This is a question that I hear a lot.

In my opinion, yes, you should. I understand that your sister’s, husband’s cousin is a high school English teacher, and that he checked over your books, and that you are an accomplished writer who majored in English in university. I understand that you had everyone in your local writers group look over it and give you reviews. I understand that you have jumped through every inexpensive and free hoop to have others edit your book. However, unless a professional and experienced editor, being someone who went to post-secondary specifically with the intent of being an editor, who dreams of grammar and breathes syntax, and who makes this their bread and butter, works with your book, it really isn’t going to mean much.

But it’s expensive!!!

Ok, so it costs money, and that isn’t something that grows on trees. I get that. I understand that you have put a lot of work into this book, and that you feel like, now, that you have completed the writing process, you are done. You want to get this show on the road, and get this baby printed, converted to an eBook, just on the market already.

I have to ask you though, would you do your hair up, or spend some time putting on your makeup, and then proceed to waltz out of your house naked? Not likely. I also imagine that you wouldn’t feel like you had put your time in after a few years of raising your kids, and send them off into the world on their own at five either. I know that these are extreme analogies, but really, it’s true. If your book isn’t polished, then it really isn’t ready for literary consumption yet. Would you think that it would be fair for you to pay for a book and not have it be the best that it could be?

I’m not giving my book up to some stranger, just so that they can mess it up!

I know that it can be a scary thought, as well. Many authors self-publish because they don’t want to lose control over their content. The thought of giving their book to an editor and saying, here you go, do as you wish, it is intimidating. It is important that you find an editor that you are comfortable with, and that you are sure is the right fit. Get them to do a couple sample pages for you, using pages where you are the most concerned about the content, and see what they do. Express clearly to them what you are trying to convey, and what tone you are trying to set. Then, once you are sure that you have the right person for the job, trust them.

They are there to help you, and to help your book. They are only being honest and looking out for you if they tell you that something is wrong with the way that you wrote that sentence, or that you have a part in your book that doesn’t actually pertain to the story. They aren’t trying to bully you. Also, if you get an editor that uses a format like Word, where you can choose to accept or reject changes, you have the power to do just that.  Listen to what they have to say, learn from them, and grow as an author in the process.

At the end of the day, though, I will tell you what I tell all of our authors, the decision is yours to make.

Contributed by Jens Petersen

Here are some more common errors I encounter when editing text. Writers could save themselves money if they carefully reviewed their own manuscripts or articles before submitting them for editing. There are many useful sites on the Internet that list common grammar and usage problems (like my list below). Create your own list and use it to check your manuscript. The “Find & Replace” function in Word is great for finding individual words in a document.

Now you have a checklist to go through, like a pilot preparing to take off—only in your case, you’re preparing to send your manuscript off to the editor.

1/ passed   past

“passed” is the past tense of the verb “to pass”. For example,
“He passed the library.”
“She passed the test.”

“past” is a preposition (and also an adjective, noun, adverb) but NOT a verb. It locates something in time, and sometimes in space. For example,
“It is half past two.”
“My house is just past the library.”

Write “The train passed the village.” NOT “The train past the village.”

2/ sew   sow 

“sew” refers to working with a needle and thread or a sewing machine.

For example,
“I sewed a button on my coat.”

“sow” means to scatter or plant seeds.

For example, the following well-known sayings,
“You reap what you sow.”
“He wanted to sow his wild oats.”
When “sow” is rhymed with “cow”, it means an adult female hog.

3/  affect  effect

a] “affect” is a verb that means to have an influence on. For example,
“The drug affects his ability to concentrate.”

b] “effect” is a noun that means a result or influence. For example,
“The drug had no effect on him.”

“effect” can ALSO be a verb that means to achieve or bring about. For example,

“Her organization wanted to effect major changes in society.”

4/ Here are some other small errors I find all the time in manuscripts and articles.

NOT “I had a couple beers.” BUT “I had a couple of beers.”

NOT “There were every day sales.” BUT “There were everyday sales.”
(“everyday” is an adjective describing a noun, whereas “every day” is an adverb describing a verb, for example, “She went to school every day.”

NOT “The book has a short forward.” BUT “The book has a short foreword.”
(I get this one a lot—“forward” is the opposite of “backward”.)

NOT “She found the cereal in the third isle.” BUT “She found the cereal in the third aisle.”
(A small island is an “isle”.)

Jens Petersen is an editor with a wide range of clients. He primarily edits books, but also articles, brochures, advertising, etc. For more information, check his LinkedIn profile at http://www.linkedin.com/pub/jens-petersen/21/58a/791
He can be reached at PetersenEditing@yahoo.ca

Contributed by Jens Petersen

1. its  it’s

“its” is a possessive pronoun adjective like my, her, his, our, etc., and does not have an apostrophe, for example, “The dog wagged its tail.” If you use the apostrophe, what you are really saying is, “The dog wagged it is tail.”

“it’s” is a contraction of it is or it has, for example, “It’s not my dog”, or “It’s got a cute face.”

2. Their  there  they’re

I often find writers confusing these three words.

“their” is a possessive pronoun used to show ownership, for example, “Their house is for sale.”

“there” is used with the verb “to be” to indicate the existence of something, for example, “There is a sale at the mall.”

“they’re” is a contraction of they and are, for example, “They’re closing the mall.”

3. loose  lose

“loose” is an adjective (and also a verb). As an adjective, it means the opposite of tight or contained, for example, “I have a loose tooth.”

“lose” is a verb that means to suffer the loss of, or miss, for example, “Don’t lose your keys.”

One way to remember the difference between the two words is to think that “Lose has lost an ‘o'”.

4. Many writers nowadays have a terrible time forming plural nouns and possessive nouns.

Here is how to form plural nouns. When you are talking about more than one boy, you simply add an “s”, for example, “The boy came this morning”, becomes “The boys came this morning.” (DO NOT USE AN APOSTROPHE WHEN FORMING A SIMPLE PLURAL, i.e. DO NOT write, “The boy’s/boys’ came this morning.”)

Here is how to form singular and plural possessive nouns. If there is one boy with a hat, you would write, “The boy’s hat is red”, or if there are several boys with hats, you would write, “The boys’ hats are red.” For nouns that are already plural, like “children”, you form the plural this way, “children’s”.

Jens Petersen is an editor with a wide range of clients. He primarily edits books. For more information, check his LinkedIn profile at http://www.linkedin.com/pub/jens-petersen/21/58a/791He can be reached at PetersenEditing@gmail.com

If you need to brush up on your English, there’s an easy and painless way to start. Here are four common errors I encounter when editing books. Study them well and check them in your own work.

1/ your you’re

“your” is a possessive adjective like my, her, his, our, etc. Write “Here is your book.”

“you’re” is a contraction of “you are”. “You’re welcome” really means “You are welcome.”

Remember: “Your writing will improve if you’re careful about this.”

2/ peak peek pique

“peak” can be a noun, referring to “a high point”. It can also be used as a verb meaning “to reach a high point” or an adjective meaning “excellent”.

Write “He is at the peak of his career.” “That mountain has a high peak.”

“peek” can be a noun meaning “a quick look” or a verb meaning “to take a quick look.”

Write “Take a peek at my website.” “Close your eyes; don’t peek.”

“pique” is a verb meaning “to arouse or stimulate”.

Write “Her speech piqued my interest.”

3/ off of, could of

The preposition “of” is often misused.

In the phrase “off of”, the word “of” is redundant.

Write “He jumped off the pier.” NOT “He jumped off of the pier.” “could of” should be “could’ve” or “could have”. In speech the “ve” in “could’ve” sounds like “of”—hence the misspelling.

Write “I could’ve come to the party.” NOT “I could of come to the party.”

4/ lie lay

To use these verbs properly, you must first memorize their principal parts.

lay laid laid

The action of this verb always acts on some other object. There is always an answer to the question “Laid what?”—it’s a transitive verb.

“He lays [what?] the book on the table.”
“He laid [what?] the book on the table yesterday.”
“He had laid [what?] the book on the table before you came in.”

In these examples, the book is the object acted upon.

lie lay lain

The action of this verb does not act on some other object. You cannot “lie” something. The verb is intransitive.

“He lies on the bed.”
“He lay on the bed yesterday.”
“He has lain on the bed for several hours.”

The tricky bit with these verbs is that the present tense of the first verb (to lay) is the same as the simple past of the second verb (to lie).

Write “He lay down on the bed yesterday.” NOT “He laid down on the bed yesterday.”

Write “Why don’t you lie down on the bed.” NOT “Why don’t you lay down on the bed.”

Jens Petersen is an editor with a wide range of clients. He primarily edits books, but also articles, brochures, advertising, etc. For more information, check his LinkedIn profile at https://www.linkedin.com/pub/jens-petersen/21/58a/791 He can be reached at PetersenEditing@gmail.com