Fresh Pages

When I received the galley copy of my book, 2012: The Rising, I was appalled at the errors that still existed. I edited my book, my beta readers edited my book, the content editor and the line editor edited my book. And yet I had pages and pages of corrections to submit.

Even with all those people finding and fixing errors, something went wrong. But what was it?

You’ve probably heard of “fresh eyes”—letting a manuscript sit for a few days, weeks, or months between edits. It is a helpful tool, because when you come back after a short recess, mistakes seem to pop out and you wonder how you missed them before.

What about “fresh pages”? Maybe it’s me, but I think I noticed the errors because my book was in final format. There were fewer words per line, fewer lines per page, different font, and different font size. It was like seeing my manuscript for the first time. Call it what you want: a change of perspective, a change of scenery, a change of view. Whatever it is, it’s a new instrument in my editing arsenal.

I just finished the edits on the second book in the trilogy, Chasra: The Homecoming. But before submitting it, I changed the format. I put my manuscript into two columns per page, and found silly mistakes that were suddenly noticeable.

From now on, I will edit with both “fresh eyes” and “fresh pages” to try to ensure that I can catch my errors. It may not be a foolproof method, but if it means even one less mistake, it’s worth the effort.