The Frugal Editor Review

The Frugal Editor is an essential guide for ALL writers. Learning to hone your skill as a writer includes not only many revisions but a complete and thorough editing of your work before submission. Carolyn not only shows you how to identify all the "nasty gremlins", which try to overtake your writing, but she also gives you all the tried and true techniques to rid yourself of them.

From passiveness and dangling participles to gerunds, adverbs and ellipsis dots, she covers them all. Spell-checking, apostrophes, hyphens and dialogues (for both fiction and nonfiction) are also incorporated into the text. Throughout she explains how to make your computer work for you in the editing process. Learning to use Word's tools (tracking, find function, etc.) without completely trusting them to catch everything is a big part of publishing preparation. Whether we realize it or not, we as authors are a part of the world of publishing, so we should have at the very least, a basic knowledge of how it works.

Even after we've checked, revised, edited and repeated the process several times, the author advises that we still get another pair of eyes to go over our work. Be frugal but do your research. Find an established, trusted editor and interview them. Chapter 29 of the book covers the questions you'll want to ask and what to look for in finding a reputable editor.

Making sure we've followed all the guidelines and have all the required parts included is important. Equally important are the query and cover letters, the correct size envelope for submission (including a SASE, even if it is not requested) and accurate postage.

Now you wait for the galleys to arrive so you can start the procedure all over again. As this step in the sequence is the last chance an author gets to change anything before it goes to print, scrutinizing every part of the galley is crucial at this stage of the game.

The Frugal Editor also includes seven appendixes, which really come in handy for a writer to have everything needed in one amazing book. Also featured are Websites for dictionaries, recommended reading, literary agents, a short list of common errors, along with sample cover and query letters.

It is true that we as writers want to put our best work forward. To do that we have to make certain that everything is in order so as to avoid humiliation. Then our work will be a success and we will have helped start a solid relationship with the editor and other gatekeepers of the publishing operation. Doing as much as we can ahead of time, can surely make a significant difference in how we along with our work are viewed. Why not take the extra steps to build a good foundation right from the start?

The Frugal Editor should be one of the main books on the desks (within easy reach) of all writers that comes to be a well-used reference.

Title: The Frugal Editor: Put your best book forward to avoid humiliation and ensure success
Author: Carolyn Howard-Johnson
Publisher: Red Engine Press; 1 edition (October 1, 2007)
ISBN-10: 0978515870
ISBN-13: 978-0978515874
My Rating: 5 out of 5