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Polish Your Prose
Polish Your Prose is a powerful new guide that gives essential editing tips for authors. Lots of books have been written on the art of writing, and here—at last—is a guide that will teach you the essential techniques of editing your own book. This will help you turn a promising manuscript into a published novel. And, it does this without the jargon. You don’t need to know all the grammatical terms in order to make use of this book. You don’t need to know the definition of a split infinitive, a comma splice, or a ‘to be’ verb, as this manual explains these in detail in easy to understand terms, and a lively and engaging style.
Chapters on Passive Writing, Tense, Point of View, Dialogue, and other techniques take you through the same processes an editor would go through to polish and perfect your manuscript. Good writing is nothing without good editing. Learn the secrets of good editing and writing with this essential author reference, which offers so much more for so much less.
Harmony Kent is an award winning author, and accomplished editor and proofreader. Her passion is helping Indie Authors to successfully achieve their goals and dreams.
Chapters on Passive Writing, Tense, Point of View, Dialogue, and other techniques take you through the same processes an editor would go through to polish and perfect your manuscript. Good writing is nothing without good editing. Learn the secrets of good editing and writing with this essential author reference, which offers so much more for so much less.
Harmony Kent is an award winning author, and accomplished editor and proofreader. Her passion is helping Indie Authors to successfully achieve their goals and dreams.
- GenresWriting
186 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 17, 2014
7 people are currently reading
23 people want to read
About the author
Harmony Kent
52 books389 followersHarmony Kent is an award-winning multi-genre author of non-fiction, author education, poetry, and fun fiction books that hook.
Along with being an avid reader and writer, she also offers reviews and supports her fellow authors. Harmony works hard to promote and protect high standards within the publishing arena. Always on the look out for talent and excellence, she will freely promote any authors or books who she feels have these attributes.
As well as writing, Harmony offers editing, proofreading, and book formatting services.
With her extensive knowledge, experience, and dedication, she assists fellow authors in achieving their literary goals.
Let's create books that resonate with readers and leave a lasting impact!
Harmony lives in Cornwall, England.
Find Harmony wherever she is online at: https://harmonykent.carrd.co/
Along with being an avid reader and writer, she also offers reviews and supports her fellow authors. Harmony works hard to promote and protect high standards within the publishing arena. Always on the look out for talent and excellence, she will freely promote any authors or books who she feels have these attributes.
As well as writing, Harmony offers editing, proofreading, and book formatting services.
With her extensive knowledge, experience, and dedication, she assists fellow authors in achieving their literary goals.
Let's create books that resonate with readers and leave a lasting impact!
Harmony lives in Cornwall, England.
Find Harmony wherever she is online at: https://harmonykent.carrd.co/
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
May 18, 2022
“Polish Your Prose” is a reference guide that every writer needs. This doesn’t tell you how to write but how to clean up what you’ve written. There are three parts, and it’s laid out so you can locate the information needed. Many topics are covered, including these chapters, Show no Tell, Filter Words, Sentence Construction, and Common Spelling Mistakes. Part three talks about on giving and receiving reviews and offers a checklist for editing. This is simple and easy to follow with plenty of guidance to help when doing the dreaded edit of your book. I have a copy sitting on my shelf for easy access and reminders of things I need to work on. I can easily recommend this book
December 1, 2014
This book on editing and proofreading does its stated job exactly: it gives a new (especially indie) author a quick, clear overview of many basics and even next level things to polish in their finished manuscript, and does so in an approachable manner, with lots of examples. I highly recommend it as the first book they read while resting their work before one of their editing passes. The lists of common misspellings and incorrect usages would be especially helpful.
I still found useful nuggets, even with more experience, and having read other editing books, and I find it a good refresher to read a new book of the sort periodically before switching into editing mode.
As noted in another review, the lighter gray text was odd but in my case still easy enough to read on a standard Kindle, and the charts legible.
The UK to US word/idiom chart was a fun read. I'm exposed to a lot of both through media and reading, but there were still ones I'd never seen.
I still found useful nuggets, even with more experience, and having read other editing books, and I find it a good refresher to read a new book of the sort periodically before switching into editing mode.
As noted in another review, the lighter gray text was odd but in my case still easy enough to read on a standard Kindle, and the charts legible.
The UK to US word/idiom chart was a fun read. I'm exposed to a lot of both through media and reading, but there were still ones I'd never seen.
January 12, 2020
A concise writer’s guide written in simplicity with easy to refer to chapters, no filler babble in these bite-sized chapters to help hone your editing skills. This book succinctly covers chapters on all bibs and bobs of writing a clean and concise manuscript. However, this is not a book about how to write a book, but rather, a complete checklist on the dos and don’ts of writing clean, complete with easy to understand lessons with examples covering all the topics that make for better writing.
In this book Kent covers such topics as: show don’t tell, how to avoid head-hopping, weeding out adverbs and cliches, importance of staying in tense, use of contractions, dialogue tags, overuse of starting sentences with same pronouns, common stylistic and grammar issues, and more! Kent also adds good tips for proofreading, what to include when writing book reviews – and what not to, how to handle bad reviews, and once learning the rules – how they can be broken.
Polish Your Prose also includes added bonus charts on common word replacements from British to American English, and a list of commonly used words that are used incorrectly. Point of view use is also discussed and demonstrated with concise examples.
This book is a handy guide for writers on all levels. For the seasoned writer, it’s a wonderful refresher guide for those moments we are stumped while revising and editing. And for new writers, it’s a must have on every desktop.
In this book Kent covers such topics as: show don’t tell, how to avoid head-hopping, weeding out adverbs and cliches, importance of staying in tense, use of contractions, dialogue tags, overuse of starting sentences with same pronouns, common stylistic and grammar issues, and more! Kent also adds good tips for proofreading, what to include when writing book reviews – and what not to, how to handle bad reviews, and once learning the rules – how they can be broken.
Polish Your Prose also includes added bonus charts on common word replacements from British to American English, and a list of commonly used words that are used incorrectly. Point of view use is also discussed and demonstrated with concise examples.
This book is a handy guide for writers on all levels. For the seasoned writer, it’s a wonderful refresher guide for those moments we are stumped while revising and editing. And for new writers, it’s a must have on every desktop.
December 6, 2017
The literary world is filled with how-to books on every topic imaginable. Writers have millions of options for finding resources which are the right fit and aids them in their writing journey.
Polish Your Prose is a right fit resource for any writer, be it the new-kid-on-the-block or professional.
Divided into three sections, this short writing aide covers everything from passive prose to dealing with negative reviews in a positive way. There’s even a short chapter dedicated to U.S. English vs. U.K. English.
Chapters are clear and concise, with examples of each tip and a quick summary of each chapter. The author does not pad chapters with the time-honored rules of writing from the halls of academia but recommends other resources for further explanation and examples.
Whether you’re writing the first draft, revising, or editing, this is the book to keep close-at-hand.
Polish Your Prose is available in ebook format, but I recommend the print version as it’s easier and faster to access all those often used tips highlighted and bookmarked by Post-it notes.
Or maybe that’s just me.
If you’re building a library, you could add this book. But if you want to hone your writing skills and deliver quality books/blogs to your readers, you need this book. Scroll up and 1-click.
You’re welcome!
Polish Your Prose is a right fit resource for any writer, be it the new-kid-on-the-block or professional.
Divided into three sections, this short writing aide covers everything from passive prose to dealing with negative reviews in a positive way. There’s even a short chapter dedicated to U.S. English vs. U.K. English.
Chapters are clear and concise, with examples of each tip and a quick summary of each chapter. The author does not pad chapters with the time-honored rules of writing from the halls of academia but recommends other resources for further explanation and examples.
Whether you’re writing the first draft, revising, or editing, this is the book to keep close-at-hand.
Polish Your Prose is available in ebook format, but I recommend the print version as it’s easier and faster to access all those often used tips highlighted and bookmarked by Post-it notes.
Or maybe that’s just me.
If you’re building a library, you could add this book. But if you want to hone your writing skills and deliver quality books/blogs to your readers, you need this book. Scroll up and 1-click.
You’re welcome!
February 9, 2023
A very helpful writers resource, I felt empowered but also confronted as some of my habits appeared exposed before me. This has been worthwhile as a read but will help me in the future.
November 30, 2014
This book is a mine of useful information. It's concise and easy to understand. You don't have to wade through pages upon pages of chatter; Harmony Kent gets straight to the point. This book covers the pros and cons of the different tenses, the comma splice, repetitive words, clichés, passive voice, paragraph length, and more. I learned that I've been spelling 'focused' the U.S way. Apparently, here in the UK it's spelled 'focussed.'
The only reason I haven't given 5 stars (and really this is more my eyesight than anything else) is because the font was a pale grey colour, rather than the usual black, or at least it was on my kindle. I prefer black text because it's easier for me to see. Also there was a table of UK words vs American words which I was very interested in reading, but the text was too small for me to read and I wasn't able to increase the font size of the table. For someone with normal eyesight, none of this would be a problem. This is a great book and I recommend it to anyone seeking to improve their writing and editing.
The only reason I haven't given 5 stars (and really this is more my eyesight than anything else) is because the font was a pale grey colour, rather than the usual black, or at least it was on my kindle. I prefer black text because it's easier for me to see. Also there was a table of UK words vs American words which I was very interested in reading, but the text was too small for me to read and I wasn't able to increase the font size of the table. For someone with normal eyesight, none of this would be a problem. This is a great book and I recommend it to anyone seeking to improve their writing and editing.
October 20, 2015
“Polish Your Prose” is a must have resource for writers. It does exactly what it promises, “a powerful new guide that gives essential editing tips for authors.”
Kent provides a complete guide for perfecting your writing skills and the quality of your work. I particularly enjoyed the chapters on passive prose, show not tell, POV, and dialogue tags. The author provided engaging activities which I highly recommend taking the time to practice and apply what you have learned, as you’ll see the results. I have read many books that attempt to do the same and teach these essential techniques, but this book actually delivers without all the jargon.
I highly recommend this resource. It’s a must have tool in the toolbox for writing quality and engaging prose.
Kent provides a complete guide for perfecting your writing skills and the quality of your work. I particularly enjoyed the chapters on passive prose, show not tell, POV, and dialogue tags. The author provided engaging activities which I highly recommend taking the time to practice and apply what you have learned, as you’ll see the results. I have read many books that attempt to do the same and teach these essential techniques, but this book actually delivers without all the jargon.
I highly recommend this resource. It’s a must have tool in the toolbox for writing quality and engaging prose.
December 13, 2014
Harmony Kent’s “POLISH YOUR PROSE” is a vital tool for any aspiring author. By clear examples, it guides the writer into avoiding the many pitfalls that challenge the inexperienced. The book is written in plain and simple easy-to-understand English, and in a friendly style. It gives essential guidelines in producing a quality book. An easy read, it avoids fancy words and jargon. Written by a professional with experience, it will most definitely improve your writing skills. I highly recommend it.
February 9, 2015
great help for authors
I bought this book back in December and read, reread and studied it. I have since applied it to my new book and the outcome is sensational. I realized I was doing everything wrong and this book helped me see the err of my ways. Definitely a must read for ALL authors or anyone who has ever felt the desire to put words onto paper. Easy to follow and great little exercises to help even the novice writer. I loved it.
I bought this book back in December and read, reread and studied it. I have since applied it to my new book and the outcome is sensational. I realized I was doing everything wrong and this book helped me see the err of my ways. Definitely a must read for ALL authors or anyone who has ever felt the desire to put words onto paper. Easy to follow and great little exercises to help even the novice writer. I loved it.
February 25, 2018
I read this book via an Amazon-US KINDLE Unlimited download.
Good authors are not born, they need to be nurtured, just like a child. I should know since I’ve written items for a community newspaper. When I started the writing had been extremely drab, and 11 years later, when I wrote my last, my writing had become somewhat dynamic in the words I should to use. I didn’t worry about grammar and the like since a good friend had been doing the proofreading.
But, that writing had been non-fiction; but since I’m into writing romance these days, there’s a lot more intricacies in the linguistics one has to use in doing it well; some of which I’ve already learned, with rest being an ever-on-going educational process.
I found this book cuts to the chase and gets to the real meat of writing, and writing well; without the need to remember the superficial jargon which other books of this type include. Ms. Kent takes her readers by the hand and teaches them the indispensable methods needed to edit a rough manuscript into a delightfully readable book. You don’t need to know what a dangling participle by its name, and other such grammar terminology is concerned, as long as you know how to recognize them; as this author explains everything in a concise, easily understood and forthright manner.
For her willingness to share her extensive knowledge and experience in this area with all aspiring authors; I’m glad to give Ms. Kent the 5 STARS she’s gotten from this reviewer.
Good authors are not born, they need to be nurtured, just like a child. I should know since I’ve written items for a community newspaper. When I started the writing had been extremely drab, and 11 years later, when I wrote my last, my writing had become somewhat dynamic in the words I should to use. I didn’t worry about grammar and the like since a good friend had been doing the proofreading.
But, that writing had been non-fiction; but since I’m into writing romance these days, there’s a lot more intricacies in the linguistics one has to use in doing it well; some of which I’ve already learned, with rest being an ever-on-going educational process.
I found this book cuts to the chase and gets to the real meat of writing, and writing well; without the need to remember the superficial jargon which other books of this type include. Ms. Kent takes her readers by the hand and teaches them the indispensable methods needed to edit a rough manuscript into a delightfully readable book. You don’t need to know what a dangling participle by its name, and other such grammar terminology is concerned, as long as you know how to recognize them; as this author explains everything in a concise, easily understood and forthright manner.
For her willingness to share her extensive knowledge and experience in this area with all aspiring authors; I’m glad to give Ms. Kent the 5 STARS she’s gotten from this reviewer.
April 2, 2020
Polish Your Prose was precisely the type of self-help book that I wanted. Harmony Kent has written an excellent guide for editing. Perhaps what I enjoyed the most was her clear examples of the misuse of specific areas in writing and grammar, followed by several better alternatives.
Some of the specific areas she writes about were basic (use of contractions, introductory clauses), but the author does not spend too long on any one topic. As someone who needs brushing up with some areas of grammar, I appreciated her clear and concise examples. One of the common themes is the need for consistency in one's writing. There was plenty of information that was useful to me.
Some of the specific areas she writes about were basic (use of contractions, introductory clauses), but the author does not spend too long on any one topic. As someone who needs brushing up with some areas of grammar, I appreciated her clear and concise examples. One of the common themes is the need for consistency in one's writing. There was plenty of information that was useful to me.
March 15, 2021
The most useful and helpful book I have found on self-editing a novel.
Polish Your Prose is an invaluable source of help for any writer—perfectly structured, easy to digest. Each point is illustrated with examples. Among other important elements, the chapters cover Sentence Construction, Punctuation, Common Spelling Mistakes, etc. The book has all you need to perfect your manuscript. Not every book on writing and editing gives advice on English versus American Spelling supported with lists of differences which I have found exceptionally valuable. An excellent book which I can highly recommend.
Polish Your Prose is an invaluable source of help for any writer—perfectly structured, easy to digest. Each point is illustrated with examples. Among other important elements, the chapters cover Sentence Construction, Punctuation, Common Spelling Mistakes, etc. The book has all you need to perfect your manuscript. Not every book on writing and editing gives advice on English versus American Spelling supported with lists of differences which I have found exceptionally valuable. An excellent book which I can highly recommend.
March 14, 2020
Crystal clear explanations. Great examples. Easy to follow, with fantastic tips The author gets right to the point. This book is a must have for first time authors and for folks that want a refresher on improving their writing.
June 9, 2020
A bit short, but it addresses the most common problems in a way that is easy to understand.
January 7, 2015
Verified Purchase
This review is from: Polish Your Prose: Essential Editing Tips for
Authors (Kindle Edition)
This book is filled with truly invaluable information for any author, whether seasoned or beginner. It covers a wide variety of topics to assist writers in releasing their best work to the public.
The author provides multiple examples of how to form proper sentence structure, strengthen writing with active voice rather than passive, and even offers fun, engaging practice activities that allow readers to test their skills based on the knowledge they gain throughout the book.
I would like to have seen a section on the proper use of quotation marks--single versus double, and when a punctuation mark needs to be placed within or after these marks, as this can be quite tricky for many authors. But perhaps that would comprise a book all its own:)
All in all, Polish Your Prose was a very informative and interesting read. I would recommend it to any author who is not, or does not already employ, a professional editor. Great job!
This review is from: Polish Your Prose: Essential Editing Tips for
Authors (Kindle Edition)
This book is filled with truly invaluable information for any author, whether seasoned or beginner. It covers a wide variety of topics to assist writers in releasing their best work to the public.
The author provides multiple examples of how to form proper sentence structure, strengthen writing with active voice rather than passive, and even offers fun, engaging practice activities that allow readers to test their skills based on the knowledge they gain throughout the book.
I would like to have seen a section on the proper use of quotation marks--single versus double, and when a punctuation mark needs to be placed within or after these marks, as this can be quite tricky for many authors. But perhaps that would comprise a book all its own:)
All in all, Polish Your Prose was a very informative and interesting read. I would recommend it to any author who is not, or does not already employ, a professional editor. Great job!
July 21, 2016
Harmony Kent has published a very useful collection of guidelines for self-published authors that may not have access to professional editors. She offers her own expertise to highlight various stages in the editing/proofreading process, helpful for writers that want to tighten their prose and avoid errors. Stylistic and grammar mistakes can make writers appear unprofessional, thereby undermining their credibility. Her own prose is clear and readable. Kent's explanations of point of view, verb tenses, and punctuation are particularly helpful for the novice (or anyone who needs to brush up in these areas). She also gives an extensive list of commonly used words that have different spelling in the UK, a great resource for authors who publish in both countries. Overall, this is a book any writer can learn from. I recommend it.
June 14, 2015
I was sceptical about this to with: whether it was really worth shelling out £3.05 for. After all, I must have half a dozen ‘how-to-write’ books. Must say though, my scepticism was misplaced. This is a useful addition to my bookshelf. It is useful as a summary of the pratfalls for any writer but also would be useful for someone starting out: it contains some helpful exercises to make you think about the key points. Also a nice little chapter on how to review and receive reviews which I’ve not seen covered quite so well elsewhere. I wish every indie writer would get “Polish Your Prose” then some of the howlers that make you want to give up reading in disgust could be avoided. I will certainly have it open next time I’m proof-reading.
December 6, 2015
Every Self Publishing Author Must Read This
Wow! To think that there is so much that goes into writing on top of writing itself.
The author is very descriptive and correct in all of the advice that she gives in this book. Right now, I am double taking every word I use in this review to be certain I continue write in the correct format.
If you are self publishing, editing can be a nightmare! Like the author, I too have read some books that had a good story, but I just couldn't deal with the grammatical errors. Do yourself a favor, buy this book and read it prior to publishing yours!
Wow! To think that there is so much that goes into writing on top of writing itself.
The author is very descriptive and correct in all of the advice that she gives in this book. Right now, I am double taking every word I use in this review to be certain I continue write in the correct format.
If you are self publishing, editing can be a nightmare! Like the author, I too have read some books that had a good story, but I just couldn't deal with the grammatical errors. Do yourself a favor, buy this book and read it prior to publishing yours!
Read
March 30, 2015Review to come soon. Stay tuned.
May 3, 2017
Invaluable Advice
This is a very well written, concise and easily understandable book, filled with invaluable advice for any author. Although aimed more at fiction writers, I found that most of the tips and tricks that Harmony Kent includes are appropriate to my own genre of memoir writing as well. As I read this book it sparked my imagination and corrected some long held misconceptions. Over the next few months I will continually refer back to this fantastic source of advice as I work on my new memoir. The end product will be much better as a result.
This is a very well written, concise and easily understandable book, filled with invaluable advice for any author. Although aimed more at fiction writers, I found that most of the tips and tricks that Harmony Kent includes are appropriate to my own genre of memoir writing as well. As I read this book it sparked my imagination and corrected some long held misconceptions. Over the next few months I will continually refer back to this fantastic source of advice as I work on my new memoir. The end product will be much better as a result.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews