Lin editing is a service I notice a lot of newbies don’t even know exists, let alone understand well enough to see the benefits of. And, to be honest, I see quite a few commercially published books by best selling authors who don’t use a line editor as far as I can tell. Excessive repetition, jumbled lines, random sentences, and awkward analogies and metaphors abound when a line editor isn’t part of your book development team.
What Does a Line Editor Do?
A line editor is essentially an expert wordsmith. They are the ones who help make your writing sound like someone who is not only a native speaker of English, but a masterful wielder of it.
For instance:
She walk in the bar yesterday super mad.
A line editor, granted they understand the context of the line and the intentions of the author, might turn the line into something more like:
She stormed into the bar with holes in her heart and acid on her tongue.
This is an extreme example, of course. But I hope you can see how a line editor can help improve the sentence-level expression of someone who is a native speaker.
Subscribe for more educational articles like this!
Line Editors are Huge for the Multilingual Among Us
If English is not your first language, getting a line editor on your book development team can be a huge help. This is mainly because a lot of the metaphors, idioms, and sentence structures in English don’t always translate well from / to other languages. Having a professional smooth out those rough edges will make your work easier for your English-language readers to enjoy.
Consider:
“My eye!” said he in his cutting near the throat.
If this was written by someone born to a French-speaking family, they may not know yet how to express coarse, extreme skepticism in the way that many English-speakers might. Especially in a situation that calls for more brutal language. A line editor could finesse the line into something more like:
“Bullshit!” he said, pulling the knife closer to her throat.
Finding a Line Editor for Your Book
If your turns of phrase tend to get stuck mid-spin, reach out to a professional for assistance. While this service is by no means a cheap one, it’s one of those applications of expertise that can help mold a good book and into a great read.
Search for seasoned, professional line editors at:
Subscribe for more educational articles like this!
Happy hiring!
