Self publishing a book can be a little overwhelming. While many print-on-demand book publishers offer a variety of editorial, marketing, and distribution services, ultimately the decisions all fall to you. One of the most important steps in self publishing a book is the final edit. This is a review for grammar, spelling, punctuation, and conformity of style.

The first option is to do this final review yourself. Your word processing software will have a spelling and grammar check function, so be sure to use them (this may sound incredibly elementary, but you’d be surprised how many people neglect to use these easily accessible tools). Remember, just because the computer makes a suggestion doesn’t mean you have to take its advice — your writing style can override the “rules.”

But you do need to know the rules. Many people are fascinated by grammar and style, and if you’re one of them, there are excellent books and style guides, both classic and contemporary, to guide you through this part of your book publishing journey. You’ll also want a copy of Merriam-Webster’s dictionary on hand.

You’ll want to ask a few people you trust to read your book with a very critical eye, looking especially for typographical errors, misspellings, odd grammar, and hard to understand passages. Ask them to be ruthless, and to keep a special watch out for the kinds of simple errors we all make — missing words; using the wrong form of a word, such as “their” for “there” or “they’re” and the trio of trickiness that is “to,” “two,” and “too;” and awkward sentences.

Of course, you can always hire a professional proofreader to handle this task for you, and it is an investment worth making. Some print-on-demand book publishers offer a proofreading service, either as part of a package or as an add-on service, but you are in no way compelled to use them (and may get a better rate by selecting your own proofreader).

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