Self-Editing Techniques That Make Books Sell

Transform Your Writing from Good to Great

4.50 (63 reviews)
Udemy
platform
English
language
Creativity
category
instructor
1,414
students
1 hour
content
Jul 2017
last update
$49.99
regular price

What you will learn

Self-edit your writing in a style that is easy to understand, allows the reader to become part of the experience, and creates a more enjoyable read.

Mastery will make writing easier in the future.

Applying these professional editing techniques will save you money when you hire an editor for publishing.

Increase positive ratings/reviews on your books.

Description

This course will teach you simple, yet effective self-editing techniques that will improve your success as a writer. Whether you have already written a book, would like to try writing a book, or just enjoy writing, you will learn to eliminate unnecessary words and phrases while strengthening your story. When you apply the techniques to your writing, they will soon become habits, which will cut your editing time and costs if you are going to publish your book.

These techniques work with fictional and non-fictional writing. The techniques can also help college and high school students write stronger papers.

Each lecture includes a short video explanation, a technique to apply to your writing, and additional exercises to reinforce the technique. There are also various handouts for quick reference to be used with future writing projects. These techniques will make the reader experience more enjoyable, and when readers enjoy your writing, you will sell more books.

As you go through the course, you will be using your own manuscript or written piece. Writing prompts are provided for those who have no prior writing samples.

The time required to go through the course will vary with each student since you are using your own written pieces that differ in length. Starting out, you will only be applying the techniques to a couple chapters. Once you have mastered the techniques, you will go back and apply what you have learned to your whole book or written piece.

By doing some initial editing yourself, you can save hundreds of dollars when hiring an editor. Then you can use the extra money on marketing. Let's get started!

Content

Introduction

Welcome
Preparation
Writing Prompts

Started, Began, -ing Words With Phrases and Infinitives

Started, Began, -ing Words, Phrases ,and Infinitives
Assignment

”Expletive” and “had ____ that” Phrases

Expletives and "had ___ that" phrases
Assignment

Voice

Write in Active Voice Whenever Possible
Assignment

"Had” in Internal Dialogue

Use Fewer “Hads” in Internal Dialogue
Assignment

Dealing with Dialogue

Dialogue Tags and Reducing Dialogue Length
Assignment
Side Note

Nouns Into Verbs and Shortening Verb Phrases

Nouns Into Verbs and Verb Phrases
Assignment

Double Nouns, Adjectives, Adverbs, and Verbs

Double Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, and Adverbs
Assignment

-ly Adverbs and Redundancy

Redundancy and Redundant Modifiers
Assignment

Character Filters, Cliches, and Hooks

Character Filters, Cliches, and Hooks
Assignment

Your Next Step

Assignment
Your Next Step

Additional Resources

Summary of Techniques

Screenshots

Self-Editing Techniques That Make Books Sell - Screenshot_01Self-Editing Techniques That Make Books Sell - Screenshot_02Self-Editing Techniques That Make Books Sell - Screenshot_03Self-Editing Techniques That Make Books Sell - Screenshot_04

Reviews

Saskia
January 1, 2023
The examples work well. Unfortunately the additional resources were inaccessible to me. I downloaded them, but they wouldn't display in any program I tried to open them with. The PDFs worked fine.
Marsha
June 10, 2021
I'm a professional editor who also writes. I have not received formal training in writing fiction, and I found this course quite useful in helping me to consider aspects of writing and editing fiction that I had not considered before. It was worth the investment.
Brenda
December 16, 2018
I just wrote my first book and had no idea how to edit until finishing this course. Thank you for your directions. I’ll let you know how it all turns out.
Klara
April 7, 2018
Very nice, concise teaching. Great cinematography. All the information I needed explained without unnecessary details. Lots of examples to illustrate points. The instructor's voice is very pleasant.
Joe
April 6, 2018
Simple and to the point. I feel like the entire mysteries concerning editing will be exposed. Joe Straub
Annie
December 4, 2017
Brief explanations of each point of the editing process, and really helpful PDF's for each step along the way make this a perfect class. The videos are brief an to the point, leaving me free to work from the PDFs at my own pace, and on my own material. The examples of 'wrong way, right way' are invaluable and a great teaching tool. Very pleased.
Bena
November 1, 2017
I have bought several different writing courses and this one made me cut the most from my book. I think I cut about 12,000 words and it helped me focus. My book will be published in the next few weeks and I am so excited and grateful. I am about to start the next novel and will be using this course over and over again. It is short and if you follow everything she recommends, your book will rock!
Braianna
May 2, 2017
She is to the point. I feel I can take this immediately apply it to my writing and know where to go from there.
Lynn
November 1, 2016
Clearly presented, easy to follow and understand. This course helps me clean up my writing so that it is stronger and more professional. This is great and very helpful! Thank you.
Jerome
November 8, 2015
* Course instruction is clear and concise. * Numerous exercises to help * Will be viewing this course in the future
Shirley
October 29, 2015
Thank you for a thorough introduction to self editing. This is the best course I have seen so far for beginner writers. Professionally presented and brimming with useful, relevant information.
Euan
August 15, 2015
What a wonderful experience. Karen's course is well thought out, delivered in bite-sized chunks with exercises to help commit the info to memory. This is a quality product that cannot fail to make your writing stronger. I cannot say enough good things about it.
Deirdre
August 13, 2015
As a wannabe novel writer, I found this course invaluable. It knocked 15-20% off my word count (a good thing). Very well structured with great examples
Rebecca
August 10, 2015
I had hesitated before deciding to take this course because I wondered how thorough a class could be when the syllabus referred to '-ing' and 'ly' words instead of calling them gerunds and adverbs. The class was on sale so I took it anyway. Had I paid full price, I would request a refund. As the class stands now, I think it was barely worth the price I paid. It's a very simplistic class and probably would be most helpful to an ESL writer. I believe calling this class 'Self-Editing' borders on a misnomer. The instructor stresses on more than one occasion that the purpose of this class is to pare down one's manuscript so that when it is sent out for professional editing, said professional editing will cost less because the word count has been reduced. 'Pre-Editing would be a more accurate term given that caveat. The class will not provide a student with a fully edited manuscript, simply one that has been cleaned up to some degree. The instructor does have a pleasant speaking voice and presents herself well on camera. I found her a bit dictatorial in some of her pronouncements over what should or should not be done in a manuscript, especially in the lecture on dialogs. I found the class not in-depth enough for my preferences. However, if you are looking for a simple clean-up of your manuscript or need a refresher in sentence structure, you may find the class helpful.
Robin
July 26, 2015
Though I completed the course in a day. What I learnt and put into practice is timeless. Already my own novel is looking sharper and learner than before.

Charts

Price

Self-Editing Techniques That Make Books Sell - Price chart

Rating

Self-Editing Techniques That Make Books Sell - Ratings chart

Enrollment distribution

Self-Editing Techniques That Make Books Sell - Distribution chart
179302
udemy ID
3/9/2014
course created date
9/7/2020
course indexed date
Bot
course submited by