How To Edit A Book

So, you’ve finally gotten to the last page of your draft and have just typed, “The End.” Congratulations! Is it time to pop open the champagne? Not quite. Authors who have completed a draft now face an equally (if not more) important task: editing their manuscript. Now, if you are still in the mix of writing, maybe check out our post on 6 Ways To Write A Good Novel.

The first thing you’re probably wondering is… Should you edit your book?

The short answer is, YES.

The long answer is, every single manuscript benefit from an edit, simply because no story is perfect from the get-go. Also, if you’re a first-time author, editing will not only help hone this book but also your overall skills. What you learn during the editing process will be invaluable to future projects — especially if you can pinpoint your weak spots and work on them.

Just because it’s important to know how to edit a book doesn’t mean it’s easy. Stephen King once famously compared editing a book to “murdering children” because it’s so painful to cut into your hard-earned story, sometimes eliminating whole passages or plot points.

Fortunately, you don’t have to go it alone! Plenty of people can assist you during the editing process, from experienced professionals to your close friends.

Who can edit your book?

In a traditional publishing house, in-house editors take on most of the work. Every manuscript goes through three rounds of revisions: an in-depth developmental edit, a copy edit, or line edit, and a final proofread. This rigorous process turns out the polished books you find in stores.

Self-publishers, while not privy to the resources of major publishers, still have various options at their disposal. Here are three possible routes you might take to edit your bestseller-in-the-making.

The Self-Edit

A self-edit is self-explanatory: it’s an edit of your manuscript you conduct by yourself. This Editing 101 book can help you with the knowledge and secrets of effectively self-editing before handing it off to a professional editor. If you choose to self-edit, it’s your responsibility to trim your prose, spot any plot holes, refine your character arcs, and manage all the other elements that go into editing a book. This approach may not work if you’re serious about editing your book to perfection. As much as we writers deny it, it’s hard to be objective about your own work.

Also, remember you always have the option of self-editing your book first, then handing it off to a third party to look over. This guarantees a thorough edit, and can even save you money if you hire a professional — the more you do for them, the less you must pay them to do.

Beta Readers

Beta readers provide feedback on your book from an objective-yet-invested perspective. Think of beta readers as the literary equivalent of a film focus group: they anticipate the experience of your future audience and suggest ways to improve it. A beta reader can point out issues you might not have noticed — or didn’t want to address — in your self-edit. These issues may be as big as a lost character or subplot (“What happened to Alexandra? She was the most interesting character”) or as small as a descriptive inconsistency (“I thought Tony had blue eyes, not green.”)

Professional Edit

Finally, if you want a professional edit, you can hire someone who specializes in developmental editing and/or copy editing. Though you might be worried about pricing and availability, freelance editors are more accessible and affordable than ever. Many have made the switch from an in-house job to freelancing — and they’ve built a successful editing business for themselves. If you’re publishing your first book, we’d recommend getting one.

Professional edits have become standard practice in self-publishing, for a good reason. There’s simply no substitute for the depth of knowledge and experience that a veteran editor brings to your book.

How to edit a book in 5 steps

Even if you get a pro editor or beta reader, it never hurts to take a crack at self-editing first. And if you’re determined to self-edit all the way through, you need to know what you’re doing! The Editing 101 book can help with this portion, and I go more in-depth on each step to successfully self-edit your own book before you hand it off.

1. Wait a few days

Didn’t think the first step would be so easy, did you? But it’s true — most authors agree that you should set your manuscript aside for a few days before you begin editing. A few days will create the necessary distance to perceive your work as a reader rather than a writer. So, take that time, if not even more, between finishing your manuscript and going back to edit.

2. Start with big picture stuff

Start your self-edit by looking at the big picture, and you can review our blog about Rewriting Revision. Naturally, the big picture is more important than any mechanical or grammatical issues in your text — readers won’t care about a couple of typos, but they will care if your story is bogus.

a) Plot

The plot consists of a story’s connected events, each of which leads to another plot point. The most common formula for the plot is the three-act structure, which basically means beginning, middle, and end. Your plot may be more or less complex than this, and the events may not be chronological, but your plot still needs to follow a fairly coherent structure. The plot also needs to be interesting and somewhat realistic.

Editing checklist for the plot:

Is the plot engaging and believable?
Do the plot points flow logically and maintain momentum?
Are all major and minor plot threads tied up by the ending?
Do the plot twists make sense? Are there plot holes in the story?
Does the plot match the conventions of your genre?

b) Characters

Characters are the people (or animals or whatever) that populate your story and carry out the action. There are many different characters in stories, but at the very least, you should have a protagonist and an antagonist — a lead character and their enemy. Every major character should also have a character arc in which something about them changes, and also motivations that drive them forward.

Editing checklist for characters:

Do the main characters have clear traits, strengths, and weaknesses?
What are the protagonist’s and antagonist’s motivations?
Do characters act believably and consistently in each scene?
How do the secondary characters serve the story?
Chart each main character’s overall arc. Is every arc clear and compelling?

c) Conflict and themes

These might seem like unrelated elements, but the conflicts and themes of your story are deeply intertwined. Just think about any conflict in any story, ever: from Pride and Prejudice to The Hunger Games, the conflict always reflects the main themes. So as you power through this edit, remember to consider your conflict and themes in tandem!

Editing checklist for conflict and themes:

Are your intended themes developed through conflict?
Is the central conflict intriguing, yet clear? Is it resolved (at least for the time being) when the story ends?
Does this conflict escalate gradually during the book?
What dramatic question(s) arise, and are they answered by the end?
Can you summarize your story in a single sentence: [Character] must [do something] to achieve [goal] or else [reason audience should care]?

Conflict ties in closely to both plot and characters, so if you encounter problems with your conflict, it’s likely you have story problems overall.

3. Move onto scene-by-scene issues

Next comes scene-by-scene editing. At this stage, you’ll ensure each individual scene contributes to the story and that the details within are compelling. You may have done some light scene editing in service of your big picture, but now’s the time to examine each carefully and confirm that it accomplishes its purpose — and if not, to change or cut it.

a) Scenes and chapters

If you’re fresh from editing your plot, then editing your scenes and chapters should come naturally. This is where you look at your scenes, particularly the important ones (like the opening, the inciting incident, and the climax) and try to make them more connected to each other and more enticing to readers.

Editing checklist for scenes and chapters:

Does the opening scene hook readers? Does it begin in the right place?
Are there enough scenes, and does each serve a concrete purpose?
Are scenes paced well, and are your chapter lengths appropriate?
Is each scene oriented in time and place?
Is foreshadowing used effectively, if applicable?
Are scene and chapter transitions smooth?

As you can probably tell, this phase of editing is about getting in deep. Don’t be afraid to “micromanage” your scenes, so to speak, cut them, tweak them, and shift them around until you have them exactly right.

b) Dialogue

Time for everyone’s favorite part of the story: dialogue, which you can look at our blog about Dialogue to help you out. Just because the dialogue is fun to write doesn’t mean it’s easy to do well.

Editing checklist for dialogue:

Does the dialogue serve a purpose in each scene? Does it provide information? Advance the plot? Help the pace of the story?
Does each character have a distinct voice?
Does the word choice accurately reflect the time and place?
Is there a balance among dialogue tags, action beats, and implied tags?
Have you mostly used “said,” and only occasionally other words for said?

Some dialogue problems, like overusing fancy dialogue tags, are easy to fix. Others, like giving every character a distinct voice, may be harder. If you have little experience with dialogue, check out the post above — it’ll help you polish or even rewrite your dialogue to be better.

c) Prose and perspective

Here are another two elements you might not have thought were related: prose and perspective. We’ve grouped these together because stories are often told from a certain person’s point of view, which naturally affects the prose style. It’s also one of the last stages of editing because many of these issues will have been corrected or improved throughout the process!

Editing checklist for POV and prose:

Is the narrator’s voice clear and consistent?
If the point of view character changes, how is that change marked? Could there be a better alternative viewpoint character in any scene?
Does the prose style more-or-less match the POV character’s voice?
Does each sentence contribute to the story — i.e., no purple prose?
Do you “show, don’t tell” your dialogue, characters, and setting?

4. Finish with a thorough copy edit

Now that you’ve finished that full developmental edit, you’re probably feeling relieved! The great thing about copy editing (you can view our grammar, style, and usage blog) is that it’s so cut-and-dried — if you spot a grammatical error, you know exactly how to fix it. So, after you’ve taken a well-deserved break from developmental editing, sit down and knock ’em out.

Checklist for copy editing:

1. Replace passive voice with active voice where appropriate.
❌ The ball was kicked.
✅ She kicked the ball.

2. Limit the use of adverbs in your dialogue tags. (Show don’t tell!)
❌ “Why did you eat my turkey sandwich?” said Harry angrily.
✅ Harry upended the table. “Why did you eat my turkey sandwich?”

3. Replace weak verbs + adverbs with stronger verbs.
❌ Leonard ran quickly to school.
✅ Leonard sprinted to school.

4. Replace all “hidden” verbs.
❌ Offer an explanation
✅ Explain

5. Delete vague, subjective words and “crutch” words.
❌ “could,” “might,” “maybe,” “more,” “poor,” “some,” “multiple,” etc.
❌ “really,” “literally,” “suddenly,” “simply,” “just,” “a little,” “almost,” etc.

6. Check for instances of overly complicated language.
❌ In close proximity
✅ Near

7. Delete all instances of clichés in the text.
❌ It was a dark and stormy night.

8. Check that all of your dialogue is formatted correctly.
❌ “I love you.” Said Pam.
✅ “I love you,” said Pam.

9. Make sure the point of view doesn’t accidentally shift.
❌ She was just settling down with a cup of coffee when the fire alarm went off. “Oh, perfect timing.” I grabbed my coffee and stood back up.

10. Look out for descriptive inconsistencies.
❌ Devon’s blonde hair shone in the sunlight … “Whatever you say, man,” replied Devon, flipping his brown hair away from his eyes.

5. Get a proofreader

Yes, this last tip comes right on the heels of telling you to do a thorough copy edit… but the fact is, nobody’s perfect, and you’ve inevitably missed typos here and there. This is why, even if you think you’ve edited your book to its final form, still get a proofreader at the end.

How much editing is enough?

You might be envisioning an endless amount of editing right now — or a future in which you either faint from exhaustion or go blind from fixating on commas. That would do no author any good! So how many rounds of editing is enough?

Most editors will tell you as many rounds as the book needs. However, three passes at the manuscript should get you close to the finish line. But it also depends on the book! Some stories are structurally sound and just need a copy edit. In contrast, other stories require multiple tries during the “big picture” stage.

So truly, don’t give yourself a hard limit or deadline — feel it out through the editing process, and spend as much time as you need on your problem areas. It might be a grind, but it’ll all be worth it when you see that beautifully published book you polished to perfection.