Can you find the big typo in this image?
No biggie if you can’t immediately see it.
Copy Editors Are Your Friends
Remember that you don’t have to do all your copy editing by yourself. This is exactly why copy editors exist. Finding a solid copy editor means drastically cutting down on how many grammatical mistakes make it into your final product.
How Important is Copy Editing?
Somewhere between ‘moderately’ and ‘extremely.’ But the point is, it’s not a good idea to skip it. Is it the end of the world if you have a handful of misspelled words or misplaced commas in your book? Probably not. But that’s only if a reader is so engaged in your content (what you’re teaching them or the story you’ve crafted for them) that hitting a typo every now and again is easily forgivable.
Things can get much more unpleasant for your reader if your typos are present amid awkward phrases, two-dimensional characters, irrelevant information, plot holes, tangential segments, and the like. In that situation, your grammatical mistakes are pouring gasoline on an already-raging dumpster fire.
Sadly, Some Writers Edit Out of Order
Some writers decide that they won’t edit their book’s content at all (no manuscript evaluations, developmental editing, line editing, sensitivity reading, etc.) and will jump straight into copy editing. The problem is that, even if it were possible for a manuscript to be grammatically perfect, that fantastic copy editing won’t matter if no one wants to read the book because it doesn’t make sense or bores the reader.
So…What’s the Typo?
“Home page” is misspelled.
Where Do I Find Copy Editors?
Though you could, of course, find copy editors on sites like Fiverr, PeoplePerHour, Craigslist, and other online freelancer marketplaces, it’s inherently more difficult to find reliable professionals there versus professional organizations like those listed above. Anyone can create profiles on freelancer marketplaces, regardless of how much experience, talent, or even interest that they have in a particular service. Whereas, with professional organizations and firms, you’re much more likely come across people who have years or decades of professional experience and are committed to building a long-term business that they do full-time, versus being a part-time or hobbyist editor.
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