Some of you are probably ahead of the curve on this, but I tried a new editing technique today and loved it.
Not sure if this works on other e-readers, but for those of you using a Kindle, upload your chapter or manuscript to the device. (Go to Amazon.com to find out how.) Then press the Aa button and turn on speech.
While you're listening to the Kindle read aloud, follow along and edit the text on the computer. Pause reading as necessary.
It's a great, handy way to catch typos, dropped words, and clunky dialogue. You'll be shocked what you pick up on. And it's easier to do using the Kindle than toggling back and forth between one screen with MS Word and the other with MS Reader or whatever text-to-speech program you might be using.
Though I often read aloud my own work and find it helpful, I still miss things because my brain knows what I meant to type. Having another person (if you can find one with infinite patience) or a machine read is a terrific help.
By the way, Amazon charges a small fee to upload .doc or .pdf files to your Kindle. Under a buck, I believe, and totally worth it.
For those of you still looking for an excuse to purchase an e-reader, this could be the one!
Not sure if this works on other e-readers, but for those of you using a Kindle, upload your chapter or manuscript to the device. (Go to Amazon.com to find out how.) Then press the Aa button and turn on speech.
While you're listening to the Kindle read aloud, follow along and edit the text on the computer. Pause reading as necessary.
It's a great, handy way to catch typos, dropped words, and clunky dialogue. You'll be shocked what you pick up on. And it's easier to do using the Kindle than toggling back and forth between one screen with MS Word and the other with MS Reader or whatever text-to-speech program you might be using.
Though I often read aloud my own work and find it helpful, I still miss things because my brain knows what I meant to type. Having another person (if you can find one with infinite patience) or a machine read is a terrific help.
By the way, Amazon charges a small fee to upload .doc or .pdf files to your Kindle. Under a buck, I believe, and totally worth it.
For those of you still looking for an excuse to purchase an e-reader, this could be the one!
Comments
Thanks for the reminder! I've been looking for a good text-to-speech program for Mac!
But having someone that's not you reading out loud still catches those pesky words you accidentally leave out.
I've been doing this for a while, and one of the other things it helps with is making sure you have paragraph starts in the right place, as well as commas. The T-S feature doesn't pause at line breaks or commas, so as you listen you might say, "Hmm, I might need to break that section up," and find the natural spots for commas and new paragraphs.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200505520&#email
If that link doesn't work, it's under Transferring, Downloading, and Sending Files to Kindle>Sending Personal Documents to Kindle
http://angelicarjackson.blogspot.com/2010/09/phone-sex-with-stephen-hawking.html
And lol on the other link!
http://angelicarjackson.blogspot.com/2011/04/top-5-kindle-tips.html