You’ve written the book!

Now you’re at the final part of the manuscript – the editing stage.

I would like to set a disclaimer before I start this by saying that there are many different ways to tackle this stage, including the amount of times you edit the manuscript. I want to say that that is totally okay.

If you edit your manuscript ten times – that is fine.

If you edit your manuscript three times – that is also fine.

You will know when you feel your work is at its best.

So here is how I edited my last three books. I carried out the same editing process for book one and book two, but I changed it up slightly for book three. And that is also fine if you are trialing different ways of editing each of your books until you find what’s right for you.

Book one and book two’s editing went like this:

• Mum would read her copy through and edit as she went along. I then read through my copy out loud (I find it easier for me to read out loud to spot errors in my work) and correct any errors as I go along.
• We would both then share our findings and discuss anything we weren’t sure on, making adjustments on our own copies.
• I would complete another read through of the newly edited manuscript and make any further adjustments that I may have missed on the first read through and share these new findings with Mum.
• I would complete this process once more.
• The final stage was that Mum and I would then spend a whole day going through the manuscript on the laptop line by line to see if there was any grammar or spelling mistakes that we had missed.

In total, if Mum had completed a second read through, it would come to a total of six edits.

Book three edits went like this:

• Mum read through the manuscript first – but this time I gave her strict instructions to read the manuscript as a book and to only highlight any errors she saw. I wanted her to focus on the story itself first before focusing on the spelling and grammar elements.
• Once she has read it and gave me feedback, I then read through each chapter myself, underlining anything I wasn’t sure on and change it if I knew what I wanted it to say and change any spelling and grammar errors.
• As I completed each chapter, or a few chapters at a time, Mum and I would then get together and go through those edited chapters ensuring to correct both our copies. Mum would also share any highlight errors she had caught whilst reading it.
• After this I would then change any of the editing made onto the electronic copy of the manuscript and spend the time checking the format of the book, mainly focusing on checking that all the texts I have included in the story were in the correct order and were in line with the correct section of the story as I am aware there was a formatting issue in book two.
• Once I felt that I had stared at the manuscript for long enough, and built up the courage, I will then submit the final manuscript to the publishing company.

And that’s it – you have a fully completed manuscript!!

As I just mentioned, I am aware of the small formatting issue in book two for anyone that spotted it. I am looking into changing this in the future, but it does cost money to re-upload the book to the publishing site I use – but don’t worry, I am aware of it and do plan on changing it!

But talking about this issue within book two is a good point to remind those authors who are self-published that no book is entirely perfect. I know there are some books that have been traditionally published and there are still some spelling or grammar errors; but it hasn’t made a difference to how great the story was. So remember there may be a minor mistake in your finished novel, but that doesn’t mean that your work is rubbish and unprofessional. Everyone makes mistakes and they can be corrected! ☺️

Talking of my third manuscript, my third book ‘Festive Foul Play’ is now out and available for you to buy!! Thank you to everyone who pre-ordered the book or has since purchased the book, I appreciate every single one of you and I hope you enjoy reading my next cosy mystery – let me know what you think of it!

Until next time!

See you soon!

TTFN – Love Hannah ❤️ x

Written: 19th October 2025.