Third step – Use a grammar checking program.

Put the text through a grammar checking program. We use ProWriting Aid. (https://prowritingaid.com/) In the past we used Grammarly (www.grammarly.com); they're much the same in capability and cost the same for annual premium membership. Both have a free online version. Both have a premium subscription service which install an extension in MS Word. I find them well worth the money. An alternative would be another subscription service Ginger (http://www.gingersoftware.com). You might also want to investigate a free online service called Hemingway - http://www.hemingwayapp.com. There are other grammar checking programs and online services. If you decide to use one, make sure you check them out by looking for online reviews first.

Grammar checking programs will find mistakes which you didn’t spot, but not all of the ‘mistakes’ will be real mistakes just as the grammar checker in Word frequently finds false errors. I find it’s best to put no more than one chapter at a time through them.

Fourth step - What else to look for when editing.

Too much detail? Does it really matter the route your character took to get to work? Must you describe his/her lunch in detail? Do you describe your protagonist in too much detail? Are there bits you could cut out of the story without damaging the plot?

Unnecessary words Here's some examples:
dark black (does light black make sense?)
a loud shriek (quiet shriek anyone?)
absolutely final step (is there a later step than the final one?)

Are you sure you have used the correct word? The classic example is ‘there/their/they’re’ Get this one wrong and your manuscript is unlikely to ever be printed. There are other common mistakes though.
of/off
to/too
effect/affect
your/you’re

International Spelling I live in the UK and normally use UK English. My books mostly sell in the US and are expected to be in US English. I also have a US wife as a co-author. When I started writing I used UK English and was annoyed to be taken to task for my ‘poor spelling’. I presume Australian, South African and Canadian authors have had a similar experience. I used words such as colour, favourite, tyre, centre, neighbour, paralyse, traveller and leukaemia. All of these are correct in UK English but are seen as mistakes in US English. Although I felt I was betraying my country a little I eventually settled on using US English for my writing. I have had bad reviews from US readers who don’t recognise (oops make that recognize!) UK English but have so far not had a bad review from UK readers about my US spelling. I recommend that if you intend to sell world-wide, you adopt US spelling. If you don’t want to do that insert a note on the copyright /ISBN page that you use [Your country] English. US readers probably won’t notice this though so expect these reviews about poor spelling.

Are you too verbose?

Have you used author forbidden words? Have you used words such as ‘just’, ‘very’, ‘really’, ‘suddenly’, ‘then’, ‘started’ and ‘like’? If so seek them out and delete them or replace them with better words.
‘It started to rain’ or ‘raindrops pattered around them’.
‘She looked really sad’ or ‘She looked sad’.
Which do you think is better?

Samuel Clements (Mark Twain) once said:
“Substitute ‘damn’ every time you’re inclined to write ‘very’, Your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.”

Are you using 'purple prose'? Purple Prose is defined as writing that is so descriptive and pretentious that it ruins the flow of the text. It's as if the author is saying “Look at my enormous vocabulary and intricate descriptions.” It was a form of writing used by Victorian author Edward Bulwer-Lytton who started one of his books "It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents, except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the house-tops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness."

Such writing is overly descriptive and, as well as that, starts by describing the weather.

Are your sentences too long? It's fine to vary sentence length but there are 'run-on' sentences which you should avoid. A run-on sentence is one where two or more clauses are improperly joined. Here's an example:
My guest who wasn’t Anne, clad in a dry shirt and a pair of jeans of mine was examining his partially melted umbrella ruined glove, jacket, trousers and left shoe each of which bore carbonized stripes where the lightening had tracked down to the ground.

This can be fixed using commas, extra words, semi-colons and by splitting it into two or more sentences
My guest, who wasn’t Anne, was clad in a dry shirt and a pair of jeans of mine. He was examining his partially melted umbrella, ruined glove, jacket, trousers and left shoe, each of which bore carbonized stripes where the lightening had tracked down to the ground.

Here's a simpler example courtesy of Mignon Fogarty - Grammar Girl
The zombie invasion finally came but I am well prepared so let’s work together.
Corrected as:
The zombie invasion finally came, but I am well prepared. Let’s work together.

Fifth step - Get the title right

A catchy title will help sell your book. Take some time over choosing it. In general, you should try to keep fiction titles short – four to five words or less. If you need more words – consider a subtitle. In fact a subtitle containing some of the book keywords you select is an excellent idea. For non-fiction a longer more descriptive title works better. If necessary, use a subtitle also. You might at this stage, want to read the section on typography and producing a cover

Are your chapters the right length?

Many readers will pull out a book to read in a coffee break. For those people keeping a chapter to a 15-minute or less read is a good idea. For an average reader that's about 3,000 words. An even better idea is to end each chapter on a cliff-hanger if you can. You want your reader to look forward to the next part.If you have multiple themes in your story broken up into sections and switch between themes, leaving each on a cliff-hanger you will have a hooked reader.

Think you’ve got your book ‘perfect’?

Even after going through this process you are still likely to have made or overlooked errors. Professionally printed books contain them. Take consolation in the fact that errors can be corrected in a print-on-demand book or ebook far easier than in a conventionally published book.

You are also unlikely to suffer the fate of the printer who in 1631 accidentally missed out a crucial ‘not’, producing what came to be known as the ‘wicked bible’. He was heavily fined and lost his license to print as a result.

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