How do you Improve your Editing Skills??

ARSuarez

13 years ago

Amazon.com: Copyediting: A Practical Guide...
I use this book with sometimes when editing.

Enjoy.

Thanks

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ewenmack

13 years ago

Ahh the dreaded editing.

My early work was way too "wordy",
as an A Level copywriter said of my work.

I found no easy answer or book to help and improve.

What I did was do a lot of reading of great copywriting
and see how the writer got his/her point across...

...in the shortest number of words.

One thing that helped me was to keep one thought to each sentence.

Short words and sentences help too.
Not only for you but for the reader.

Another tip is to think in numbers and time frame.
This keeps your thoughts clear, therefore easily written.

Writing a "how to" headline keeps you honest
in delivering on the promise.

You can ask yourself "whats your point"..."what does that mean"
"why is that important".

Look at other peoples writing and see how you can say
each sentence with more impact.

Pick one or two of the above and practice lots
so you master it. Do it that way because you become more effective.

All the best,
Ewen

Originally Posted by sarahberra

I can write well most of the time, but I have horrible editing skills. Sometimes I can't see my own mistakes. Does anyone recommend any books or do you have any tips for me?

Thanks

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Daniel Scott

13 years ago

Depends what kind of mistakes you mean.

If it's simple spelling/grammar mistakes, use a spellcheck or have someone else proof your work.

If you're talking about the actual selling in the salesletter, you're best off having a mentor... or at least a friend who is a killer copywriter.

They can go over your work and let you know where you're going wrong.

I know I wouldn't be anywhere near as good as I am today if I hadn't trained with Vin.

Does that help?

-Dan

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RickDuris 13 years ago

Hi Sarah,

I read my work out loud over and over again, until it sounds like I would say it to somebody. This works even better when I do it with somebody listening. Do it enough times, and you'll flush out most of the awkardisms.

- Rick Duris
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burnbebe

13 years ago

I agree that editing your own work can be hard. It has been proven how writers get "attached" to what they have written and since they were the ones who wrote what they wrote, they sort of become "immune" to the mistakes. I, myself, am more comfortable editing other people's work. But sometimes that's really hard, too, especially if you are editing something by someone who doesn't really write. It would be like doing a complete facelift, and you'd end up rewriting most of it.

Thanks

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Alex Cohen

13 years ago

Originally Posted by sarahberra

I can write well most of the time, but I have horrible editing skills. Sometimes I can't see my own mistakes. Does anyone recommend any books or do you have any tips for me?

Sarah,

Here's an excellent blog post by Yanik Silver describing his 8-phase editing process ...

8 Ways to Turbocharge Your Writing | Yanik Silver's Internet Lifestyle Blog

Alex

Thanks

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pethanks

13 years ago

Good for you if have that kind of skills. It is rare. Take care of it.

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1 reply

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marciayudkin 13 years ago

Sarah,

More than 25 years ago, I took a course on editing at UMass. What a valuable investment!

The course taught me a lot of the procedures and concepts of professional editors, boosted my sensitivity to various kinds of mistakes, vastly increased my ability to edit others and improved my ability to edit myself.

We had a lot of editing exercises too for the class that were extremely useful.

These courses are a bit hard to find, but schools that have publishing training programs probably offer them in an online version nowadays.

You want a course that's taught by someone who has more than 10 years of experience as an editor for either books, magazines or newspapers.

Good luck,
Marcia Yudkin
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- Paul Hooper-Kelly 13 years ago
  
  Hi Sarah,
  
  Sometimes I can't see my own mistakes.
  
  That's a great point.
  
  So - even if you finally do a lot of your own editing, always have your final version proof read by someone else.
  
  Yes I now you have a spellchecker - but it would not have picked up my deliberate mistake in this sentence, would it?
  
  It's a quirk of the human brain that it overlooks spelling mistakes, because you know what you MEANT to say.
  
  So a fresh pair of eye is vital.
  
  Warmest regards,
  
  Paul
  
  Thanks
  
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  If you want to stack the copywriting deck in your favor with tricks and hacks producing winners like: "$20K in three days" "650 sold" "30% conversion", then you might like to know I'm retiring and will spill the beans to two people. More info here.
  
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Hank Rearden

13 years ago

This is a coooool thread...

Here are some of my favs - but by no means the only:

1) Out loud, like Rick said.
2) Look for "that" and chop it. 80% of the time you don't need it.
3) Edit for clarity... For example: If you read a sentence and a picture doesn't pop into your mind, then take that sentence and break it down. Rewrite it as clearly and simply as possible. Then...
4) Chop out all extra words. If you don't need it, toss it.
5) Add precision to your words. Grab a thesaurus and use it on all important words.
6) Finally, look for adjectives and adverbs. If you use a lot, you picked poor nouns / verbs.

... Overall, the BEST editing list I've EVER seen is the one Clayton Makepeace reveals at the very end of his seminar. The one on video.

- HR

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vanmed

13 years ago

I have three suggestions that help me. First, never trust the memory concerning style convention. Always keep the authority manuals on hand and refer to them at the slightest misgiving. Second, concerning written convention for the English Language, purchase and reference EB Strunk and White often. This has been my god-book since high school and has never let me down. Finally, when writing I write long hand first and perform my first round of proofreading as I type in the electronic document. Then I use spelling and grammar check. I print the document and perform a final edit. This gives me three rounds in different forms which helps me to see mistakes that my eyes and ears may miss in less thorough processes.

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Globolstaff24 13 years ago

Be patient to look over and over your handwriting. Writing without checking, you'll never find out your own mistakes.
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nadal

13 years ago

Hi,

If you want to improve your editing skills, then you should follow some tips:

1. Write small sentences in your copuy instead of using long sentences.
2. Avoid being clever and cryptic.
3. Write to the point.
4. make your reader comfortable while copying.
5. Use positive languages in your content.

It will help you in improving your editing skills.

Thanks

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Bruce Wedding

13 years ago

Read it out loud.
Have a kid read it to you and fix anything he stumbles over.
Read it backwards.
Paste it in Word and spell/grammar check it.
Look for "ands" and "buts" as places to make 2 sentences from 1
Remember editing is cuttig most of the time.

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Kay King 13 years ago

The most effective way for me to edit my work is to walk away from it for a while and do something else. When I finish writing, I'm too close to the work in my mind.

Coming back to it after a few hours, I see it clearly and any errors stick out and can be corrected.

If I'm tired - I read it aloud to myself just to make sure I'm making sense.

kay
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robbertpenny

13 years ago

By reading on any copy writing ebooks to get some ideas and knowledge.

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BBryanB

13 years ago

Hi, I try this method and it works very well, read what your write, backwards!

Sounds bizarre but I find I can pick up mistakes that were there when I read it frontwards, even several times.

The problem we all have, when we read what we just wrote, we read what we wanted to write, not necessarily what we wrote.

Have a great day.
Bryan from Canada

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SamEnslen

13 years ago

I can answer your question a few different ways. First, if you're interested in learning how to better edit your work, I recommend The Copyeditor's Guide to Substance and Style. It is out of print, but you can still buy it on Amazon. Second, the tried-and-true method for being able to better see your mistakes is to let your work sit for a day or two before you edit it. With a bit of distance, you'll find that errors and awkwardness jump out at you -- even if you couldn't see them originally. Finally, if you're at all concerned about your editing skills, hire a professional copyeditor read behind you. That's the best way of making sure that your work is error-free. If you want further tips on improving your editing, you can refer to the learning page on our Dragonfly website.

Thanks

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likemike

13 years ago

Hi Sarah: As a one who has been writing for decades, the best tip I can give you is to install a spell-checker, and you'll be on your way!

Everything else takes experience, reading, re-writing and time. Have a good time and show it in your work-- fun that is!

Thanks

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jushuaburnham

13 years ago

You have an awesome writing skills, good for you. Well i recommend you the book by Gary Blake and Robert Bly - The Elements of Copywriting.

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andy230

13 years ago

And i always feel so lazy to re-read what i've written. We used to check and edit each others works with a friend of mine, it was cool as each of us could evaluate and edit the work as a critic.

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natorob

13 years ago

Everything in this thread is great advice; and I'll chip in my two cents as well.

I find it as simple as to get it down on paper first, then edit the rough draft.

The step away from it for an hour or two, and come back with a fresh look.

That's when I really start carving it up like a Thanksgiving turkey.

Another thing I use that really helps is the Dragon Naturally Speaking "you talk it types" software. Saves me an immense amount of time on the inttial drafts...

Thanks

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How do you Improve your Editing Skills??

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