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All About Copyediting: 55 Easy Steps To Improve Your Novel
Want to add punch to your prose? Follow these 55 simple edits and improve your writing forever!
Applying the 55 easy copyediting steps to your fiction will allow reviewers and readers to evaluate your novel purely on the strength of your story and not on clumsy and weak prose, overuse of adverbs, repetition, and flabbiness. And in the process, you will learn to become an experienced and competent editor.
Use these 55 steps
Find redundant adjectives and overused adverbs
Banish boring words
Learn dialogue writing
Write characters more effectively
Discover over thirty overused words and phrases such as that, it, up/down, was/were, had, even, got, etc.
Reduce overuse of exclamations and the ellipsis
Use italics, quotations, and capitalisation properly
Target word pairs and homophones
Improve your proofreading and editing skills
Handle numbers and time effectively
...And discover more about flow, show not tell, writing tenses, dialogue handling and more.
All About Copywriting will not tell you how to write a novel, nor how to write like Tolstoy, or any other author. It will certainly not explain how to write bestselling fiction, how to make money, or guarantee you marketing success. What it will guarantee, is to give your novel the best chance it can get in a tough, competitive, and new publishing world.
BUY All About Copyediting and edit your way to success!
Review excerpts
"An indispensable guide for amateurs and professionals of any theme of word-based creation."
"This is a very useful and easily understandeable guide for new writers trying to self publish"
"A very useful tool to have on hand."
"A must read for any writer to avoid sending a clanger of a draft to a reviewer or publisher! Great value."
"The style is clear and accessible. This is a book that I have found invaluable as I rewrite and revise my fiction drafts. Highly recommended"
"...gives you simple, clear rules and 55 easy steps to check your book for. It won't turn a poor writer into a great one, but it will help you avoid common mistakes and give you tools to turn telling into showing"
"An extremely useful guide for editing manuscripts, written as a set of editing tips."
"This is a great resource for authors. I have used it and it works. I highly recommend this book. Great!"
Applying the 55 easy copyediting steps to your fiction will allow reviewers and readers to evaluate your novel purely on the strength of your story and not on clumsy and weak prose, overuse of adverbs, repetition, and flabbiness. And in the process, you will learn to become an experienced and competent editor.
Use these 55 steps
Find redundant adjectives and overused adverbs
Banish boring words
Learn dialogue writing
Write characters more effectively
Discover over thirty overused words and phrases such as that, it, up/down, was/were, had, even, got, etc.
Reduce overuse of exclamations and the ellipsis
Use italics, quotations, and capitalisation properly
Target word pairs and homophones
Improve your proofreading and editing skills
Handle numbers and time effectively
...And discover more about flow, show not tell, writing tenses, dialogue handling and more.
All About Copywriting will not tell you how to write a novel, nor how to write like Tolstoy, or any other author. It will certainly not explain how to write bestselling fiction, how to make money, or guarantee you marketing success. What it will guarantee, is to give your novel the best chance it can get in a tough, competitive, and new publishing world.
BUY All About Copyediting and edit your way to success!
Review excerpts
"An indispensable guide for amateurs and professionals of any theme of word-based creation."
"This is a very useful and easily understandeable guide for new writers trying to self publish"
"A very useful tool to have on hand."
"A must read for any writer to avoid sending a clanger of a draft to a reviewer or publisher! Great value."
"The style is clear and accessible. This is a book that I have found invaluable as I rewrite and revise my fiction drafts. Highly recommended"
"...gives you simple, clear rules and 55 easy steps to check your book for. It won't turn a poor writer into a great one, but it will help you avoid common mistakes and give you tools to turn telling into showing"
"An extremely useful guide for editing manuscripts, written as a set of editing tips."
"This is a great resource for authors. I have used it and it works. I highly recommend this book. Great!"
196 pages, Paperback
Published June 11, 2020
5 people want to read
About the author
K.J. Heritage
36 books78 followers"K.J.Heritage's uncanny sense of pacing and story puts him at the forefront of today's speculative fiction writers." Samuel Peralta, Amazon bestselling author and creator of The Future Chronicles
TO ENJOY a K.J.Heritage starter book of his short stories and more, join his Mostly Reader's Club at: http://kjheritage.com/join/
I'D LIKE to thank you for visiting my page. I’ve been amazed by the reaction to my novels and stories, and by the many emails, tweets and posts (not all abuse!) I've received since my first release. In many ways, it’s a dream come true, to write, publish and get such wonderful feedback.
A BIT more about me...
I'M AN international bestselling author mostly writing mystery sci-fi, crime and fantasy.
I WRITE books that I love to read. From science fiction action and adventure mysteries to contemporary thrillers and paranormal fantasy.
MY FIRST sci-fi short story, ‘ESCAPING THE CRADLE’ was runner-up in the 2005 Clarke-Bradbury International Science Fiction Competition.
MY STORIES have appeared in several anthologies with such self-publishing sci-fi luminaries as Hugh Howey, Samuel Peralta and Michael Bunker.
I HAVE worked all the requisite ‘writer jobs' such as driver's mate, factory gateman, barman, labourer, telesales operative, sales assistant, warehouseman, IT contractor, Student Union President, university IT helpdesk guy, British Rail signal software designer, premiership football website designer, gigging musician, graphic designer, stand-up comedian, sound engineer, improv artist, magazine editor and web journo... Although I don't like to talk about it. Mostly.
I WAS born in the UK in one of the more interesting previous centuries. Originally from Derbyshire, I now live in the seaside town of Brighton. I am a tea drinker, avid Twitterer, and autistic (ASD) human being.
FOR ALL media enquiries, event/booking information, signed copies, etc. please email: contact@kjheritage.com
TO ENJOY a K.J.Heritage starter book of his short stories and more, join his Mostly Reader's Club at: http://kjheritage.com/join/
I'D LIKE to thank you for visiting my page. I’ve been amazed by the reaction to my novels and stories, and by the many emails, tweets and posts (not all abuse!) I've received since my first release. In many ways, it’s a dream come true, to write, publish and get such wonderful feedback.
A BIT more about me...
I'M AN international bestselling author mostly writing mystery sci-fi, crime and fantasy.
I WRITE books that I love to read. From science fiction action and adventure mysteries to contemporary thrillers and paranormal fantasy.
MY FIRST sci-fi short story, ‘ESCAPING THE CRADLE’ was runner-up in the 2005 Clarke-Bradbury International Science Fiction Competition.
MY STORIES have appeared in several anthologies with such self-publishing sci-fi luminaries as Hugh Howey, Samuel Peralta and Michael Bunker.
I HAVE worked all the requisite ‘writer jobs' such as driver's mate, factory gateman, barman, labourer, telesales operative, sales assistant, warehouseman, IT contractor, Student Union President, university IT helpdesk guy, British Rail signal software designer, premiership football website designer, gigging musician, graphic designer, stand-up comedian, sound engineer, improv artist, magazine editor and web journo... Although I don't like to talk about it. Mostly.
I WAS born in the UK in one of the more interesting previous centuries. Originally from Derbyshire, I now live in the seaside town of Brighton. I am a tea drinker, avid Twitterer, and autistic (ASD) human being.
FOR ALL media enquiries, event/booking information, signed copies, etc. please email: contact@kjheritage.com
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 2, 2021
Needs Copyediting AND Proofreading
Oh, this book is wrong on so many levels. Where to even start! I've been a proofreader for decades and a copyeditor for a little less. No way can “55 easy edits” be all there is to copyediting. In fact, the author seems to confuse copyediting, line editing, proofreading, and even a little developmental editing. He puts them all under one big umbrella he calls “copyediting.” The book itself is oddly and awkwardly written, as if authored by someone for whom English is not their native language. The book is at times repetitive and contradictory. I agree with him about minimizing or eliminating the use of false subjects (there is/are/was/were) and impersonal passive expressions (“it” expressions when the “it” doesn’t refer to a specific noun), which he doesn't name as such, but then he himself uses them throughout the book. The book is littered with many errors of grammar, punctuation, and usage. He can't even spell Jane Austen, writing the city in Texas instead for her last name! I wouldn't trust a book on editing that breaks its own rules and has other errors. I don't suggest that you trust this book either.
I received a free copy of this book, but that did not affect my review.
Oh, this book is wrong on so many levels. Where to even start! I've been a proofreader for decades and a copyeditor for a little less. No way can “55 easy edits” be all there is to copyediting. In fact, the author seems to confuse copyediting, line editing, proofreading, and even a little developmental editing. He puts them all under one big umbrella he calls “copyediting.” The book itself is oddly and awkwardly written, as if authored by someone for whom English is not their native language. The book is at times repetitive and contradictory. I agree with him about minimizing or eliminating the use of false subjects (there is/are/was/were) and impersonal passive expressions (“it” expressions when the “it” doesn’t refer to a specific noun), which he doesn't name as such, but then he himself uses them throughout the book. The book is littered with many errors of grammar, punctuation, and usage. He can't even spell Jane Austen, writing the city in Texas instead for her last name! I wouldn't trust a book on editing that breaks its own rules and has other errors. I don't suggest that you trust this book either.
I received a free copy of this book, but that did not affect my review.
November 22, 2020
“All About: Copy Editing. 55 Easy Steps to Improve your Novel” by K.J. Heritage is a practical handbook that does exactly was it supposed to do, give any author looking for advice sound and no-nonsense tips on how to improve a manuscript. The book, which seems sadly overlooked since its initial release in 2013, is a valuable help to newcomers to editing and those authors who have not yet acquired a routine for editing their own manuscripts. The 55 tips are clearly stated, without superfluous snick-snack, which can make the book seems somehow ‘plain’ at first sight for those accustomed to the process of manuscript editing, but it is in fact very valuable for any newcomer to the task. Clear stated tips on how to avoid some of the most common ‘poor editing’ cases that will surely be welcomed by the targeted audience.
December 14, 2020
Well worth reading. 4.5* This a comprehensive tool for anyone who writes and wants to improve their style and accuracy skills. It is also useful for those who edit and proofread the work of others. It is always good to go over material that doesn't crop up frequently and may belong to an area of our brain which contains all the facts that we aren't immediately able to remember. Happily recommend this instructional book to all. It'll be useful for students, writers and professional editors also.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
December 5, 2020
All About Copyediting is the powerful reference any style of writer needs -- if you want your copy to flow and engage.
These simple editing tasks are focused on one type of edit at a time, and you be moved to write more engaging copy. Most of the edits were new to me, and quick to put into place.
These simple editing tasks are focused on one type of edit at a time, and you be moved to write more engaging copy. Most of the edits were new to me, and quick to put into place.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews