What Editing Does Your Business Book Need?

Typing the last few words into your business book is a huge step in the journey to becoming a self-published business author. Before your book is ready for the world to read, though, you’ll want to find a professional company that provides manuscript editing services to perform the final preparation before you publish. Your draft will need to go through a few phases of editing, and it’ll be worth it when you have a polished, immaculately written business book that establishes your thought leadership and grows your personal brand. Read on to learn about the different types of editing services and how each can benefit your book.

Different types of editing

Every single book—fiction, nonfiction, guides, and journals—needs to go through multiple rounds of editing. These rounds address everything from large components like structure and plot all the way through checking for accurate word usage and punctuation and ensuring that your book is fully prepared for your readers. If you forego even one of these phases, you’re risking continuity gaps, grammatical errors, and typos. Since your book is intended to establish you as a subject matter expert, any of these easily fixed errors can quickly damage your credibility in readers’ minds. 

There are four editing phases that all professional authors should use regardless of whether they’re self-publishing or working with a traditional publishing house. Editing starts more general and then gets specific, and usually progresses in this order: 

• Developmental editing, which is a professional evaluation of your manuscript for organization, story, and mechanics through the lens of your target audience. A developmental editor can provide helpful and valuable feedback regardless of whether you have a completed rough draft or a basic outline of your book. Developmental editing can run higher in cost than other forms of editing, but investing in your book during this editing phase will save you time and money in the long run.
• Line editing for paragraph structure, sentence flow, word choice, and overall consistency. Business authors with a strong draft are ready for line editing, since this phase helps to strengthen and fine-tune the work. In some cases, writers make substantial changes to their manuscript based on their line editor’s feedback. 
• Copyediting happens when you’re thrilled with your draft and need a professional to check for any typos, misspellings, or grammatical errors. Copyeditors frequently offer suggestions on best word choice that’ll enhance the manuscript. 
• Proofreading, the last editing step before publishing, puts your book in front of fresh eyes for one final check and polish. An expert proofreader diligently reads your work word by word and sentence by sentence to ensure it’s free of any grammar, spelling, or punctuation errors. 

Once your manuscript has been under the microscope of four professional editors who specialize in each of these phases, you can rest assured that your business book is ready for publication and will put your best foot forward. 

How to choose the right manuscript editing services

Your book is a direct representation of your personal brand and your thought leadership, so it’s important to look closely at manuscript editing services and choose the right one to partner with. 

First and foremost, make sure your editors understand that your book must maintain your voice. Traditional publishers often make substantial changes to a manuscript during their editing processes—and if you have a book deal with a publishing house, you won’t have much say in the matter, as they can alter the book’s design and content as they see fit. However, editors with most self-publishing services will help you fine-tune your draft and strengthen your message and voice. In other words, make sure that your book stays yours.

Next, find out what their normal turnaround time is. You don’t want to lose momentum on your business book project by having your manuscript sit in an editor’s inbox for too long. In many cases, manuscript editing services provide detailed feedback within a week. However, you don’t want to sacrifice time for quality, so also be sure that the service you select provides custom service by an actual person instead of running your manuscript through AI software for editing or proofreading.

Another tip to finding a great group of editors to help you become a proud and professional authorpreneur is to find manuscript editing services that have been around for a while and have plenty of positive feedback from happy clients. Check their online reviews and ask other self-published authors (even if they’re not business authors) for advice. A veteran company with a proven track record and successfully published, satisfied customers is most likely a great fit for you and your book. 

Our eagle-eyed editors will make your business book the best version of itself

You know how to write a business book, and we know how to prepare it for publication. Regardless of what state your book is currently in—completed manuscript, rough draft, or an outline with some notes—we’ll be happy to take a look and help you forge the path toward successful self-publishing. 

Contact us today to tell us about your book!