OCR technology has made great strides and continues to advance. Not too far back you would be lucky to correctly retrieve maybe 80% of a fairly clean hardcopy text. Now, scanned properly you can see on upward of 98% or better. For as many as we have converted, I’ve never seen a 100% correct conversion but I’ve seen a couple that were very close. Continue reading →

My Manuscript Has Been Edited!

When I hear, “My manuscript has been edited!” I usually cringe. Nine out of ten times when I ask who it was that edited the manuscript the response is invariably: “My neighbor who is a retired schoolteacher.” or, “My sister who has an English degree.” and so on. That’s all well and fine, and I’m sure they are good people who have a solid grasp of the English language, but…

Editing is as much of an art as it is a science, and it is hard work. A professional editor does more than fix your commas. Depending on their skills they can proofread, develop, copyedit, and line edit the text into a spectacular masterpiece.

What’s the difference between proofreading and the other forms of editing? Continue reading →