By Roxanne Reid
Do you wish you could improve your writing, your website or blog? Follow more than 40 tips in my new book, The Essential Guide to Self-Editing, and you can become “the Jedi of self-editing”. The guide is intended for bloggers, social media managers and business people, for students and post-grad academics – anyone who hasn’t trained to be a writer but finds themselves writing every day and would like to do it better.
Do you wish you could improve your writing, your website or blog? Follow more than 40 tips in my new book, The Essential Guide to Self-Editing, and you can become “the Jedi of self-editing”. The guide is intended for bloggers, social media managers and business people, for students and post-grad academics – anyone who hasn’t trained to be a writer but finds themselves writing every day and would like to do it better.
This is a little different from my usual posts about travel. It’s more for travel bloggers and other writers than for travellers. But almost everyone does some writing in their lives, either for fun or business, so I figured it might be useful to most of you anyway.
Do you write regularly – a personal /travel /fashion/ mommy blog, a memoir of a significant event in your life, research papers, sales reports, memos, emails, even content for your business’s website and social media? It may not be your core strength and you know you could do better with a little guidance. English may not even be your first language so you’d appreciate a few pointers.
If this sounds like you, then this guide is for you.
It will show you how to improve your writing by learning to edit it. All you need are some tools – and this essential guide will give you those. It will break down the editing process into two stages and give you more than 40 tips and tricks for handling them.
Do you write regularly – a personal /travel /fashion/ mommy blog, a memoir of a significant event in your life, research papers, sales reports, memos, emails, even content for your business’s website and social media? It may not be your core strength and you know you could do better with a little guidance. English may not even be your first language so you’d appreciate a few pointers.
If this sounds like you, then this guide is for you.
It will show you how to improve your writing by learning to edit it. All you need are some tools – and this essential guide will give you those. It will break down the editing process into two stages and give you more than 40 tips and tricks for handling them.
What a blogger says
[The author’s] examples are plain yet powerful, her knowledge eye-opening ... Apply the power tips in this guide and become the Jedi of self-editing.
- Michael Theys, blogger and founder of africafreak.com
[The author’s] examples are plain yet powerful, her knowledge eye-opening ... Apply the power tips in this guide and become the Jedi of self-editing.
- Michael Theys, blogger and founder of africafreak.com
Here are some of the things that The Essential Guide to Self-Editing will do. It will:
- Highlight some of the most common errors non-professional writers make so you don’t fall into these traps.
- Show you how using plain language makes your message clear and easy to understand.
- Help you understand the importance and function of structure in your writing.
- Highlight the value of a catchy headline and a powerful first paragraph.
- Help you tighten your sentences and do away with empty words and phrases.
- Encourage you to avoid clichés and jargon, suggesting better ways of expressing them.
- Show you how to be consistent.
- Help you use your word processor’s built-in thesaurus to find just the right word to express what you’re trying to say.
- Teach you the limitations of a spell check programme and why you shouldn’t rely on it.
- Help you identify the difference between pairs of commonly confused words so you can use them correctly and with confidence. (Think of affect/effect, loose/lose, etc)
- Unravel the mystery of when and where to use – or not use – punctuation such as apostrophes, hyphens and commas.
- Give you lots of examples to make the points clear.
What the guide will not do is confuse you with terms or language only a Grammar Nerd would understand. No fancy definitions of parts of speech you’ve never heard of. Promise.
What a businessman says
This guide is a wonderfully concise and practical reference for anybody who wants to improve the effectiveness of their writing.
- R Leitner, businessman
This guide is a wonderfully concise and practical reference for anybody who wants to improve the effectiveness of their writing.
- R Leitner, businessman
Why can I help your writing shine?
I’ve been a freelance editor and proofreader for 20 years, working with international book publishers. I’ve covered topics such as travel, wildlife, documentary photography, history, geology and ocean life, as well as books about business. I’ve edited novels and worked as a manuscript evaluator for both fiction and non-fiction, compiling reports for publishers on what works or doesn’t work in a particular manuscript, and how it could be structured or developed into a better book.
I’ve been a freelance editor and proofreader for 20 years, working with international book publishers. I’ve covered topics such as travel, wildlife, documentary photography, history, geology and ocean life, as well as books about business. I’ve edited novels and worked as a manuscript evaluator for both fiction and non-fiction, compiling reports for publishers on what works or doesn’t work in a particular manuscript, and how it could be structured or developed into a better book.
My books
I’ve worked as an editor with novelists, academics and even first-time non-fiction writers with vast knowledge of their specialist subject but little idea of how to express it in writing. Mentoring people into improving their writing has taught me a lot about what they generally struggle with and what common difficulties they face.
As an author, travel writer and blogger, I read a lot too – especially travel writing. I’ve discovered that many writers and bloggers make the same mistakes, particularly those who aren’t trained writers but have got into it as a sideline from their main jobs. And that’s a high percentage of travel, fashion, lifestyle and mommy bloggers.
No self-editing guide can turn a bad writer into a brilliant writer overnight. But this essential guide will power up your writing by giving you more than 40 useful tips about common mistakes to watch out for as you edit what you have written.
Don’t worry, there are lots of examples to make it easier for you to understand each point.
As an author, travel writer and blogger, I read a lot too – especially travel writing. I’ve discovered that many writers and bloggers make the same mistakes, particularly those who aren’t trained writers but have got into it as a sideline from their main jobs. And that’s a high percentage of travel, fashion, lifestyle and mommy bloggers.
No self-editing guide can turn a bad writer into a brilliant writer overnight. But this essential guide will power up your writing by giving you more than 40 useful tips about common mistakes to watch out for as you edit what you have written.
Don’t worry, there are lots of examples to make it easier for you to understand each point.
What an editor says
[I]f you have ever written something, no matter what your content or target audience, and have a niggling feeling that it should be looked at by a professional, but you can't afford the time or money to hire an editor or proofreader, use this guide to become your own best editor. The rewards will be gratifying.
- H Thorne, editor
[I]f you have ever written something, no matter what your content or target audience, and have a niggling feeling that it should be looked at by a professional, but you can't afford the time or money to hire an editor or proofreader, use this guide to become your own best editor. The rewards will be gratifying.
- H Thorne, editor
What does the guide cost?
If this were a workshop or an online course, you could expect to pay at least US$150 (ZAR2000). But this invaluable guide will cost you just US$6.83 or £4.45. That’s less than R95, folks! All you need to have - or create - is an Amazon account; you don’t even need a Kindle reader because you can just as easily download free apps to read it (and keep it for reference) on your computer, tablet or smart phone. You can even buy it as a gift for someone else.
What have you got to lose? Buy a copy now and start improving your writing, website and blog by learning how to self-edit.
If you buy your copy using the affiliate link below I will get a tiny fee from amazon but it won't cost you a single cent more.
If this were a workshop or an online course, you could expect to pay at least US$150 (ZAR2000). But this invaluable guide will cost you just US$6.83 or £4.45. That’s less than R95, folks! All you need to have - or create - is an Amazon account; you don’t even need a Kindle reader because you can just as easily download free apps to read it (and keep it for reference) on your computer, tablet or smart phone. You can even buy it as a gift for someone else.
What have you got to lose? Buy a copy now and start improving your writing, website and blog by learning how to self-edit.
If you buy your copy using the affiliate link below I will get a tiny fee from amazon but it won't cost you a single cent more.
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