The 10% Solution: Self-editing for the Modern Writer

by Ken Rand

This concise book is jammed full of the kind of information it often takes beginning writers years to learn. Ken Rand offers his own advice and twenty-five years of experience for the benefit of other writers. His no-nonsense approach to editing fiction will do more to make writing more professional.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Reference, Self Help, How To

108 pages, Paperback

First published October 31, 1998

Reviews

[Powersamurai · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I've read about editing. Short, concise and direct, you can put the advice to work, immediately. Oops, used an -ly word. But sometimes you have to let them be. Its big print format means I can reread it when my arms become too short. Its brevity means that I can read it once a year to remind me of what I should be doing. I've got a list in my Stickies of all the points that I open when I work so I don't forget anything. Reading this has sure changed the way I edit not only my translations, but also other people's work. Highly recommended.

I did my 3rd re-read today (2020). I now practise most of what Rand propounds, so maybe it's my last re-read. Many other writing and editing books on my shelf to help me polish my art.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books on editing your own work. His method tightens up your prose and makes your writing easier to read and more enjoyable. It seems like an easy concept and it is!. Easy to apply... Hemingway would be proud!

[VT Dorchester · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ironically? this book could have easily been cut by about 20%.

It's a very short book. It is padded, but the technique described seems solid and I will probably take notes to try it out some time.

I just wouldn't pay very much for this book. A couple of dollars seems about right for it's Kindle download.

[Rajiv Moté · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book on left-brained editing of your writing. It's a specific process. An algorithm, even. It's opinionated and no-nonsense, and I can't wait to apply it to my own writing. If you're a writer who isn't sure when you stop editing and tinkering with your manuscript, this is for you.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rating: 4½ stars.

A short but helpful read on reducing needless clutter from a written piece (approximately 10%, as you might have guessed).

Looking forward to applying this advice to my own writing.

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rand presents a technique for searching in your manuscript for words and phrases that do not carry their weight and whose removal would improve the work. His thesis is that almost every work can be improved by cutting out these superfluous words. That step was already in my revision punch list, but Rand presents it as a final polishing step to tighten up the prose once the structure of the story is pretty much in place. Seems worthwhile to me.

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was all it promised--lays down everything I've believed and done for years in a format that is easy to consult. Just the basics, still valid. Lean and mean, I keep telling people who ask me to edit for them, and they don't like it and often don't do it. But it is the key. Thanks, Ken Rand.

[L. Lawson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid, Clipped Advice for Writing

I appreciate the notion that there are common sense tools for your editing brain to use that are distinct and apart (even opposed) to the tools your writer brain might use. A lot of this useful advice boils down to “murder your darlings, systematically.” I appreciate that and look forward to employing the technique on a piece I’ve sent to market a few times and have gotten no traction on. I believe this slim book will improve my editing, and I am glad I read it.

That said, the advice, in practice, in this book is maybe a bit too extreme. It was engaging and readable and right, but I found, sometimes, the author cut a bit too much language and explanation. In rare cases, maybe 10% of the book (heh), I found the writing ever-so-slightly choppy. Too choppy to prove a point, perhaps.

Last thing is a bit of a small thing. In the book, he advises readers to eschew passive voice. Instead of “She was running from the room,” he suggests “She ran from the room.” The former, however more wordier, is not passive voice. It’s past progressive. That one error, used to prove a point, raised an eyebrow. If you can get past that or let that go as a simple mistake (as I have), you’ll really get a lot out of this book.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Has me thinking about editing (and writing) in a new light.

I was tempted to skip the first half of the book and get right to the "list." I'm glad I went back and read those first lessons because they do set up a fresh approach to editing- the whys behind the 10%. Now granted, I've spent the last 6 months doing the editing he refers to in one paragraph- the big stuff like developmental edits. He considers this writing still and that makes sense since I was still noodling out the story. I hope the implementation of the 10% Solution takes 10% as long as that other editing.

Who do I recommend this book to:
Writers who have already done the heavy developmental edits or who have 100K debut novel that they know has to be trimmed-- more than 10% for industry standards, but when you start thinking about your writing this way it may be easier to trim the fat.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm the odd man out, once again. There's nothing wrong with this book, and I'm sure it's helpful for a new writer. I found irony in the typo on page 11. The tall bimbo line made me roll my eyes. This felt more like a lengthy blog post than a self-editing manual for a modern writer. I think parts could confuse a new writer, especially without a discussion of the lyrics of sentence and the development of an editing eye through reading lots and lots of other people's work. All of his suggestions are true, and if you don't practice these habits, you absolutely should. I was just the wrong audience, I think.

[Súbete a la Nutria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Librito maravilloso sobre escribir bien y bonito. Me lo recomendó (y pasó piratillamente) un profe genial de Creative Writing que tuve (sí, eres tú, Jaq Greenspon). Me lo leí hace 11 o 12 años y lo he releído ahora. Esperaba redescubrir sus enseñanzas, pero no. Resulta que más de una década después mantenía fresco el 99% de sus enseñanzas. Eran del autor ideas que yo atribuía al señor Greenspon u otras fuentes. Quiero decir: es un libro con un puñado de consejos, pero todos muy buenos. El único defecto es que me ha “fallado” en la relectura.

(He aplicado el método del 10% solution a esta reseña, jaja)

[Austin Malone · Rating 5 out of 5]

So, right off the top, this is not a book about craft. You will not find help for character development or plot structure here. What this is is a prescriptive guide for running first pass edits over a completed draft. Having been published in 1998, this very much predates editing software or AI assistants. I'm recommending the book for folx who do not use those things, and giving it five stars because the guidelines it lays forth are very clearly the scaffolding upon which current digital editing programs have been constructed.

[Steph P · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can't Wait to Test This

You're in the kitchen reading while you pull out a pitcher of water, get a travel mug, prop the phone to open it. And then you stand there. Because you can't pour unless you stop reading. Minutes later, waiting for water, and to go to your desk, you blink and mutter, 'but this is a *craft* book'. Ken Rand's editor brain just made it too easy to keep reading. I have to try that.

[Robert Bagnall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not the longest book you’ll ever read - how ironic if it were - but possibly the most valuable if, like me, you write fiction (or non-fiction) with any ambition of getting paid for it. The only self-help book I’ve read that actually helped. (And, yes, I did cut several words from this review as first drafted).

[Shenoa Carroll-Bradd · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I think this would improve the drafts of 99% of writers, it boils down to a 1-page checklist of search terms to filter out of your manuscript. I copied the pertinent info onto a single 3 x 5 index card.
This was a quick and enjoyable read, sure, but for something championing accuracy, clarity, and brevity, it would've made more sense as an article.

[Patrick Hurley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super practical and also very easy to read. I'm excited to apply Ken's list to my own editing!

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Concise but well explained. I already tend to cut about 15% when I edit but the approach here sounds like it may be faster and/or have a better result. I'll give a try.

[Joanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a helpful little book, focused on the last pass of editing: cleaning up your sentences. I don't agree with every suggestion, but it's given me much to think about.

[S. D. Howarth]

Brevity.

A cheap and easy read. I look forward to seeing if it makes a difference.

[Dustin · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent how-to

Concise list of ways to remove the fluff from our writing which slows it down and takes away the punch.

[LS Schulz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick read with good tips for more concise writing and good reasons behind the suggestions for changes a writer should make.

[V.M · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice reminder of what I know and don't know, will hopefully be putting this into practice soon enough! Also a very quick read!

[Melinda Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick information on self-editing

Good reference for tight-writing & cutting extraneous words in manuscripts.

but apparently I have to write more words than that for Amazon to accept this review.

It's worth the purchase.

[Jaleta Clegg · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is by far, the best self-editing book I've ever read. It's a short book, but if you're looking to improve your writing, read this book. It won't teach you grammar or style. It will help you shorten what you write by eliminating passive voice, unnecessary words, extra adjectives or adverbs, and other stumbling blocks. It's a writer's best friend whether you write advertising copy or high fantasy or anything in between.

Ken Rand passed away in 2009. He was a wonderful man and writer and is greatly missed by those of us lucky enough to meet him. http://www.kenrandmediaman.com/

5 stars
G, except it might make you cry while editing, but it's a good thing. Trust me.

[Thi T. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've struggled with wordiness high school/undergrad and still struggle with editing my behemoth of a masters thesis. Trying to add words, better descriptions, more clarification meant I would constantly lose my original thought process in the editing process. Word counts and paper lengths would increase until I no longer recognized what the heck I was doing and to what purpose.

This book took a few hours to read and it was so helpful. The information really just sticks, I haven't really had to re-read it, so sometimes I don't know whether or not I should keep it around as a reference or pass it on to a fellow writer friend. I did not 10% this review, by the way. I'm lazy.

[Gloria · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is going to be an excellent tool to use in editing my first novel. Rand is so specific in his advice, and it all makes perfect sense. The humorous style with which The 10% Solution is written made an otherwise dry subject entertaining. When I closed the book after turning the last page, I went straight to the internet to try to contact Ken Rand so I could thank him for his help. I was terribly saddened to read that he died in 2009. I'm sorry I can't thank him, but I am greatful for his work.

[David]

Basically a pamphlet containing some quick tips to sharpen your writing. It clocks about 80 pages but only really 5-10 pages are necessary: namely the list of words to cut from your manuscript and the brief explanation of why for each word. Still it seems like a handy tool to use. We'll see how it goes.

[Tyler · Rating 3 out of 5]

This short book is pretty good, and the advice in it is critical for new writers. The reason I didn't rate it higher is because when I read it I felt like there was nothing here that I didn't already get in Stephen King's On Writing or in The Elements of Style.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent book on trimming down your manuscript or story after the first draft is completed. This book is not about structure, plot, or characters...for the most part. A must-have for every writer (except poets).

[Brent C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much of this, you already know, but it's nice to have it all in one place as a refresher. There is a nugget here and there that might be new to you. Mildly annoying that it is written like an infomercial. Very quick read.