self-publishing

A laptop with "The End" in focus on the screen

Writing a First Draft: Ten Top Tips for First-Time Novelists

If you have never written a full-length novel – whether that’s because you’ve only ever written fanfiction or short stories, or even because you’ve never written anything! – the prospect can be pretty daunting. Taking an idea from that first moment of inspiration to a fully-fledged First Draft can seem like a huge undertaking, which … Read More

A laptop, a coffee, and an open notebook

How to Edit on a Budget (Or with No Budget at All)

In my last blog post, I discussed why I feel it’s worth paying for good editorial work; my opinion (unsurprisingly) still stands, and if you are wavering at all on whether to pay for editing, please do read it before deciding. However, as I mentioned, I’m fully aware that some writers just literally don’t have … Read More

A manuscript page with handwritten corrections

Why Should I Pay for Professional Editing?

I recently made posts on Instagram and Twitter asking the writing community a question that is pretty important to me: if they hadn’t used or didn’t plan to use a professional editor, what was their reasoning? I got a lot of responses, which was awesome, and incredibly enlightening. I had (somewhat naïvely, it transpires) assumed … Read More

A photo of the Shakespeare and Company bookshop

Copy-editing vs. Proofreading: A Simple Guide for New Authors

As you’ve probably just discovered, a search for ‘copy-editing vs. proofreading’ brings up hundreds of different results, from ‘line editing’ to ‘proofreading’, and words such as ‘developmental’, ‘opinionated’ and ‘beta reading’ get thrown around, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and confused. If you’re unsure where to start with getting your manuscript edited, it’s worth understanding … Read More