The Comfy Hermit

When celebrations are over, you should return to your work and self-edit.
Run it through Word’s spell checker, Grammarly, what-have-you. That won’t catch everything though!

I want to be real with you, you will self-edit your work dozens of times. That is not an exaggeration.Self-Publishing has a reputation for low-quality books. Let’s change that perception! Self-edit, self-edit, self-edit.

You will need Alpha Readers, Beta Readers, and an Editor.

Critique Partners, Alpha Readers, and Beta Readers

There are professional Alpha Readers and Beta Readers who charge for their services. I have never paid for one. You can find other authors, readers, and kind souls who can provide you with similar feedback at no cost. These readers are no substitution for editors. If they are detailed enough, they could help you save money on an editor (more to come).

Alpha readers review the very early copies of your manuscript. Betas review it a little later on. Long story short, they both have the same goal- to help you improve your work. They will look for plot holes, provide feedback on character development, catch inconsistencies in the story, feedback on dialogue, and maybe even some light editing!

You can find Critique Partners, Alpha Readers, and Beta Readers through writing groups (like on the coursera class I spoke of in Back to Basics), Facebook, networking on other social media platforms, like Threads, and specific websites, like the ones listed in this article by Reedsy.

Tip: Listen to your readers. If you find yourself getting defensive or trying to argue why their feedback is wrong, you need to step back. Ego and assumed knowledge are your worst enemy here.

Feedback on your work isn’t an attack on your person or your worth as a writer. We can all improve. Be open to constructive criticism (if its not constructive or supportive, it has no place with The Comfy Hermit).

Assumed knowledge is so prevalent in our lives. You know where the story goes, the motivations of this character, and the intricacies of this fantasy world. Your reader doesn’t. If they are saying, “this doesn’t make sense.” Then it doesn’t make sense, you didn’t explain it well enough. They are doing you a service and telling you to clear it up. Also, this feedback saves you money. You are literally going to pay an editor to tell you the same thing.

Editors are a big expense. They charge by word. You know your budget. We will get into Editors, types of Editors, all that great stuff in another article.