{"id":103,"date":"2016-04-29T01:24:24","date_gmt":"2016-04-29T01:24:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/denisemcinerney.com\/wp16\/?page_id=103"},"modified":"2016-04-29T14:55:43","modified_gmt":"2016-04-29T14:55:43","slug":"why-hire-a-copy-editor","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/denisemcinerney.com\/wp16\/index.php\/why-hire-a-copy-editor\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Hire a Copy Editor"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pl-103\"  class=\"panel-layout\" ><div id=\"pg-103-0\"  class=\"panel-grid panel-no-style\" ><div id=\"pgc-103-0-0\"  class=\"panel-grid-cell\" ><div id=\"panel-103-0-0-0\" class=\"so-panel widget widget_sow-editor panel-first-child panel-last-child\" data-index=\"0\" ><div\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tclass=\"so-widget-sow-editor so-widget-sow-editor-base\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t>\n<div class=\"siteorigin-widget-tinymce textwidget\">\n\t<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Why should I hire a copy editor, especially if I plan to self-publish?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">A young writer recently informed me that he isn\u2019t going to waste money on editing because telling a great story will trump \u201cpicky details like correct grammar and punctuation\u201d every time.\u00a0 He claims today\u2019s readers don\u2019t care about \u201cunimportant stuff like spelling\u201d as long as they are entertained, so why waste the time and effort, and more importantly, the money? Besides, his computer\u2019s spell check and grammar check functions already take care of everything.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #00ccff;\"><strong><em>\u201cThe editing was pore.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I came across this unfortunate remark in an Amazon book review. The reader granted the novel one star and vowed never to buy another \u201csloppy\u201d book from the hapless author.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">While I appreciate the inherent irony of the individual\u2019s comment, the complaint is troubling.\u00a0 You\u2019ve probably seen criticism of a similar nature (hopefully with better spelling) popping up on book review sites and in reader blogs all over the internet.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">As writers, we want our readers to be caught up in the magic of story, to fall under our spell as they are pulled along by cadence and rhythm and smooth flow of action. The real world slips away as the reader joins our characters on their journey, investing her own emotions in their struggles and triumphs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">A misspelled word or clunky sentence throws a sudden roadblock across the reader\u2019s path, causing her to stumble, perhaps only for an instant.\u00a0 But that brief moment is enough to yank her out of the story as she \u201csurfaces\u201d into reality, breaking the magic.\u00a0 Puncture a hole through the magic often enough and the reader may become so irritated <em>she gives up on the book and may not buy your next one.\u00a0 <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Competition for readers is fiercer than ever.\u00a0 Hiring a copy editor can be a good investment in your career, providing you with a fresh set of eyes and also serving as a learning tool to help you with subsequent books.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why should I hire a copy editor, especially if I plan to self-publish?\u00a0A young writer recently informed me that he isn\u2019t going to waste money on editing because telling a great story will trump \u201cpicky details like correct grammar and punctuation\u201d every time.\u00a0 He claims today\u2019s readers don\u2019t care about \u201cunimportant stuff like spelling\u201d as <a class=\"moretag\" href=\"http:\/\/denisemcinerney.com\/wp16\/index.php\/why-hire-a-copy-editor\/\">Read More &#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"full-width-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-103","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/denisemcinerney.com\/wp16\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/denisemcinerney.com\/wp16\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/denisemcinerney.com\/wp16\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/denisemcinerney.com\/wp16\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/denisemcinerney.com\/wp16\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/denisemcinerney.com\/wp16\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":141,"href":"http:\/\/denisemcinerney.com\/wp16\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/103\/revisions\/141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/denisemcinerney.com\/wp16\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}