How to Blog a Book

Inspiring You to Build Visibility, Boost Authority and Become an Author Post by Post

Inspiring You to Build Visibility, Boost Authority and Become an Author Post by Post

  • Home
  • About
    • Vote This Blog One of Writer’s Digest’s Annual 101 Best Internet Sites for Writers
    • Resources for Nonfiction Authors and Bloggers
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Service
  • The BOOK!
    • Table of Contents
    • Page One
    • NEW! Revised and Expanded–2nd Edition–of How to Blog a Book
    • How to Blog a Book (Revised and Expanded Edition) BLOG TOUR
    • Previous Virtual BookTours
  • Services
    • Blog Services
    • Coaching
      • Blog and Blog-to-Book Coaching
      • Author Coaching
      • Writing and Book Coaching
  • Courses
    • The Productive Writer Course
    • Inspired Creator Community
    • High-Performance Writer Group Coaching Program
    • Turn Your Blog Into a Book Production Machine
    • Build a Business Around Your Blog
    • How to Blog a Book Audio Course
    • How to Blog a Book eCourse
    • How to Blog a Book Audio Recording
  • Contact

September 22, 2015 by Nina Amir Leave a Comment

How to Self-Edit as You Blog Your Book

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Email
  • Print
  • More
  • Reddit
  • Tumblr
  • Pocket
how to self-edit your blog posts
Copyright kikkerdirk|fotolia.com

When you blog a book, you publish the first draft of your manuscript in cyberspace. However, you still need to share great content. How is that possible when you aren’t sharing “finished” work with the world? You must learn to do a great job of self-editing your early posts—or versions of your manuscript—so they appear polished and professional.

That means you must self-edit each post before you publish. You also may do some revising, making the blogged book version possibly a second or third draft.

A few bloggers I know have editors or proofreaders who read their work prior to hitting the “publish” button on their WordPress sites. Most bloggers do not have that luxury or time. Eventually, when your manuscript is complete, you will want to hire a developmental and line editor as well as a proofreader. For right now, though, learning to self-edit and proof your work represents an imperative skill.

13 Lucky Self-Editing Tips

Here are 15 tips on how to self-edit your work prior to publishing it on a blog. Use the same steps to edit the final version of your manuscript before you send it to an editor—one you hire or the editor at a publishing house.

1. Walk away from the post you plan to publish for a few days.

When you get some distance from your work, you’ll find it easier when you return to see errors, redundancies, missing information, and things that simply don’t make sense. So, leave each post (or part of the manuscript you are building as you blog your book) alone for as long as possible, and then try editing it again. To accomplish this, you must write your posts well in advance of your posting deadline.

2. Speak your posts.

When you read your work aloud, it sounds different—even different than it sounded in your head as you wrote and revised. So prior to publishing a post, read it aloud looking for errors and things to improve.

3. Reread your blog post from your readers’ point of view.

Your book and blog must provide benefit to your reader and address their interests and concerns at all times. By rereading with a reader’s primary question—“What’s it in for me?”—in mind, you might find a number of ways to improve each post you produce and, in the process, your whole blogged-book manuscript.

4. Make sure all verbs are strong and active.

Use action verbs whenever possible. Also, double check that you have noun/verb agreement throughout. Simply search every sentence for the verb. Then rewrite or revise as necessary.

5. Cut unnecessary words.

Eliminate all unnecessary adverbs and adjectives. Let your nouns, verbs and dialogue, if you have used any, do the work. Try to tighten all your sentences. Look for words that do little work, such as “that,” “very,” and “just.” I’ve been known to cut the word-count of a blog post in half simply with this step, and the same methodology can be used to cut or improve a book manuscript.

6. Recheck all quotes and names.

Double-check all quotes against your interview transcriptions. Do the same for names, visiting to your sources’ websites whenever possible. If you feel uncomfortable about a quote in any way, or you think your source might not like the quote or how you used it, ask them to approve it.

7. Make sure you retain point of view.

Check that you haven’t started with first-person tense and changed to the third-person perspective along the way. Also, if you have referred to the reader as “you” and then switched to “he” or “she,” or even begun writing in the plural “we,” rewrite for consistency.

8. Check all punctuation and grammar.

Even if this is not your forte, go through the manuscript and look for punctuation and grammar errors. Get a good grammar book and use it to help you correct mistakes—or to find them. Or use Grammarly or Spellcheck (in Word) to check for you.

9. Read backward.

Reading your posts from the end to the beginning, word by word, can be hard and tedious, but you’d be surprised what you find if you read each post, or your whole manuscript, in reverse.

10. Enlist readers.

Although not technically self-editing, you can ask others to read your blog posts for you or to read them aloud to you. This strategy provides a great way to catch some additional errors. You can also read posts aloud to them.

11. Read from the hard copy.

We often end up proofreading our posts or manuscripts on the computer screen. By switching to a hard copy—the printed version, your eye see something totally different.

12. Read on the screen.

If you have been editing posts only on printed versions of your manuscript, try doing so on the computer screen. This can make a huge difference as well.

13. Read the “formatted” post.

Use the “preview” option in WordPress to see the post in its published and formatted version.When your post looks like it will on your blog, your eye will see different errors.

It’s difficult to catch every grammatical mistake or typo. Use these 13 tips to help create posts with fewer errors.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Email
  • Print
  • More
  • Reddit
  • Tumblr
  • Pocket

Filed Under: Building a Better Blog, Writing for the Internet, Writing Posts/Chapters Tagged With: editing, proofreading, self-editing

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

About Nina Amir

Nina Amir, the Inspiration to Creation Coach, inspires writers to create published products and careers as authors as well as to achieve their goals and fulfill their purpose and potential.

Read More . . .

Follow Me!

Follow Us on FacebookFollow Us on Google+Follow Us on TwitterFollow Us on LinkedInFollow Us on PinterestFollow Us on YouTubeFollow Us on SkypeFollow Us on RSSFollow Us on E-mail

As Seen On:

social proof2

How to turn your blog into a book

Amazon.com
Barnesandnoble.com
IndieBound.com
WritersDigestShop.com

Create a Successful Author Website!

Book. Books and laptopPurchase a copy of my eBook!

Bestselling authors like Michael Hyatt and Joanna Penn use Scrivener and endorse this course! I tried Learn Scrivener Fast, too, and found it a quick, easy way to learn the Scrivener writing technology. Plus, you can use it to produce produce ebooks!
Click here to find out more!

250x250

bluehost

Writer's Digest: 2013 Best Writing Websites (2013)
This website has been awarded a Best Writing Website.
Sponsored by Writer's Digest, Writer's Market,
Writer's Digest University & Writer's Digest Shop.

TFOI Badge

Popular Posts

  • Are You Blogging a Book? List it here!
  • Can You Publish Blogged Material As a Kindle Ebook?
  • Darren Rowse on Book Deals and Discovery in the Blogosphere
  • 4 Ways Digital Marketing Helps You Blog A Book
  • Selling Your Ebook on Your Own Website vs. Amazon

Search

Categories

Archives

Copyright © Nina Amir 2023

»
«
Powered by Conversion Insights: Boost your online revenue.  
Are you a productive, semi-productive or unproductive writer? Take My Quiz To Find Out!
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.