Children’s Book Editing in Australia

After all, we can all remember the stories we were told and those that we read for ourselves as children; we remember the things that made us happy. The experience of writing for children can be very rewarding, although there are many pitfalls lurking for the unwary in the seeming simplicity of children's story writing. WordsRU's children's book editors and proofreaders understand these pitfalls and will help you to avoid them.

When you engage WordsRU's online service for children's book editing and proofreading, you can be certain of the benefit that your editor's experience will bring to your work. WordsRU editors work with you on a one-to-one basis in order to help you achieve a polished and appealing manuscript.

WordsRU's professional editors can help make the most of your writing. To that end, we will:

• Edit your manuscript for grammatical, spelling, punctuation, tense, and typographical errors
• Review word choice and sentence structure to ensure that your language flows well, using appropriate tone and style, to achieve a presentation that is appealing to your young audience
• Take great care to preserve your voice and meaning
• Provide comments to bring your attention to any issues with storyline, character, or theme
• Address any particular areas of concern that you may have.

Tips from WordsRU's Professional Editors on Writing Books for Children

• Keep titles short and snappy.
• Grab your reader's attention right from the very start.
• Use your words to paint a picture in the minds of children.
• Use active verbs to enliven the story.
• Play with rhyme and alliteration and use catchy sounds.
• Show the personalities of your characters by what they do.
• For young children, use illustrations to help them picture the action.
• Avoid long descriptive passages.
• Don't talk down to your readers!
• Develop a sound plot.
• Children love dialog!

Upon completion of the editing, your editor will return:

• A marked copy, showing all corrections and comments*
• A revised copy, with corrections accepted and comments removed*
• A document with additional comments, recommendations, and suggestions that supplement the comments in the manuscript, if such exposition is necessary.

*Because PDFs are only a depiction of text that cannot be altered, the editor will return only one copy, with marks that show where and what changes are required. If you have us edit a PDF, you will have to go back to the original file and insert the changes yourself.

We are aware that you will likely require assistance after you have reviewed the edited work, and WordsRU will not close the door on your manuscript until you indicate that you are ready for us to do so. Once the edit is returned to you, your editor will:

• Answer your questions
• Explain any comments and recommendations provided in the edited document
• Review specific, short passages of text that you have revised or rewritten per the comments.

Finally, every editing project is overseen from start to finish by the chief editor, who will monitor the progress of your project and provide assistance to you if necessary. While communication with your editor occurs through our secure messaging system, your chief editor is available to you if you need to speak to someone "live."