{"id":543,"date":"2019-04-30T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-04-30T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/161.35.63.92\/index.php\/2019\/04\/30\/guest-post-7-ways-to-polish-your-manuscript-before-you-self-publish\/"},"modified":"2022-07-25T18:08:29","modified_gmt":"2022-07-25T23:08:29","slug":"guest-post-7-ways-to-polish-your-manuscript-before-you-self-publish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/guest-post-7-ways-to-polish-your-manuscript-before-you-self-publish\/","title":{"rendered":"GUEST POST: 7 Ways to Polish Your Manuscript Before You Self-Publish"},"content":{"rendered":"

Publishing is a competitive industry whether you self-publish or go the traditional route. Polishing your manuscript until it\u2019s the best it can be is even more important for the self-published author. When you publish your own work, you likely don\u2019t have an entire team of editors and industry experts to help bring your book to market.<\/p>\n

Here are seven ways you can polish your manuscript before you self-publish.<\/p>\n

1. Print your manuscript out.<\/h1>\n

You\u2019ve stared at the computer screen for a relatively long time. By now, your eyes are skimming the words, not reading them thoroughly. When you print out your manuscript, you see it in a different form, so it\u2019s easier to pinpoint problems.<\/p>\n

Print your manuscript in a clear typeface with easily readable black font. Then sit down with a red pen and read. You\u2019re looking for the deeper mistakes like character and narrative arc, how well you executed your plot, and if those elements of your story are consistent and logical throughout.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t worry about polishing prose. You\u2019re not analyzing your manuscript at the sentence level; you\u2019ll get to that soon enough. Instead, pay attention to deeper missteps.<\/p>\n

A great way to go deeper is to write one clear, concise sentence that encapsulates what your novel is about. If you can\u2019t narrow it down to its essential core, your story idea might need more focus.<\/p>\n

Once you have your single sentence, your elevator pitch, make sure each paragraph lives up to the promise in your pitch. It you find entire chapters that don\u2019t relate to your elevator pitch, you\u2019ve got some rewriting to do.<\/p>\n

2. Read the dialogue out loud.<\/h1>\n

Dialogue that doesn\u2019t flow off your tongue as you read aloud needs work. In fact, read your entire manuscript out loud.<\/p>\n

Check for pacing as you read. Where does your story slow down? This is particularly important in the middle chapters where you\u2019re trying to move the plot forward and maintain your readers\u2019 interest.<\/p>\n

Look for information dumps or long descriptions. If you spend a page and a half on the setting for a particular chapter, you\u2019re likely to lose your readers. It\u2019s easy to meander while you\u2019re drafting your story; now is the time to rethink certain passages or scenes that don\u2019t move your readers forward.<\/p>\n

3. Replace your weaknesses with strengths.<\/h1>\n

You know your strengths and weaknesses as a writer. Are you weak in setting, or maybe using too much backstory? Maybe you struggle to make your villains anything other than one-dimensional. Whatever your weaknesses, take the time to scour your manuscript for them. Wherever you\u2019re weak, the text will be lackluster.<\/p>\n

Mark Twain told writers to \u201cforget their weaknesses and attack their strengths.\u201d If you feel your piece is weak, go back through and exploit your strengths instead.<\/p>\n

Are you fantastic at character development? Make sure all your characters are multi-dimensional and fully fleshed out. Are you into world-building? Spend extra time on making a different world feel as real as our own. You may find when you go back through that your weaknesses aren\u2019t as obvious afterwards.<\/p>\n

4. Cut your sentences down.<\/h1>\n

Your manuscript has excess wording. All manuscripts do. That\u2019s why so many famous authors tell you to \u201cKill your darlings.\u201d Sure, it sounds good to you; you wrote it. But does it advance the story? If not, it should go.<\/p>\n

Try to cut your sentences in half. Pretend like you have a word or page limit and rid your prose of any dangling bits that offer no substance. Trust your reader to understand your subtext\u2014you need not explain everything.<\/p>\n

5. Use an editing tool<\/h1>\n

Now is when you get nit-picky. Beyond looking for spelling, punctuation, grammar, and more, carefully read your manuscript for inconsistencies. Make sure your characters\u2019 names or details don\u2019t change as your story moves forward. Look for stylistic improvements like eliminating passive verbs, adverbs, and long subordinate clauses.<\/p>\n

The best way to perform a line-by-line edit is to use an online editing tool like ProWritingAid<\/a>. You can run your manuscript through 20+ reports<\/a> that find everything from clich\u00e9s and overused words or phrases to vague and abstract wording.<\/p>\n

The beauty of using an online editing tool is it makes simple suggestions for improvement. You determine what and how you want to change your manuscript, so you never lose your authentic voice.<\/p>\n

6. Find beta readers.<\/h1>\n

The second most important tip before self-publishing: find beta readers who you trust to give you honest feedback. Your beta readers should offer constructive criticism without worrying about hurting your feelings.<\/p>\n

The focus is on constructive feedback. While your ego wants to hear how wonderful your story is, your inner editor needs to hear what didn\u2019t work and what needs strengthened.<\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t have beta readers lined up, join a writers\u2019 group<\/a> on social media or a local writing club. Don\u2019t just beg people to read your work; offer yourself as a beta reader in return.<\/p>\n

7. Hire a human editor.<\/h1>\n

Finally, the most important tip:<\/p>\n

Nothing can replace an experienced editor\u2019s eye.<\/p>\n

Your editor should not only edit, but critique and coach you to get the best work out of your manuscript. A great editor will help bring to the surface the book you intended and the one you are most capable of writing.<\/p>\n

All manuscripts need a professional\u2019s eye. Even the most renowned writers have an editorial team, usually at their publishers, to make their books great. Find yourself a true professional with the credentials and extensive experience to back it up. The good ones don\u2019t come cheap but they\u2019re well worth the money spent.<\/p>\n

Now your manuscript is ready to self-publish.<\/p>\n

Kathy Edens is a blogger, content master and regular contributor to the ProWritingAid Blog. She loves writing about anything and everything. Check out her books:20 Editing Tips from Professional Writers, The Novel-Writing Training Plan and Creating Legends: How to Craft Characters Readers Adore… or Despise.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Publishing is a competitive industry whether you self-publish or go the traditional route. Polishing your manuscript until it\u2019s the best it can be is even more important for the self-published author. When you publish your own work, you likely don\u2019t have an entire team of editors and industry experts to help bring your book to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":544,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[469,466],"tags":[302,303,142,40,287],"table_tags":[],"class_list":["post-543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-author-how","category-guest-post","tag-edit-stack","tag-edit-stacking","tag-editing","tag-kathy-edens","tag-prowritingaid"],"yoast_head":"\nGUEST POST: 7 Ways to Polish Your Manuscript Before You Self-Publish - Draft2Digital | Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Creating your book is only the first step of your draft. Here are seven ways you can polish your manuscript before you self-publish.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/guest-post-7-ways-to-polish-your-manuscript-before-you-self-publish\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"GUEST POST: 7 Ways to Polish Your Manuscript Before You Self-Publish - Draft2Digital | Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Creating your book is only the first step of your draft. Here are seven ways you can polish your manuscript before you self-publish.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/guest-post-7-ways-to-polish-your-manuscript-before-you-self-publish\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Draft2Digital | Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/draft2digital\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-04-30T11:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-07-25T23:08:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/polish-manuscript-600x200-C3YZO6.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kathy Edens\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@draft2digital\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@draft2digital\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kathy Edens\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.draft2digital.com\\\/blog\\\/guest-post-7-ways-to-polish-your-manuscript-before-you-self-publish\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.draft2digital.com\\\/blog\\\/guest-post-7-ways-to-polish-your-manuscript-before-you-self-publish\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kathy Edens\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.draft2digital.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3e2cc5692ea09136375493d0671a9162\"},\"headline\":\"GUEST POST: 7 Ways to Polish Your Manuscript Before You Self-Publish\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-04-30T11:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-07-25T23:08:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.draft2digital.com\\\/blog\\\/guest-post-7-ways-to-polish-your-manuscript-before-you-self-publish\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1019,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.draft2digital.com\\\/blog\\\/guest-post-7-ways-to-polish-your-manuscript-before-you-self-publish\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.draft2digital.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/polish-manuscript-600x200-C3YZO6.png\",\"keywords\":[\"edit stack\",\"edit stacking\",\"editing\",\"Kathy Edens\",\"ProWritingAid\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Author How-To & Mindset\",\"Guest Post\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.draft2digital.com\\\/blog\\\/guest-post-7-ways-to-polish-your-manuscript-before-you-self-publish\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.draft2digital.com\\\/blog\\\/guest-post-7-ways-to-polish-your-manuscript-before-you-self-publish\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.draft2digital.com\\\/blog\\\/guest-post-7-ways-to-polish-your-manuscript-before-you-self-publish\\\/\",\"name\":\"GUEST POST: 7 Ways to Polish Your Manuscript Before You Self-Publish - Draft2Digital | Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.draft2digital.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.draft2digital.com\\\/blog\\\/guest-post-7-ways-to-polish-your-manuscript-before-you-self-publish\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.draft2digital.com\\\/blog\\\/guest-post-7-ways-to-polish-your-manuscript-before-you-self-publish\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.draft2digital.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/polish-manuscript-600x200-C3YZO6.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-04-30T11:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-07-25T23:08:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.draft2digital.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3e2cc5692ea09136375493d0671a9162\"},\"description\":\"Creating your book is only the first step of your draft. Here are seven ways you can polish your manuscript before you self-publish.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.draft2digital.com\\\/blog\\\/guest-post-7-ways-to-polish-your-manuscript-before-you-self-publish\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.draft2digital.com\\\/blog\\\/guest-post-7-ways-to-polish-your-manuscript-before-you-self-publish\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.draft2digital.com\\\/blog\\\/guest-post-7-ways-to-polish-your-manuscript-before-you-self-publish\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.draft2digital.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/polish-manuscript-600x200-C3YZO6.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.draft2digital.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/polish-manuscript-600x200-C3YZO6.png\",\"width\":600,\"height\":200},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.draft2digital.com\\\/blog\\\/guest-post-7-ways-to-polish-your-manuscript-before-you-self-publish\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.draft2digital.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"GUEST POST: 7 Ways to Polish Your Manuscript Before You Self-Publish\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.draft2digital.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.draft2digital.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Draft2Digital | Blog\",\"description\":\"Distribute your books worldwide. Keep all your rights.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.draft2digital.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.draft2digital.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3e2cc5692ea09136375493d0671a9162\",\"name\":\"Kathy Edens\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f0f17de12da3fbd914e792fa86c31f4c3b2560b002ffc5b41fd3cdd8c7a904b1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f0f17de12da3fbd914e792fa86c31f4c3b2560b002ffc5b41fd3cdd8c7a904b1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f0f17de12da3fbd914e792fa86c31f4c3b2560b002ffc5b41fd3cdd8c7a904b1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kathy Edens\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/prowritingaid.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.draft2digital.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/kathyedens\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"GUEST POST: 7 Ways to Polish Your Manuscript Before You Self-Publish - Draft2Digital | Blog","description":"Creating your book is only the first step of your draft. Here are seven ways you can polish your manuscript before you self-publish.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/guest-post-7-ways-to-polish-your-manuscript-before-you-self-publish\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"GUEST POST: 7 Ways to Polish Your Manuscript Before You Self-Publish - Draft2Digital | Blog","og_description":"Creating your book is only the first step of your draft. Here are seven ways you can polish your manuscript before you self-publish.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/guest-post-7-ways-to-polish-your-manuscript-before-you-self-publish\/","og_site_name":"Draft2Digital | Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/facebook.com\/draft2digital","article_published_time":"2019-04-30T11:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-07-25T23:08:29+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":200,"url":"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/polish-manuscript-600x200-C3YZO6.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Kathy Edens","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@draft2digital","twitter_site":"@draft2digital","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kathy Edens","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/guest-post-7-ways-to-polish-your-manuscript-before-you-self-publish\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/guest-post-7-ways-to-polish-your-manuscript-before-you-self-publish\/"},"author":{"name":"Kathy Edens","@id":"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3e2cc5692ea09136375493d0671a9162"},"headline":"GUEST POST: 7 Ways to Polish Your Manuscript Before You Self-Publish","datePublished":"2019-04-30T11:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2022-07-25T23:08:29+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/guest-post-7-ways-to-polish-your-manuscript-before-you-self-publish\/"},"wordCount":1019,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/guest-post-7-ways-to-polish-your-manuscript-before-you-self-publish\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/polish-manuscript-600x200-C3YZO6.png","keywords":["edit stack","edit stacking","editing","Kathy Edens","ProWritingAid"],"articleSection":["Author How-To & Mindset","Guest Post"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/guest-post-7-ways-to-polish-your-manuscript-before-you-self-publish\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/guest-post-7-ways-to-polish-your-manuscript-before-you-self-publish\/","url":"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/guest-post-7-ways-to-polish-your-manuscript-before-you-self-publish\/","name":"GUEST POST: 7 Ways to Polish Your Manuscript Before You Self-Publish - Draft2Digital | Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/guest-post-7-ways-to-polish-your-manuscript-before-you-self-publish\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/guest-post-7-ways-to-polish-your-manuscript-before-you-self-publish\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/polish-manuscript-600x200-C3YZO6.png","datePublished":"2019-04-30T11:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2022-07-25T23:08:29+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3e2cc5692ea09136375493d0671a9162"},"description":"Creating your book is only the first step of your draft. Here are seven ways you can polish your manuscript before you self-publish.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/guest-post-7-ways-to-polish-your-manuscript-before-you-self-publish\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/guest-post-7-ways-to-polish-your-manuscript-before-you-self-publish\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/guest-post-7-ways-to-polish-your-manuscript-before-you-self-publish\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/polish-manuscript-600x200-C3YZO6.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/polish-manuscript-600x200-C3YZO6.png","width":600,"height":200},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/guest-post-7-ways-to-polish-your-manuscript-before-you-self-publish\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"GUEST POST: 7 Ways to Polish Your Manuscript Before You Self-Publish"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/","name":"Draft2Digital | Blog","description":"Distribute your books worldwide. Keep all your rights.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3e2cc5692ea09136375493d0671a9162","name":"Kathy Edens","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f0f17de12da3fbd914e792fa86c31f4c3b2560b002ffc5b41fd3cdd8c7a904b1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f0f17de12da3fbd914e792fa86c31f4c3b2560b002ffc5b41fd3cdd8c7a904b1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f0f17de12da3fbd914e792fa86c31f4c3b2560b002ffc5b41fd3cdd8c7a904b1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kathy Edens"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/prowritingaid.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/author\/kathyedens\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/polish-manuscript-600x200-C3YZO6.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=543"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1219,"href":"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543\/revisions\/1219"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543"},{"taxonomy":"table_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/table_tags?post=543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}