I thought I’d start this week by sharing the view from the editing desk with you. January was a busy month after I took a much-needed break over Christmas, and I’ve been working on some amazing pieces of writing. A zombie chapter book, a brilliantly funny middle-grade text about sibling rivalry, and the sequel to a book that feels like the new Heartstopper - I’m that spoiled!
Interestingly, they all have something in common - they are relatively short. which put me in mind of this tweet from a while back:
There was plenty of debate, as you can imagine, from the blaming of dwindling attention spans to the lovers of lengthy tomes pleading “READ THE EBOOK!!” but the reality is that publishers assess books on how much they will cost to produce - not just paper costs but editing as well. This is equally relevant to those self-publishing who are paying for their own editing and proofreading. And if you’re paying by the hour or word count (WC), either way, the longer the book, the more it costs.
How can you cut back on your word count? Here are some tips:
Going in big with some potentially chunky revisions: could your book start later, in chapter two, perhaps? Do you have any scenes that aren’t progressing the plot? In other words, are there sections that are more for you than the reader?
Study your dialogue. This is an area where it can be easy to waffle - in life as well as fiction. Dialogue should DO something - its purpose is to inform the reader, and add to the plot and/or character. If you have speech that isn’t doing these things, perhaps it’s superfluous.
A good editing consideration, even if your WC has already been tamed, is to explore whether you have too many characters. Are they all necessary, can any of them become a hybrid, and serve a dual purpose within the story? I’ve done this in multiple books now and not only does it streamline the narrative and give your reader an easier ride (especially in children’s literature) it means less character-building and therefore fewer words.
Treat your scenes like flash fiction. This isn’t something you’re necessarily going to want to do across the whole MS, but a neat trick is to take a scene that is say, 500 words and challenge yourself to prune it. What if you only allowed yourself 400 words? What if it was 250? If the scene still makes sense, then whatever you took out, leave out. (See also The Cutting of Darlings)
The easiest fix is to make the best use of contractions. When we speak and think we rarely use they are or I am. Using contractions in both narrative and dialogue makes for easier reading as well as cutting back the WC.
On a theme, do a ctrl-f for the word ‘that’. Then take most of them out. Then do the same with all your crutch words - you probably know what they are! Mine is just and So, - these words are usually superfluous (very, quite, really) as are many adverbs, adjectives, and passive voice; consider: I could hear that the Zombies were at the door and change it to: Zombies were at the door.
The reason I mention this now? I’ve been working on some quite detailed edits with one of my self-published clients, and trying to make sure we get the best balance possible between cost and quality. As mentioned, editing is a chunk of the cost of producing a book and is usually charged at either an hourly rate (line, copy, and proofreading, typically) or by WC (developmental/structural). Either way, a longer novel is generally going to be more expensive to review than a shorter one.
My experience of editing from a traditional publisher is fairly typical: two or more full structural edits (ed: be honest, Emma; it’s usually three or four), followed by a line edit, then a separate copy edit, before moving to a proofread. To do this yourself would cost thousands, and for most self-published authors that is simply not possible. So how do you achieve something comparable, something that will show your words and ideas in their best light, but not break the budget? Well, the first and most obvious approach is to shorten your novel.
If you’re using beta readers (which I’d thoroughly recommend if you’re self-publishing) ask them this targeted question:
Is there anything I could get rid of?
You can expand on this of course: were there places where you felt the story dragged? Did you feel Character X was important to the plot? Did you feel there was too much dialogue? (Again, a common consideration in children’s fiction). Did you feel the prologue/backstory/exposition in Chapter Y was necessary to your understanding, and so on?
I’ve been watching a lot of gardening reels (watching them, not actually doing any gardening of course) and I think this works as an analogy:
Do you want the expert gardener you’ve hired doing your weeding?
I hope this helps you find your word count secateurs and here’s to succinct, concise prose and keeping those books short! If you found this useful, or you think someone you know will, please do share. I’ll be back soon with some writing news and more editing shenanigans. In the the meantime, here’s a reminder that new customers can get free, first-page feedback at my website: emdashed.com
Thanks for reading,
Emma
For books, go to https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/cosy-magical-autumnal-spookiness for a whole heap of glorious autumn reading fodder including The Housetrap, as well as some of my solid faves, including BITE RISK and the brand new, THE WITCHSTONE GHOSTS.
See you soon and follow me on Twitter at @emmydee73 and Instagram @ediereadie I’m also on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/emmaread.bsky.social although I’m still finding my feet there
This is excellent advice. I am self-publishing my novel (after being advised not sign the publisher's contract by the Society of Authors). The first proof copies looked awful: too big, too heavy and too large a font.
I spent the next 24 hours measuring books, researching fonts and fiddling around with page margins and headers. The 2nd version is cheaper to produce and I can pass that on to the customers.
The gardening analogy is apt (for those of us with gardens).
Thanks James, very best of luck with the self publishing journey. It’s very interesting to hear about your experience with the initial publisher and SoA - Thank goodness for them! What’s the title of your book? I’ll look out for it.