Before being published, every book should be edited . . .

So you wrote a book. And now you want to publish it . . . well whether it is being traditionally published or self-published, the truth is, it needs to see an editor. A real editor. Not your sister, not your mom, not your dad, not your grandma.

A professional editor who knows what to look for, what to fix, and what to leave just the way it is.

Does that mean that your book isn't an awesome story? Absolutely not!

Fun story:

One day an e-mail came in. It was from an author looking for a review. The book looked fantastic and I was beyond giddy, super excited to read it. As I got further and further into the book, I came upon more and more mistakes.
But I couldn't put the book down because it was a FANTASTIC story! LOVE it! Did I give it a bad rating? Did I bash it and say "Wow, super full of mistakes!"? Absolutely not! I kindly e-mailed the author (who was self-published) and said "Love the book, but . . . I think it would be tons better, and sell better, if an editor looked at it." I pointed out a few major mistakes and off the e-mail went.

I was terrified that this author would be upset with me. But they weren't! The reply that came was so happy I was honest! And they took my advice, had a professional edit done and voila! Epic book was re-published after being edited and becoming more epic!

Your story doesn't suck. Your book isn't horrible. And it isn't even as if you aren't a good editor. I don't know, you might be an awesome editor! But the problem is, as the writer, you aren't going to see the same mistakes as someone who isn't so close to the story.

When I wrote one of my books, I thought I had all the details in there. But a beta reader read it and said "Uhhh . . . what about (this)?" I looked at them was said "What about it?" They had to explain to me that it wasn't fully explained in the book. But I didn't see that because I knew what was supposed to be there.

Write an epic book, set it aside for a couple months, go back, re-write, revise, edit, send it to beta readers, edit again, revise as needed, and send it to an editor!