10% Solution
Self-Editing for the Modern Writer
By Ken Rand

Genre: Writing
Softcover
63 pages
Published by Fairwood Press
Published July 2006
ISBN: 0966818407 / 9780966818406

Product Information

Problem: An editor wants your article, but you wrote 3,000 words and she only wants 2,700 words. Solution: The ten percent solution.

I found this idea when peddling my humor columns a few years ago. An editor said they were loose, rambling and about ten percent too long.

The ten percent solution met that editor's needs. It works in fiction and non-fiction, even query letters and outlines, any style or length.

You can use it to make more sales--and more money.

Here's how:

First, when you write, don't be too concerned about length. Just put on your writer hat and write. Make sure your lead is engaging, your examples concrete, your transitions smooth, your body entertaining (or informative, if you're doing non-fiction) and your conclusion a clean wrap. Check grammar, spelling, voice, agreement--all that writerly stuff. Finish it. Then set it aside.

Second, toss away your writer hat, don your editor hat and cut your story by ten percent. As you edit, inflated prose will jump at you. You'll realize you can do with three rather than four examples, that you have a quote too many, that one can be paraphrased, another shortened.

Before you know it, you've cut ten percent. (Or so. The title is a convenience, not a fixed objective. Don't be arbitrary about this. If you go about this too arbitrarily, you may cut too much--or too little.) Best of all, what's left reads--and pays--better.

Originally published in 1998, this new 2006 edition is a MUST for fans of Ken Rand's amazing reference book on self-editing. With exciting new cover art and expanded references, it is not to be missed.

Price: $9.99

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