Before publication, having an eBook proofread is essential to ensure its credibility. Often carried out by the entourage or by the author himself, proofreading a digital book can sometimes be tedious. However, it must be the subject of conscientious and methodical work. Having your manuscript corrected by an expert is a key step that guarantees a quality work. Misspellings, inappropriate format or badly adapted chapter order? To make sure you don’t forget anything: follow the guide!
1: Have an eBook proofread to remove mistakes
You’ve spent a lot of time developing your ideas, collecting and verifying information, and writing your eBook. However, no author, even the most experienced, is immune to error. Having an eBook proofread before its publication allows above all to examine its content and correct it, which will ensure its author professional reliability.
To check if your writings do not contain errors, it will be necessary to analyze:
- verb conjugation;
- the spelling of words, and numbers;
- the agreements of adjectives in their plural or their singular;
- respect the negations;
- if compound words are not missing a hyphen;
- word accents.
You will also need to check the typography rules:
- the use of capital letters;
- poor writing of titles;
- wrong abbreviations of words;
- the choice of font;
- the punctuation;
- the spacings.
2: Have an eBook proofread by a professional to optimize the layout
The eBook does not follow the same layout rules as the paper book. Before discovering the content, the potential reader sees the form. If it is attractive and offers reading comfort, the Internet user will be sensitive to it. Styling is the act of applying different styles to texts. It also allows you to prioritize content by selecting its layout (paragraph, title, subtitles, etc.) and also to automatically create tables of contents. You can thus bold, italicize, align text, justify it, etc. Of course, everything must be coherent and highlight the important points, while guaranteeing a quality of reading.
Having an eBook proofread by a professional allows the author to relieve himself of this complex work. He can adjust the presentation and convert it to the most suitable format. Don’t forget, the digital book can be read on e-readers, tablets, computer screens, or even smartphones. The pub (electronic publication) format is THE most used format for digital books. But there are others: PDF format, Mobi pocket, Streaming, pub Fixed Layout, etc. An ebook writing services expert will know how to select the best one and check the layout rules.
3: Have a digital book proofread to enhance its lexicon
During the writing of an eBook, the author mainly focuses on his subject. Therefore, it is not uncommon for him to use inappropriate words or expressions. He alone knows the message he wishes to convey. He then sometimes forgets his clarity. Imposing a rereading makes it possible to track down repetitions in particular. The corrector will enrich the vocabulary by replacing certain words with their synonyms, for example, by examining redundancies, pleonasms, barbarisms or solecisms. He will also have to be attentive to word confusion, inaccuracies and sentences that are too long.
You can also improve your writing by adding style. Revision of a text makes it possible to reformulate incorrect sentences or misuse of language. Without modifying the background, the proofreader can restructure and give rhythm to the texts. Thus, embellishing the sentences will bring the reader an optimized reading, do not deprive yourself of it.
4: Attesting overall consistency through proofreading
Is the common thread followed? Are the chapters linked together in a relevant way? Did you choose the titles well? Are the paragraphs well balanced? Do you provide an answer to each question asked?
All these questions must be asked in order to attest or not to the coherence of your eBook. Do not hesitate to put yourself in the shoes of the reader to take a step back. Well-constructed content is “flowing” text. So, the reader doesn’t have to make an effort to understand it. On the contrary, he will have to, in a single reading, perceive the strong ideas, or quite simply take pleasure in reading.
It is quite possible that when you read it again, you will be forced to change the chapters. Don’t be afraid to do this if you feel it will bring greater understanding. Be picky about the accuracy of geographic and historical references. Check if your sources are all quoted and if the added hypertext links work. For more advice on writing an eBook, do not hesitate to read this article: Writing an eBook: 10 mistakes not to make.
5: Receive an outside perspective to benefit from perfect objectivity
To have your eBook reread is finally to collect the opinions of simple readers before the big leap towards its publication. We are no longer talking about technique, but rather about feelings. You can ask a relative, of course, but as its name suggests, it is close… Will it be able to be objective without fear of hurting you? Will he really express the substance of his thoughts, or will he be satisfied with a “it’s not bad, good idea”? Will he be able to clearly explain to you what he liked or disliked? Do not hesitate, here either, to call on a professional. Collect all comments, ideas, and proposals. Take the expert for a writing companion. Always with kindness, and out of love for his work, he is there to support you in respecting your writings. He will not be there to judge you; he will be there to support you.
You understand. Beginner or experienced, an author can easily miss errors in language, conjugation or typography. Even if they are more and more efficient, spelling correction software and other word processors are not enough! They will never replace a human being with emotions and cognitions. Trusting a specialist guarantees you a saving of time, energy and a qualitative, and above all professional rendering.
