The Importance of a Well-Edited Novel by Cheryl Bolen

A lot of us authors got into writing because spelling and grammar came easily to us when we were students. Because of those natural attributes, some authors fall into the false sense of security that they don’t need to hire editors and proofreaders for their books. I am not one of those authors.

I worked my way through college serving as a proofreader. In another life I was actually a professional editor. In another life I also taught sixth graders grammar. I hold degrees in journalism and in English. I was the only student in my college editing class who made an "A." I can edit others’ manuscripts pretty darn well. But not my own.

I never see my own errors. Those missing words? I read the sentence as if they were there. Or when I accidentally type ed when a word is supposed to end in es, when I proofread, I always read the sentence as I intended it to read. I could give a gazillion examples of the common errors I repeatedly make in my writing, but you get the idea.

Few things could be more humiliating to me than if I reader were to say my book was poorly edited. Now I pay two highly competent proofreaders for each one of my books. It is worth every penny. After these editors—one a talented, brilliant writer and the other a retired college English professor who loves romance books—have read my books and I have incorporated their corrections, I send my book off to select reviewers. And you know what? One of my core of book bloggers, AnnMarie Spiby of DragonRose Books Galore, still manages to find a scattering of typos my highly skilled professionals have missed.

For this I am most thankful. That means that before I release that book to the public—and potential crucifying reviews for carelessness—I have the opportunity to make one last round of corrections. For an author like myself who started out with New York publishing houses but who now is indie published, it is especially important to maintain high standards. And I thank each of my editors and readers who allow me to make that happen. (But do understand that typos do have a very strong will to live, and we don't always kill them all!)—Cheryl Bolen has two Christmas novellas coming out this season. His Lady Deceived (in the Deceived series) released this month, and One Room at the Inn (a stand alone in the Lord of Eton series) is the first novella in the Winter Wishes anthology of 13 brand-new stories by bestselling Regency authors. It is on preorder now for $.99, with release day set for Oct. 15.