Congratulations, you have dove into the world of writing and have officially made your first manuscript. That is a huge deal, and you should take a moment to breathe and enjoy this momentous occasion because the next phase of the writing process is the nit-picking, gritty, distasteful, and often loathed editing process. There is certainly not one author on this planet who enjoys the editing process. Unfortunately, though, it has to be done for the manuscript to shine. But there is good news! There are several ways to get your manuscript edited and ready for publication that won’t be such a headache.
Many authors believe that they can complete the process themselves, and for those that can, great! But for the rest of us writers out there who live only on the creative side of the rainbow, editing is daunting and tiresome and well, not fun. There are programs out there though for those who want to save a bit of money and are willing to cut their manuscript down for the good stuff to come out. Here are two sites that will help you get your article started on its shining path and get you ready for the query letters to be sent out.
Autocrit.com is a website that allows you to edit your manuscript. This site goes beyond amazing by picking apart your book and showing you where you went wrong. The auto critique service runs several reports on your novel and shows what words you have overused. The software will compare your writing to that in the field you are trying to break into as well as run reports on all the “-ly” words that should be chopped from the book. It will also help you build better dialog for your characters and give you a clear idea of the pacing in your novel and how to improve it. For those who go the route of editing your own work, look into Autocrit. It is the only tool you will need in your arsenal to get your pages shining and ready for publication.
Grammarly.com is another site that many writers are using to help them brush up on their grammar mistakes. Grammarly is a good site to use to help you edit your work, check to see if your work isn’t something that has been said time and again, and even offers a professional proofreader to look over the items you missed.
Once you have run your manuscript through these two sites, it is important to have a fresh pair of eyes look it over. Although technology today accelerating leaps and bounds, there is nothing like the personal touch of a human reading your stuff and giving you real feedback instead of just statistics. It’s always better to rely on personal feedback to help advance your manuscript to its next stages.
These two sites are hands down the best of the best and will help your manuscript shine and sparkle. As mentioned earlier, take a moment to breathe and enjoy the completed first draft before jumping into editing.
