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Proofreading Your Non-Fiction Book Things You Can Spot And Correct by Robert Price
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Proofreading Your Non-Fiction Book Things You Can Spot And Correct |
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Education
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Proofreading your own non-fiction book is a challenge. Errors are hard to spot because you know what is coming -- the end of a sentence, a humorous story, or startling statistic. You may be getting ready to submit your manuscript to the publisher. Before you submit your book it's wise to proofread it. What should you look for? Typos are one of the first things that comes to mind. Misspelled words are something else to check. Spellcheck doesn't always catch errors, especially if you are using medical or technical terminology. Grammatical errors are another thing to consider. Kenneth B. Mahrer, of the US Bureau of Reclamation in Denver, Colorado, describes proofreading difficulties in his article, "Proofreading Your Own Writing? Forget It!" His article is posted on The Leading Edge website. He thinks authors need to understand the difference between proofreading and editing. Editing is improving your work, whereas proofreading is a process of finding and correcting mistakes. If you rely on your own eyes only to find mistakes, you may be making a mistake, according to Mahrer. You may have to hire a professional proofreader. Still, there are things you, the author, may be able to spot. 1. Check the sequencing. Despite a detailed outline, your non-fiction book may turn out differently than planned. You may take a long topic detour or spend too many words on one topic. Chapter sub-topics may be in the wrong place or even the wrong chapter. Read a printout of your manuscript all the way through for clarity. 2. Make sure the headings match your Table of contents. Even experienced authors can omit headings from chapters. Print out your contents pages and cross-check them with the headings in your manuscript. 3. Pay attention to little words. According to Kenneth E. Mahrer, cited previously, most readers skip the word of in English because it is a connecting word. So pay special attention to little words as you read your manuscript. 4. Cite resources in the index. Some non-fiction authors include the titles of all the resources they have used in the index, as well as the names of the authors. But paper costs have risen sharply and, to keep the cost of my latest book as low as possible, I only added author names to my index. Cross-check your resource list with your index. 5. Watch for errors in tense. When you're in the writing zone it's easy to make tense errors. Read your manuscript again for tense errors only. 6. Be on the lookout for unconscious errors. Your conscious mind may be telling you one word, such as too, and you may type two instead. 7. Look for stray punctuation marks. Let your hand rest on a key and you may get two or three periods. e on the lookout for stray commas, periods, and incorrect quotation marks. 8. Pay attention to commas. The proofreader I used believes in commas, including the so-called Oxford comma. While I was correcting my manuscript I felt like I was drowning in commas, yet I made these corrections because they improved my book. When all is said and done, it's best to hire a professional proofreader. However, your advance work can help to keep the proofreading cost down. Your goal is to produce the best possible book and you can do it! online essays
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