They say you are your own worst critic. And in some ways, that can be the case. However, sometimes editing your own work can be hard and you miss out on little details that can make or break your piece of writing.

Here are some of our top tips for proof-reading:

Print it

People read differently on screen and on paper, so print out a copy of your writing. If you read aloud, your ear might catch errors that your eye may have missed.

Homonyms

Homonyms are words that share the same spelling or pronunciation, but have different meanings and can be a bane in any writer’s journey. For example, “accept” and  “except” are often misused and  “complement” is often used instead of  “compliment”, which would have a very different meaning. So make sure you know which one you wish to use before committing it to print..

Apostrophes and Punctuation

Punctuation and apostrophes are the most commonly misused and corrected mistakes in editing. People often mix “their”, “there” and “they’re”, “its” and “it’s”, “your” and “you’re”, and so on. Remember, apostrophes are never used to form plurals, they are used as contractions or to denote possession. Also, be sure to pay attention to capitalized words, missing or extra commas and full stops. Punctuation is important.

Read it Backwards

When writing we usually become blind to our own mistakes since the brain automatically “corrects” wrong words inside sentences. In order to break this pattern you can read the text backwards, word by word. You can also change the font and word size to trick your brain into thinking it is a new text.

Get Someone Else to Proofread It

You can always get someone else to proof read your work, as missing out on mistakes yourself is inevitable. And at Selfpublishbooks.ie we offer comprehensive editing and proof reading packages tailored to your needs.

Contact us here in order to get your book printed, proof-read and published.