Good editing is necessary in your business for small and big brochures, press releases and articles. How necessary? In the print world of newspapers, magazines and books, there are at least six different editing levels!

Roughly from the first stage to the last, pages go through content editing, design editing (page layout), photo editing, fact checking, copy editing, and proofing (proofreading).

Content Editing

Content editing helps ideas make more sense or be more coherent.

This editing is like rearranging furniture so people can move across a room easier, resulting in better flow.

TIP#1: Sort your lists other ways than alphabetically.

For example, let’s say you have four stores. Listing them alphabetically: "Alhambra, Corona, Pasadena, Redlands" forces your reader and potential customer to mentally go back and forth between Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties.

Have you ever searched through a list of 21 stores trying to think of all the cities in the local area, then scanning the list over and over?  Irritating isn’t?

Store locations are much better sorted geographically.  Lists may be better sorted by item type, historically or categorically. It requires thinking about the list from the reader’s point of view.

Photo Editing

Photo editing makes printwork pop. Photos are the eye candy of the paper world. Just as a bowl of candy draws visitors to an expo table, pictures draw readers to a flyer, brochure, or article.

TIP #2: Drop the paper with your photo on the floor, does the photo look interesting or confusing?

We tend handle and look at photos five inches from our face when editing them. That’s not realistic. The flyer on the wall or newsletter on the table has to pull the visitor's eye from across the room.

Seeing the photo on the floor about five feet away gives a more objective view.

Remember, people will not check out a confusing picture, or will feel unexplainably irritated.

TIP #3: Watch the background of headshots.

Patterns compete with facial features (and often win). Brick walls, bushes, and curtains read as patterns. Try to eliminate or limit them if possible.

Fact Checking

Checking your facts ensure your readers stay with you and your point. Otherwise, factual errors can become a sideshow that steals your thunder.

In a recent news example, two separate Colorado candidates had the wrong Rockies on their websites. One had Alaskan Rockies. The other had Canadian Rockies. While their teams fixed the sites, both candidates expended unnneeded effort to get the focus back to their platforms.

TIP#4: Document your article facts with 2 different sources.

Jeopardy! question writers do this as a part of of their research.

TIP#5: Verify facts at the source. Have the source person print the name.

Facts and names are often not conventional, traditional or typical. For example, a San Bernardino chamber-mate’s name is seemingly spelled wrong, Micheal.

Self Editing

Obviously your goal is error-free work and having someone else review your writing (like Colibri Consulting) is always preferred. Editing your own material is always harder. We’re blind to our mistakes. (even professional writers are!) But if this isn't possible Here are three self-editing tips to help catch wrong word use, double words and missing words.

TIP #6: Sleep on it.

Never write and edit in the same session. Looking at your work the next day gives your brain a chance to identify gaps in your writing. Things you said in your head but didn't write. Now you can clarify your message and keep your reader on point with you.

TIP #7: Read backwards.

Our brains are forgiving readers of our own work; they ignore double words and fill in missing ones. They can even read a jumbled up sentence without much trouble. Reading backwards forces the brain to focus on each word  -- and see what’s on the page.

TIP #8: Recheck your edits.

While fixing mistakes with cut-and-paste, it’s easy to introduce a new error! The horror! So after all the fixes are done make sure the spacing is correct and there aren’t any butchered words.